Mr. President, I rise today to introduce El Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act. This legislation will designate approximately 235,980 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Taos and…
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce El Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act. This legislation will designate approximately 235,980 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Taos and Rio Arriba counties as a National Conservation Area. The conservation area includes two new wilderness areas--the 13,420-acre Cerro del Yuta Wilderness on the east-side and the 8,000-acre Rio San Antonio Wilderness in the west.
The conservation area will protect and enhance cultural, ecological, and scenic resources in an area with premier recreational opportunities important to the region's economy. It incorporates the upper reaches of the Rio Grande Gorge, previously designated as a Wild and Scenic River, and protects elk wintering grounds and migratory corridors along the plateau between Ute Mountain to the east and San Antonio Mountain to the west. The conservation area will protect breeding habitat for other game species like deer and antelope and for birds of prey that hunt throughout the area, including peregrine falcons, golden eagles, and bald eagles. The riparian area along the Rio Grande also provides important habitat for brown trout and the federally-listed endangered southwestern willow flycatcher.
The Cerro del Yuta Wilderness will add protections to Ute Mountain, a mountainous and forested extinct volcano which rises to more than 10,000 feet from an elevation of about 7,600 feet at its base. From its peak Ute Mountain offers views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the east, the deep canyon walls of the Rio Grande Gorge at its western base, and the high mesa sagebrush-grasslands interspersed with pinon juniper woodlands that form the majority of the conservation area to its west. Known as Tah Ha Bien to members of the Taos Pueblo and Cerro del Yuta to the earliest Hispanic settlers of the region, Ute Mountain was named for the historic Ute tribe that traversed this area along its route to the eastern plains. The mountain has a long history both geologically and culturally speaking, and evidence of human interaction with Ute Mountain can be still be found, including prehistoric hunting stations, historic
sheep herding camps, and important sacred sites on the mountain. As a relatively new addition to the public domain, the Bureau of Land Management has only begun to account for all the cultural resources that may be present on Ute Mountain.
The Rio San Antonio Wilderness Area lies northwest of San Antonio Mountain and is currently managed as a Wilderness Study Area by the Bureau of Land Management. Composed of grassland vegetation similar to the majority of the conservation area, its unique character is shaped by the 200-foot-deep canyon formed by the waters of the Rio San Antonio that bisects the wilderness area. The canyon provides important riparian habitat to wildlife and offers visitors opportunities for solitude and primitive and unconfined recreation. A favorite pastime of locals and visitors alike is the outstanding opportunity for fly fishing the Rio San Antonio. By affirmatively designating this area as wilderness, we can help preserve its natural character that draws visitors to the area.
This legislation seeks to protect the valuable natural and cultural resources found in the area while also recognizing that the history of these lands is still being written by the local community, composed of Pueblo Indians, descendents of Hispanic and American settlers, and new generations of settlers drawn to the area for similar reasons as those who came before them. Residents maintain a strong connection to these public lands and are interested in preserving the traditional ways in which they have used them. A good example of this is the importance to the local community to ensure that the continued and sustainable collection of pinon nuts and firewood from the public lands is permitted. Based on this input, earlier drafts were revised to make specific mention that these uses are permissible within the conservation area. In addition, existing grazing within the conservation area will be preserved consistent with current management practices.
Visitors and residents of northern New Mexico also enjoy these public lands for recreational purposes, including hiking, camping, mountain biking, river rafting, skiing, hunting, fishing, photography and bird watching, among many others. The local economy benefits greatly from the tourists who visit this area to take in the scenic beauty and natural character of the region, and it is my hope that this designation will further highlight the region as a premier destination in the State, nationally and internationally.
This bill is the culmination of more than 2 years of work with members of the local community to craft language that achieves the balance vital to ensure a thriving economy, the preservation of the region's natural resources, and a sustained way of life for residents of northern New Mexico. Without the constructive input from the local community, this bill would look very different from the one that I am privileged to introduce today. I am also pleased that my colleague Senator Tom Udall is a cosponsor of this legislation, and I look forward to working with him and other members of the Senate toward its ultimate passage.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
Mr. President, when our States and cities lease their tolled highways to private parties, American taxpayers almost always experience significant fee increases at the toll booth. But our taxpayers' contribution does not end there. Under current tax law, the Federal Treasury subsidizes private lessors through exceedingly generous depreciation and amortization deductions. Meanwhile, Federal funding continues to flow to the state government--as though the highway had never been privatized. Today, I rise to introduce two bills that would put an end to this fleecing of the American taxpayer. I am pleased that Senator Grassley, the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, is joining me in introducing both bills.
I'd like to take a moment to set the stage, by explaining where we find ourselves. There is no denying the seriousness of our nation's surface transportation funding challenges. Among the solutions that have been offered are so-called Public-Private Partnerships, or PPPs. Under one PPP model, a state or local government leases existing highways to a private party, often on a very long-term basis. We have already seen two existing highways sold off to private companies. In 2004, Chicago sold Macquarie of Australia concession rights to the Chicago Skyway for 99 years, in exchange for $1.8 billion. In 2006, Indiana sold concession rights to the Indiana Toll Road to a partnership between Cintra of Spain and Macquarie for 75 years, in exchange for $3.8 billion. Both deals have generated significant interest from the press and the financial community. Now, investors are approaching state and local governments across the country, seeking a piece of what is believed to be a very lucrative pie. For instance, last year Governor Ed Rendell proposed a $12.8 billion deal for a 75- year sale of concession rights to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which, if ratified, would represent the largest privatization of highway infrastructure in U.S. history.
While I agree that States should have some latitude to determine how to operate their own highways, that doesn't mean that the Federal taxpayer should subsidize leasing these highways. But as we uncovered at a Finance Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure hearing that I convened last year, the Federal government--and taxpayers in all states--now subsidizes these PPPs through exceedingly generous tax provisions. To take advantage of the Tax Code's 15-year cost recovery period for highway infrastructure, a private lessor must obtain constructive ownership of the road. Constructive ownership is generally attained by entering a lease that exceeds the 45-year period that the Bureau of Economic Affairs, BEA, says is a road's ``useful life.'' Once they attain this constructive ownership, the private lessor can recover most of its costs over the first 15 years of the lease--or one-third as long as BEA says the highway infrastructure can be expected to last. The end result? Private operators demand exceptionally long lease lengths, to ensure they can take advantage of the Tax Code's subsidy.
These Tax Code provisions are of interest not just because the Senate must prudently shepherd our Nation's tax revenues, but also because there are considerable transportation policy dangers to these very long-term leases. Chicago signed a 99-year lease for the Skyway, a road that, at the time of the lease, had only a 47 operating history. Indiana signed a 75-year lease for its Toll Road, a highway that, at the time of the lease, had only a 49 history. With respect to a critical artery of transportation, how can a State or city possibly predict its future needs for a period that is twice that artery's operating history? It is impossible to envision how transportation will change in the next hundred years. As a point of reference, the Model T is 101 years old--can we even pretend to imagine what the next century will bring? These very long lease lengths are all the more troubling because these deals often contain non-compete clauses, which make it difficult for public transportation agencies to address safety and congestion problems on highways and adjacent streets.
It is true that private lessors are merely following the letter of the law. But when cost-recovery rules subsidize forms of investment that contravene the public interest, Congress should change those rules. Indeed, public policy concerns have already led Congress to alter cost-recovery rules for other assets, such as luxury cars, sport utility vehicles, and sports franchises.
Senator Grassley and I agree that to protect the American taxpayer, such an alteration is also necessary here. It's time for the tax tail to stop wagging the dog, by cutting off Federal tax subsidies to companies that privatize existing American highways. Our first bill, the Transportation Access for All Americans Act, would do just that. It would allow a private operator of an existing highway to depreciate costs associated with tangible highway infrastructure on a 45-year period, in line with Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates, and to amortize the intangible right to collect tolls on a schedule that is no shorter than the lease's actual length. By making these changes to the Tax Code, our bill eliminates the unjustifiable subsidy that the U.S. taxpayer is now asked to provide directly to the private operators.
Our second bill, S. 885, the Transportation Equity for All Americans Act, deals with the highway funding that is provided for a privatized road. As I understand it, when a road is privatized, all responsibility for maintaining the road, collecting tolls, paying the investors' profit, and so forth are taken on by the private entity. It simply makes no sense that the road should continue to qualify for highway funding if the road is privately operated. Similarly, it makes no sense that the formulae that distribute the Federal highway funding should reflect any credit for privatized roads--it would be like the users paying twice, once at the toll booth and again in the taxes they already pay to use the Nation's highways.
Under current law, all roads, including interstate highways, national highways, and other major state and local roads in the federal-aid system are included in the calculation of the federal highway funds. The lane-miles and vehicle-miles-traveled on all these roads are used directly to apportion the federal highway funds for the Interstate Maintenance Program, the National Highway Program, and the Surface Transportation Program. The calculation currently includes roads that are publicly or privately operated. Our second bill is very simple; it subtracts from these calculations the lane-miles and vehicle-miles- traveled for any privatized highway, thus eliminating the double payments. The bill also corrects the Equity Bonus program to reflect properly the changes in the formula calculations.
This year Congress must reauthorize the Federal surface transportation programs. I look forward to working with Finance Chairman Baucus and Senator Grassley and EPW Chairman Boxer and Senator Inhofe to complete a new transportation bill that meets the needs of my State and the Nation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and a bill summary be printed in the Record.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record