Rep. Rob Bishop says the Land and Water Conservation Fund should be revamped to help state and local governments fund recreation, education, and infrastructure needs.
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The Land and Water Conservation Fund should be revamped to help pay for “bigger needs,” including local recreation, infrastructure and education, according to Rep. Rob Bishop.
For example, Congress should explore using LWCF dollars for payments in lieu of taxes (PILT), an expired program that pays rural counties for the federal lands they are unable to tax, the Utah Republican said.
LWCF money could also support the education of future energy workers whose production of domestic oil and gas could help raise more conservation dollars, Bishop said. Or it could better aid state and local governments in promoting recreation, he said.
Bishop, the chairman of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation and a vocal critic of LWCF, [Thursday] offered a critique of the nearly 50-year-old program as it nears its expiration in 2015.
