7/28/2019 Sequestration Impact on Timber and Public Land Issues in States

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Sequestration Impact on Timberand Public Land Issues in States

CAPITOL rEsEarch

ENVIRONMENT

ThE coUNcil of sTaTE govErNmENTs

Although the amounts may seem small comparedto the overall size of state budgets, letters sent byU.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell demandingstates return $17.9 million in funds generated fromtimber harvesting on federal lands due to spend-ing cuts imposed by the sequester have generatedsignicant bipartisan concern in Congress and states.1This (the agencys decision) is slap-your-forehead-in-disbelief kind of stuff, said Sen. Ron Wyden,chair of the Senate Energy and Natural ResourcesCommittee.

The Forest Service is demanding return of moneygenerated from 2012 timber sales to meet its obliga-tions under the federal sequester law, which requiresa 5 percent cut in its 2013 budget. States received thefunds in January 2013 without any notice that theycould be impacted by the highly publicized sequester,which took effect in early March. Bipartisanopposition from Congressional members of theHouse Natural Resources Committee noted in a

letter to the Department of Agriculture and Ofceof Management and Budget that all federal agencieshave been aware of the sequesters effective date ofMarch 1, but states were given no notice and did notreceive letters seeking repayment until 19 days later.2

Public Lands and the States The federal government owns roughly 28 per-

centor approximately 640 million acresofland in the U.S., according to information pro-vided by the General Services Administration.The U.S. Forest Service within the Departmentof Agriculture and the Department of Interior

primarily manage this land.3

This gure, however, does not include the roughly19 million acres managed by the Departmentof Defense or the 125 million acres of marinerefuges, monuments and land managed by the De-partment of Energy or Bureau of Reclamation.4

On a proportional basis, the federal governmentowns signicantly more land in Western statesthan in states east of the Mississippi River. Forexample, the federal government owns 0.3 percentof land in Connecticut compared to 81 percent ofland in Nevada.

Many counties and localities surrounded by orcontaining signicant public land holdings canexperience an acute impact on economic develop-ment because of their limited property tax basefor school funding, road construction and otherneeded projects and programs.

To address some of these hardships, the federalgovernment administers and manages programslike Payment In Lieu of Taxes, which collect fundsgenerated from oil and gas leasing, grazing orother economic activities on public land that isgiven back to rural states and communities to pay

for infrastructure, schools and public safety needsIn 2012, the Department of Interior announced arecord $393 million in Payment In Lieu of Taxesfunding.5

States and Secure Rural SchoolsFor more than a century, the federal government

has returned a portion roughly 25 percent of therevenue generated from timber sales and manage-ment activities on public land back to states for ruralcounties.

7/28/2019 Sequestration Impact on Timber and Public Land Issues in States

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The modern iteration of that long-standing policyis the Secure Schools and Community Self Deter-mination Act, which was rst passed in 2000. InJanuary 2013, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsackannounced $323 million in funding for 41 statesto support local schools and road constructionas a part of the one-year authorization Congresspassed in 2012.6

Communities in the Pacic Northwest and Westhave heavily relied on this funding due to a loss

in income because of a decline in timber salesrelated to logging prohibitions and protection ofendangered species like the spotted owl.

Funding Dispute The U.S. Forest Service has directed 41 states to

return a portion of the funds that were dispersedunder the Secure Rural Schools formula just twomonths prior.

The governors of Alabama, Alaska and Wyominghave publicly refused the agencys request toreturn the funding, which would have meant aloss of almost $1 million for schools and localities.

The governors noted that the Forest Service sentthe funds to the state in January 2013, two monthsbefore the automatic spending cuts required bythe sequester took effect, and they believe there isno legal justication to return money their statesare legally entitled to under federal law. 7

In an April 2013 Forest Service budget hearingbefore the Senate Energy and Natural ResourcesCommittee, Tidwell responded during question-ing that states would face interest, penalties

and administrative costs for failure to complywith the sequester repayment demand. Wyden,the committee chair, and ranking member LisaMurkowski criticized the decision and challengedthe legal requirement of imposing nes or penal-ties in the Budget Control Act, which authorizedthe sequester.8

In addition, critics of the Forest Services decisionsuggested its sequester interpretation is largelysubjective. Other branches of the federal govern-

ment, like the Bureau of Land Management, havenot taken the same posture with the county pay-ment programs they administers for rural states.

RESOURCES1Forest Service to States: G ive Subsidies Back.Ryan Lardner.Associated Press. May 3, 2013. http://news.

yahoo.com/forest-states-subsidies-back-073739062.html2Letter to Secretary Tom Vilsack and Acting OMB Director Jerey Zients. March 28, 2013. https://www.

rcrcnet.org/rcrc/assets/File/Barbed_Wire_March_28_2013/Ltr_re_Sequestration_SRS_Cuts.pdf3iFederal Land Ownership: Overview and Data.Congressional Research Service. February 8, 2012, P. 1

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42346.pdf4 Ibid. P. 55Secretary Salazar Announces Record $393 Million in PILTfor Police, Fire, and Schools in Rural Communi-

ties.Department of Interior Press Release. June 14, 2012. http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/

Secretary-Salazar-Announces-Record-393-Million-Dollars-in-PILT-for-Police-Fire-and-Schools-in-

Rural-Communities.cfm6Department of Agriculture Press Release. June 15, 2013. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdame

diafb?contentid=2013/01/0011.xml&printable=true&contentidonly=true7Wyoming Governor Mead Refuses to Return Money to U.S. Forest Service.Joan Barron. Casper Star-

Tribune. May 2, 2013. http://trib.com/news/updates/wyoming-gov-mead-refuses-to-return-money-

to-u-s/article_75fc359d-fe40-545b-b2a9-1622c12f250e.html8Letter to Chief Tidwell, U.S. Forest Service. April 24. 2013. http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.

cfm/les/serve?File_id=280d5c3e-ddcc-4271-a584-fb94f68879fd

Brydon Ross, Director of Energy & Environmental Policy | bross@csg.org

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