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Pence Calls for Repairing Parks with Energy Revenues


U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, with wife Karen, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly, speaks in front of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, June 13, 2019.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, with wife Karen, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly, speaks in front of Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, June 13, 2019.

Against the backdrop of Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Geyser, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday urged Congress to dedicate billions of dollars in federal energy revenues for repairs to aging facilities at America’s national parks.

The Trump administration proposal, which failed to pass last year despite broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, offers warring Republicans and Democrats a rare vehicle for legislative common ground.

Upkeep of the park system, whose facilities and infrastructure have fallen into disrepair as visitation at many parks has risen steadily in recent years, is widely seen as popular with voters in both major parties.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence helps National Park Service workers lay planks along a boardwalk near Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, June 13, 2019.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence helps National Park Service workers lay planks along a boardwalk near Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, June 13, 2019.

Rally attention to plan

Pence paid a visit to Yellowstone, one of the oldest and most popular of America’s national parks, to rally attention to the funding plan and the cause of preserving “extraordinary treasures in the life of our nation.”

U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly joined Pence for his appearance, carefully timed to coincide with one of the periodic eruptions of the Old Faithful Geyser, a major attraction in a park world renowned for its geothermal features and wildlife.

$16 billion in projects

The proposal calls for earmarking a portion of all revenues generated by energy leasing from federal lands and offshore wells to help pay for $16 billion in deferred maintenance projects at Interior Department properties nationwide.

The bulk of that backlog, nearly $12 billion, is needed by the National Park Service to repair campgrounds, roads, bridges, visitor centers, trails and other facilities. The special fund is projected to furnish $6.8 billion over the next decade.

More than 300 million people visit the nation’s 419 national park sites annually. But while admissions have climbed over the past decade, up roughly 50 percent at Yellowstone alone, funding and staffing have remained relatively flat.

Trump proposes cuts

President Donald Trump proposed cutting Park Service spending next year by 15 percent.

Paul and Nadine Atkinson, a retired couple from Columbia Falls, Montana, were among the geyser gazers who had to view the eruption from a less ideal section of boardwalk to accommodate security for Pence.

“This is one of the true treasures of our country, and keeping it in good shape is a great idea,” said Paul Atkinson.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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