On Thursday, the Senate again overcame a filibuster threat from Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and for the second time passed landmark legislation that would protect about 2 million acres of wilderness on federal land.
The vote was 77-20, with many Republicans joining in the bipartisan bill.
It now goes back to the House where--this time--it is sure to pass. President Obama could sign it as soon as the end of the month.
The Omnibus Public Lands Management Act is actually a collection of more than 160 different bills that were combined in order to build the broad support needed to pass. In addition to designating more than 2 million acres of wilderness in 9 states it would add over 1,000 miles to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system, and provide statutory protection to 26 million acres of federal land in a National Landscape Conservation System. It would be the most significant expansion of public lands protection since Bill Clinton's first term.
The list of wilderness protected by the bill
includes California's Eastern Sierra Nevada, Mount Hood in Oregon, Zion National Park in Utah, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, and parts of Virginia's Jefferson National Forest and the Monongahela in West Virginia.
According to National Parks Subcommittee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) the House will move quickly to approve the omnibus. "It will happen next week," he said. "I'm hearing Thursday from the leadership, so it'll probably be Tuesday." eenews.net (sub)
The Wilderness Society's Paul Spitler said the Senate move "clears the most significant hurdle to protecting some of the country's most cherished landscapes."
"These wonderful landscapes are under tremendous pressure, and their value to local communities and to all Americans who treasure our natural heritage will remain long after the country has recovered from the economic crisis."
This is great news.