California Should Defend National Wild & Scenic Rivers
Let’s face it, the federal government’s environmental protection capabilities and responsibilities are being eroded from within, and this Congress may not prove to be our friend.
United States Capitol Building. Ron Stork.
GOP control of even one house of the Congress has clearly demonstrated the Congressional problem. For example, the GOP-led House of Representatives voted three times from 2011 to 2014 to remove a portion of the Merced River from the national wild & scenic river system(1). Fortunately, the GOP did not control the U.S. Senate or federal Administration in that less perilous time.
California faced more perilous prospects during the first Donald J. Trump Administration. But at that time, the U.S. Senate was not led by the GOP, allowing the Senate to put the brakes on some of the ideas of the U.S. House of Representatives and the then-inexperienced President Trump. The Senate’s work was important since the modern GOP seems to be turning away from the environmental legacy of Republican Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and even Ronald Reagan.
In recognition that the times were becoming more perilous, back in 2018 Assemblywoman Laura Friedman (D-Glendale, now a member of Congress(2)) introduced a bill (AB-2572) to add a provision to the California Wild & Scenic Rivers Act to give state protection to federally-protected rivers at risk of losing their federal protections. Specifically, the bill would allow the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency to add national wild & scenic rivers under threat from federal actions into the state’s wild & scenic rivers system. The measure was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown (3). Unfortunately, that provision sunsets at the end of 2025.
Assemblymember Nick Schultz. Public Domain.
Recognizing the grim results of the 2024 federal elections, freshman Assemblyman Nick Schultz (D-Burbank)(4)[perhaps an image of Nick from this official website] introduced AB-43(5), a bill being sponsored by Friends of the River(6). AB‑43 is simple, it removes the sunset clause of AB 2572, making this California Natural Resources Agency power a permanent feature of the California Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. It’s just one thing that California can do for the country.
California State Capitol Building. Ron Stork.
A hearing has been scheduled before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee on the afternoon of March 24 in room 437 of the state capitol.
🚨 FOR, alongside a host of other environmental organizations have written a joint letter to the Committee express their support of AB‑43.
Yes, democracy should not be a spectator sport.
