Energy bill could be good news for Glacier Park maintenance backlog

An energy bill supported by Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Steve Daines could be good news for Glacier National Park’s maintenance backlog.

The Energy Policy Modernization Act, which includes a host of national energy provisions, also establishes the National Park Service Critical Maintenance and Revitalization Conservation Fund. The fund authorizes — but does not appropriate — up to $150 million per year from offshore oil and gas development to pay for high priority deferred maintenance needs of the National Park Service.

The appropriation portion of the fund would have to be negotiated separately in Congress, but aides to Tester also note he’s on the powerful Senate appropriations committee. 

Glacier estimates that it’s deferred maintenance is about $180 million.

The Park’s Many Glacier Road in particular is in very bad shape — with numerous slumps that are so bad, the Park Service no longer paves portions of it.

The bill also has other key land use provisions. It permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund and requires that at least $10 million be invested each year to increase public access for hunters and anglers.

Like the Park Service fund, the actual annual appropriation to the LWCF will come at a later time in Congressional machinations, but permanently authorizing the fund is seen as a victory by conservation groups. 

There were some congressional members who wanted the fund abolished entirely. The LWCF has been used to great effect in Montana. Most recently, LWCF funding will help pay for a portion of the costs of a conservation easement to protect 7,150 acres of land owned by F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber from subdivision.

The Trumbull easement is a $9.5 million deal, with $6.5 million from the Forest Legacy program, which is part of the LWCF, $2 million from the Habitat Conservation Plan program and $1 million from private donations, which has yet to be fully raised.

That deal is expected to be finalized by January.

The Energy Act isn’t quite a done deal. While it passed the Senate by a 85-12 majority, the bill still needs to be reconciled with a House version.

The bill also has provisions to promote renewable energy sources, improve the energy efficiency of buildings, cut some greenhouse gases and streamlines the process for the U.S. to export natural gas to other countries.

From a Montana standpoint, it extends licenses for Montana’s Clark Canyon and Gibson dam projects. The bill also reauthorizes the North American Wetlands Conservation Act through 2019 and requires that most Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands be open for hunting, fishing, and shooting.