The likelihood of passage of the bill that would bring the Valles Caldera into the National Park system is “unclear,” according to the spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), the primary sponsor of the legislation. A key cause for this uncertainty is the fact that the bill must be passed during the “lame-duck” session of Congress that will begin on Nov. 15 and end on Jan. 2, or the reset button would be hit for the entire process.
The legislation (S.3452, the Valles Caldera National Preserve Management Act), which was unanimously approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in August, has been eligible for a vote by the full Senate for three months. However, a spokesman for this committee indicated in August that S.3452 would likely not be voted on by the Senate as a standalone measure, but rather would be included in a proposed omnibus public lands bill, which would package together multiple pieces of legislation dealing with public lands into one bill.
The prospects of Congress passing such an omnibus bill are now uncertain, according to Bingaman’s office. “Sen. Bingaman is hopeful that we can get a public lands package passed,” Bingaman spokeswoman Jude McCartin told VallesCaldera.com, “but it’s unclear if we will have the time to get this passed through both chambers with bipartisan support.”
If the Valles Caldera legislation does not pass before the 111th Congress ends on Jan. 2, 2011, the bill would die. It would then have to be reintroduced and the process would have to begin anew if long-held aspirations by New Mexicans for the Park Service to manage the Valles Caldera are to be fulfilled.
It would appear that the next Congress might be reluctant to sign off on the Valles Caldera legislation, given the bitter partisanship that exists in Washington D.C., since the bill was introduced by New Mexico’s Democratic Senators, while Republicans will soon have control over the House of Representatives. However, the fact that Democrats retained control over the Senate in last week’s elections means that Sen. Bingaman will continue to chair the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, so he could easily reintroduce the Caldera legislation for another shot at passage.
Despite last week’s elections, the partisan makeup of Congress will not change until January, giving Sen. Bingaman a limited window of opportunity to pass this bill in the short term. However, Republicans currently have enough seats in the Senate to filibuster any measure that they desire, and it would be surprising if they decided to allow this bill to pass, given that it was introduced by a Democrat.
Support for a transfer of the Valles Caldera to the Park Service has been overwhelming, with the following individuals and organizations endorsing the legislation:
Valles Caldera National Preserve Board of Trustees
Los Alamos County Council (unanimous support)
Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce
Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque Journal North
Santa Fe New Mexican
Jemez Thunder
Pueblo of Jemez Gov. Joshua Madalena
Pueblo of Santa Clara Gov. Walter Dasheno
William DeBuys, Founding Chairman of the Valles Caldera Trust
New Mexico’s U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman (D) and Tom Udall (D)
New Mexico’s U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Lujan (D) and Martin Heinrich (D)
Los Alamos County Council Chairman Michael Wismer (I)
Los Alamos County Council Vice-Chair Sharon Stover (R)
Los Alamos County Councilman Michael Wheeler (D)
Los Alamos County Councilman Ralph Phelps (R)
Los Alamos County Councilman Robert Gibson (R)
Los Alamos County Councilman Vincent Chiravalle (R)
Los Alamos County Councilwoman Nona Bowman (R)
Republicans for Environmental Protection (New Mexico)
New Mexico Wildlife Federation
Los Alamos Mountaineers
Los Alamos Ski Club
Sierra Club (including the Rio Grande Chapter, the Pajarito Group, and the Central Group)
Audubon Society (including the National Audubon Society, the New Mexico Audubon Council, the Sangre de Cristo Audubon Society, and the Southwestern New Mexico Audubon Society)
Caldera Action
New Mexico Mountain Club
New Mexico Native Plant Society
New Mexico Trout
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
Trout Unlimited
National Parks Conservation Association
Center for Biological Diversity
Coalition of National Park Service Retirees
People United for Parks
and VallesCaldera.com.
