The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday defeated a bill that would have set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as wilderness, including 315,000 acres in Colorado.
The bill would have increased protection of 250,000 acres in Rocky Mountain National Park and also created the 65,000-acre Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area on the Uncompahgre Plateau, south of Grand Junction.
The vote was 282-144 — two votes short of the two-thirds needed for passage.
Colorado’s Democratic delegation voted for the legislation. Republicans Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs and Mike Coffman of Aurora voted against the bill.
“Aspects of this bill are good for my constituents and the people of Colorado, however, this legislation is deeply flawed,” Lamborn said in a statement.
Coffman said the public-lands bill had been “irresponsibly moved directly to the House floor for a vote without the benefit of a single public hearing.”
Lamborn’s and Coffman’s votes drew fire from Colorado environmentalists.
“This bill had bipartisan support, but despite that, Rep. Lamborn and Rep. Coffman still chose to vote against Rocky Mountain National Park and Dominguez Canyon,” said Matt Garrington, field director of Environment Colorado.
The bill, which passed through the Senate in January, sought the largest expansion of the country’s wilderness lands in 15 years.
Democratic leaders said they would bring the bill back, but they did not say when or in what form.
Cost tapped in disputes
“There are a lot of good bills, sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans, contained in (the lands bill) that deserve passage,” said Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “We will continue to determine the best course of action to advance these measures.”
House debate on the bill turned contentious, as Republicans complained that the measure would cost up to $10 billion.
The bill included $195 million for the $300 million Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to move water from the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork rivers to the Arkansas River basin.
Project manager Phil Reynolds said in an interview before the vote that without federal help, it would be difficult to build the water project.
The bill would have created the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, 210,000 acres of land encompassing the Dominguez wilderness area.
Republicans argued that the wilderness bill would have blocked oil and gas development on millions of acres of federal property.
The special rules that blocked most amendments and required two-thirds support for passage were also a target of Republican ire.
1,200-page “monster”
Such rules are usually reserved for noncontroversial bills, and using it was “an extreme abuse of the process,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash.
Hastings also criticized the omnibus bill — a collection of 170 individual land bills — as “a 1,200-page monster piece of legislation.”
Democrats disputed that, adding that the bill was among the most important conservation measures debated in the House in many years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
