Congressman Fred Upton is pushing for passage of a bill designed to ensure more money is set aside for the protection of national parks. The Great American Outdoors Act has already passed the Senate and could get a House vote next week. Upton tells WSJM News there’s a huge backlog of maintenance work at national parks.
“We have a lot of wonderful national parks dating back to the Teddy Roosevelt days, and frankly, the maintenance on these parks has been pretty dismal over the last several years,” Upton said. “They haven’t had the resources to maintain them the way that they should and to protect them for generations to come.”
The act would take royalties from oil and gas drilling on public lands and use them to offset the national park maintenance backlog.
“In essence, about a $2 billion boost per year for our parks to make sure that they stay in the shape that we want them to be.”
The bill would provide full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Upton’s Problem Solvers Caucus has endorsed it.
