Second Regular Session
Sixty-first General Assembly
LLS NO. R980191.01 DHG
STATE OF COLORADO
BY REPRESENTATIVES Musgrave, Entz, and Young;
also SENATOR Ament.
AGR., LIVESTOCK & NATURAL
RESOURCES
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-1023
WHEREAS, The Clinton Administration announced the
intent to initiate the American Heritage Rivers Initiative by
executive order in the Federal Register on May 19, 1997,
and reissued the order on June 20, 1997, without Congressional
approval; and
WHEREAS, The American Heritage Rivers Initiative
(AHRI) would designate ten American waterways as "Heritage
Rivers", each to be overseen by a "River Navigator"
appointed by the President at a salary of $100,000 per year, who
would coordinate the efforts of thirteen federal agencies that
would, in turn, advise local communities on river restoration
projects; and
WHEREAS, Although the AHRI has been promoted by the
Administration as a "grassroots", "bottom-up"
initiative, the designation of rivers and river segments for the
program and the selection of the River Navigator exclude any local
input; and
WHEREAS, The authority asserted by the Executive
Branch to initiate the AHRI through executive order is without
constitutional basis and circumvents the legislative process;
and
WHEREAS, The AHRI is not needed because, as was noted
in the Federal Register announcement, "Communities
across America are working to revitalize their waterfronts and
to enhance the historic, cultural, recreational, economic, public
health, and environmental values of their rivers"; and
WHEREAS, Such communitybased efforts, such
as the Yampa, Arkansas, and South Platte Riverfront projects in
Colorado, have enjoyed tremendous success and have avoided the
costs and inefficiencies associated with the involvement of thirteen
federal agencies; and
WHEREAS, The intrusion of a "River Navigator",
who is envisioned under the AHRI to be the final arbiter over
decisions related to Heritage Rivers, into local land use and
water resource decisionmaking effectively usurps local control
and stifles local decisionmaking and may lead to de facto
federal land use and water allocation regulations without any
statutory authority; and
WHEREAS, Such intrusion by the "River Navigator"
could well lead to inappropriate influence on decisionmaking
regarding the distribution of federal funds; and
WHEREAS, Although the AHRI program is purported to
be voluntary, no provision in the AHRI prevents a selection council
from nominating a river over the objections of private landowners
based on the support of entities in the area that have no property
or economic interests in the river basin; and
WHEREAS, The AHRI is contrary to the current Administration's
"Reinventing Government" program, which includes the
principles of less government and less cost to the taxpayer; now,
therefore,
Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives
of the Sixtyfirst General Assembly of the State of Colorado,
the Senate concurring herein:
1. That we, the members of the Colorado
General Assembly, hereby request that no rivers in Colorado be
designated as "Heritage Rivers" under the American Heritage
Rivers Initiative;
2. That we, the members of the Colorado
General Assembly, hereby request the withdrawal of the American
Heritage Rivers Initiative;
3. That we, the members of the Colorado
General Assembly, hereby request the Congress of the United States
to withhold funding for the implementation of the American Heritage
Rivers Initiative.
Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent to each member of Colorado's Congressional delegation.