As per the guidance laid out in the Dingell Act of 2019 and the Great American Outdoors Act of 2020, the Department of the Interior was required to publish a list of allocations for the full and permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund by November 2, 2020.
The Trump Administration missed this deadline and refused to provide an explanation.
Phil Francis, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, explained:
“By large, bipartisan margins, Congress voted to pass the Great American Outdoors Act and fully fund the highly popular Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). With over 40,000 collective years of stewardship of America’s national parks, we know that the process to allocate LWCF spending should have been straightforward – it was all clearly laid out by Congressional legislation.
“The failure of this Administration and the Department of the Interior to produce this list in a timely manner is deeply concerning and undermines Congress’ ability to provide meaningful oversight.
“These delays suggest an effort by Secretary Bernhardt to circumvent the will of the American people and Congress. That is unacceptable and will not stand.
“Each and every one of the projects that was not put forth by the Administration is a massive, missed opportunity, adding to a vast backlog of unmet needs across the National Park System.”