Tag: grants
States Find Their Voice On Federal Land Use

States Find Their Voice On Federal Land Use

By Rebecca Beitsch, Stateline.org (TNS)

WASHINGTON — It’s a battle long fought, but seldom won: States want to gain control of federal land within their borders.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the U.S. Forest Service, and other federal agencies control vast swaths of the land in some Western states, as much as 80 percent in Nevada. But local residents are often frustrated with federal policies governing preservation, recreation or natural resource development. In particular, many question the federal government’s commitment to preventing natural disasters like forest fires.

When states do manage to recapture federal land, it tends to be smaller parcels the federal government cuts loose for a specific purpose, such as building a road or an airport. Occasionally Washington will sell a parcel that is surrounded by private property or serves no public purpose.

In 2015, all 11 Western states considered measures calling for the transfer of federal land to state control. But only a handful of bills passed, and none resulted in a transfer of land.

Those long odds, and a reluctance to spend state money on land management, have spurred some states to try a different approach. Instead of taking on the federal government in a futile fight for ownership, they are arming counties with money and expertise to help them convince federal officials to hew more closely to residents’ interests.

Colorado is one of the states at the forefront of this new approach. This year, state lawmakers there approved $1 million in grants for counties that want to influence federal land use decisions. County leaders can use the money to hire consultants to evaluate data, provide scientific research or attend BLM coordination meetings. The law authorizing the grants also requires state agencies to provide additional expertise and assistance to counties when they ask for it.

Democratic state Rep. KC Becker, a former attorney for the BLM, said many county leaders in Colorado don’t realize how much influence they can have with federal officials. She pointed to a “consistency provision” in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, a 1976 law governing BLM oversight of public land, which requires management that conforms, at least generally, to what local leaders want.

Becker and her Republican co-sponsor, Rep. Bob Rankin, said they wrote the bill to promote cooperation, rather than confrontation, with the federal government.

“Some people just want a takeover, but a lot of those state laws are more symbolic. I don’t want to make a point, I want to make a difference,” Becker said.

Rankin said the grants are useful to counties even in cases where local leaders are fundamentally opposed to federal policy. He pointed to oil drilling as an example. “Say they’re discussing the impact of a new drilling permit. Maybe the county is for it or maybe they’re against it, but they can have a consultant for the process,” he said. Rankin said the outside help can be used to better understand the process, provide outside analysis, and help draft county responses to federal proposals.

The first grant awarded under the Colorado program was for just under $25,000 to Gunnison County, home of the Gunnison sage-grouse.

The county is challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to place the bird on the federal endangered species list, arguing that its own conservation efforts on private land are sufficient.

The wildlife service’s designation also has prompted the BLM to make some changes. The agency is proposing amendments to the management plans covering the Gunnison sage-grouse habitat in multiple counties near the Utah-Colorado border.

Jim Cochran, the wildlife conservation coordinator for Gunnison County, said even as the lawsuit proceeds, the county is using the grant money to hire outside experts to track the 11 proposed amendments, which would likely effect grazing and recreation on public land.

Cochran, a wildlife biologist, said soil and range conservation experts are analyzing how land and soil is affected by animal and recreational use and are helping the county draft responses to the BLM proposals using that analysis.

“We’re partners in many things. But they’re federal, and we’re local, and we have different constituents,” Cochran said. “We’re working with them, but we’re very much concerned about protecting our interests.”

The BLM said its processes are meant to encourage public involvement.

“The BLM supports state and local efforts to engage with the BLM,” the agency said in a statement.

Utah is using multiple methods to get what it wants from federal land managers.

The state has not abandoned its attempt to get federal land into state hands. A 2012 state law called on the federal government to transfer to the state all public land that is not designated as a national park or wilderness area or owned by Native American tribes — about 30 million acres in total, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. State Rep. Ken Ivory, a Republican, said because the federal government did not comply with the 2012 law, the state has set aside $4 million for a lawsuit challenging federal control of the land and is assembling a legal team.

But at the same time, the state is pursuing other avenues to get what it wants. This year the state passed a law requiring every county in the state to develop a resource management plan.

State Senate Republican Majority Leader Ralph Okerlund, who sponsored the legislation, said the new requirement not only helps create a statewide plan, but it also prepares counties to deal with the federal government and argue that federal plans should be consistent with theirs.

Some Utah counties have long coordinated with the federal government on land issues, but other areas that are more sparsely populated never had the money to develop thorough plans.

The state office of public land policy could serve as a resource for interested counties, but the onus is now on counties to have a plan in place — and the state will cover half the cost.

Mike Worthen, the natural resource management specialist for Iron County, said not all counties are aware of how involved they can be in the federal planning process or of government regulations requiring consistency. He said it’s important for counties to have a plan in place before any federal level changes are proposed.

“Otherwise they falter when they don’t have an adequate county resource plan to explain what they want, and then they have nothing to fall back on when the federal government comes back with a proposal,” Worthen said.

Okerlund said counties should generally have a vision for the land within their boundaries, but requiring the plans helps them make decisions about how land and natural resources should be used before the federal government does.

“Local governments ought to be involved in the process, but to do that they need a plan that shows how the resources in their jurisdiction are important to them and how to use them,” he said.

Photo: States want to gain control of federal land within their borders. (Chris Adams/MCT)

Two Years After Hurricane Sandy, Thousands Await Aid To Rebuild

Two Years After Hurricane Sandy, Thousands Await Aid To Rebuild

By Maddie Hanna and Andrew Seidman, The Philadelphia Inquirer

TRENTON, N.J. — Two years after Hurricane Sandy battered the Jersey Shore, the state has distributed about a quarter of the money allocated by the federal government, as thousands of homeowners await aid to rebuild.

Of the $3.26 billion the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has provided to New Jersey, state officials say they had paid out $802 million as of Sept. 30. More than half of the money went to homeowners. Some went to businesses, municipalities and housing developers.

The federal government provided its first allocation, $1.8 billion, to the state about seven months after the storm. The state has yet to distribute any of the $1.46 billion approved by HUD in May. A final round of $880 million is expected next spring.

That round, state officials say, will be enough to cover everyone on the waiting list for the state’s main housing fund, the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation program, which offers homeowners grants of up to $150,000. The state has given $10,000 grants to 18,500 people to encourage them to stay in their communities.

Some people also have received aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has given out $422 million in housing and other assistance.

For those awaiting money, the recovery effort has not moved fast enough.

“Why, after two years, are people still out of their homes?” said Sandy Trebour, who began to rebuild her Sandy-destroyed house in Brick with help from a flood-insurance payout, but is awaiting a RREM grant to finish.

Trebour, who received some state assistance to rent a home, said she and her husband have had to run through their savings while also making mortgage payments.

“I don’t know how anything can take two years when you have people out of their homes,” she said.

Of 630 New Jersey residents tracked by the Monmouth University Polling Institute who were forced from their homes for at least a month after Sandy or whose home sustained $8,000 in damages, 40 percent were still displaced, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Just one in three of those surveyed reported being satisfied with the state’s recovery effort, and 71 percent said they felt they had been forgotten. The survey results statistically do not represent the broader population of residents recovering from Sandy, the institute said, but still show the effect of the recovery’s slow pace.

State officials said last week that of 8,900 homeowners preliminarily approved for the RREM program, about half had signed grant agreements. As of Sept. 30, the state had disbursed $285 million to homeowners in the program, officials said.

An additional 2,100 people remain on a waiting list. More people could become eligible for grants depending on a state review of applications initially rejected.

By comparison, New York City has distributed $58 million to help repair 150 homes and start construction at 700 others. New York state has awarded $495 million to 9,500 homeowners through its main housing program, but they have not all received the full amount yet.

About 6,000 other applicants are awaiting aid or will not be eligible, said a spokeswoman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The Oct. 29, 2012, storm caused 117 deaths in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut and Maryland. In New Jersey, it caused severe or major damage to 40,500 owner-occupied homes and 15,600 rental units, and unprecedented property and economic damages, the state said.

Touting progress in the state’s recovery last week at a fire station in Toms River, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said rebuilding would be “a multi-year effort.”

While businesses and infrastructure have been repaired, Christie said, “housing is going to take the longest.” He said the mayor of Biloxi, Miss., recently told him it took eight years to rebuild housing there after Hurricane Katrina.

“This is long, painstaking, difficult work,” Christie said, acknowledging residents’ frustration. “It’s been frustrating for me, too.”

Residents in the station applauded, though some also expressed concerns about the governor’s handling of the recovery. “He had a forceful presence in the very beginning,” said Carol Raab Davis, who is waiting for a grant to elevate her house in Toms River. “And then, when a year passed, everyone felt we should be home.”

The state’s recovery effort has come under fire for a number of reasons, including the firing of the contractor in charge of the RREM program, allegations that the grant process had been politicized, and complaints from housing advocates that the state assigned too little priority to helping renters.

A Christie spokesman did not make the governor available for an interview for this article.

State officials have said their efforts were hampered by the federal government’s initial delay in allocating money and remained slowed by red tape, including required environmental reviews of damaged properties.

Critics have said the state should have performed those reviews for homeowners more quickly — a step it is now taking, said Lisa Ryan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Community Affairs.

Other recent changes to the RREM program cited by Ryan include giving grant applicants the options to email and fax documents instead of driving them to a housing center; to receive a 50 percent advance payment upon signing a grant award; and to choose their own contractors.

In the past, the state offered homeowners the option of using a preapproved contractor rather than finding their own.

That approach caused problems for Frank and Pat Sinquett, who in January were awarded $150,000 to rebuild their house in Brick.

Ten months later, they aren’t back home, after RREM rejected estimates by state-approved contractors as too expensive, Frank Sinquett said.

After the couple found their own contractor and got their plans approved, they had to wait for permits from the township.

“We’re very grateful to get the money,” Sinquett said. “But it’s a shame it takes so long.”

Ryan, the Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman, said the state could not comment on specific cases because of federal privacy regulations.

Complicating the state’s recovery was its decision to hire Hammerman & Gainer Inc., a Louisiana firm that oversaw a Katrina grant program.

New Jersey fired HGI in December, six months into the job, later citing poor performance. HGI improperly rejected scores of applications for aid. In a settlement agreement with several advocacy groups, the state in May agreed to review the rejected applications. Ryan said that review was ongoing.

New Jersey has paid HGI $36 million; the company says the state still owes it $22 million. Arbitration is scheduled for April.

The state has paid $75 million to six other contractors currently assisting with housing programs, state data show. It owes them $40 million more.

Homeowners who have been promised money say it isn’t always quick to arrive. Tom Largey said that when his parents signed a grant agreement Sept. 3 for $150,000, they were told they would get the money in installments over six to eight weeks.

So far, they’ve received one check for $7,193 to rebuild their Sea Bright home — and were recently told it would be an additional five to six weeks before more money would be released.

“There’s always an excuse, there’s always a delay, there’s always another equivocation,” Largey said.

Some back in their homes also await resolution.

Debbie Fortier and her husband, Tom, moved into a new house in Brick this month, though they have yet to be awarded money after being taken off the RREM program wait-list in July. They hope to be reimbursed for $25,000 they spent trying to repair their original home before township officials said they had to tear it down.

While Debbie Fortier is glad to be home, elsewhere along her street, neighbors are just starting to knock houses down.

“I feel bad,” she said. “I know what they have to go through.”

Photo via Flickr

Want more national and political news? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Nation’s New Arts Promoter-In-Chief Knows The Landscape

Nation’s New Arts Promoter-In-Chief Knows The Landscape

By Maria Recio, McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The new offices of the National Endowment for the Arts are ultra-modern: A glass-enclosed, transparent, updated look that is exactly what the new chairman wants the once-controversial agency to be.

R. Jane Chu, well-regarded in arts circles though barely known by the general public, since June has been the top cultural official of the U.S. government, overseeing nearly $150 million in grants, encouraging artists and artistic activity, and promoting arts in a more welcoming climate than during the culture wars of the 1980s and ’90s.

She does not preside from the classic “corner office,” but rather from a sparse glass office, off a conference room, decorated with a single white orchid. But the conference room showcases something telling about the new chairman: one of her paintings, a colorful closeup of a rumpled quilt with an Amish double wedding band pattern.

It is a modern interpretation of a classic, which is very much what Chu is bringing to the job.

“There’s something symbolic about it,” she said of her painting.

Chu, whose first name is Rose but she goes by Jane, is a cultural powerhouse of her own. Slender, elegantly turned out in a subdued gray suit, the new face of American arts rocks a short, spiky salt-and-pepper hairstyle that at 56 she effortlessly pulls off.

Chu made her professional name in Kansas City, Missouri, where she was involved in the arts for 20 years. From 2006 until being confirmed by the Senate as the NEA chief in June, she was the president and chief executive of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

Her resume covers the breadth of the arts. She is an artist, a pianist, and an educator with multiple degrees, including an associate of arts degree, two bachelor degrees, two master’s — one in business — and a doctorate in philanthropic studies.

Chu, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, was born in Oklahoma and raised in Arkansas with parents who spoke Mandarin. “I grew up navigating cultures,” said Chu, who speaks with a faint Southern accent.

And for the high-achieving Chu, it was the arts that were her “beautiful channel.” She loved drawing and painting — she still draws constantly — as well as playing the piano.

The NEA has needed diplomatic skills in the past, when it drew conservative fire for supporting controversial exhibits, such as one showcasing Robert Mapplethorpe, whose homoerotic photographs sparked cries to eliminate federal arts funding altogether.

After a period of relative calm in the 2000s, the NEA has had stable funding for a number of years, now at $146 million for fiscal 2014. The high point in the past 10 years was $167.5 million in fiscal 2010.

Chu is determined to debunk the persistent impression that the NEA promotes cultural elitism. The charge, and an alleged bias toward New York City, has dogged the agency. The NEA has a variety of programs, including a rural initiative and “Our Town” grants that are arts projects connected to community development.

In August, Chu toured Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where a $75,000 NEA grant will fund public art to decorate unsightly highway overpasses.

Some critics still maintain the federal government should not be in the arts business at all.

“Even Kickstarter raises more money for the arts than is available from NEA’s budget,” said Romina Boccia, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution, referring to the crowd-funding site. “Federal funding for the arts is neither necessary nor within the proper scope of the federal government. … The NEA should be eliminated.”

Photo: Abaca Press/MCT/Olivier Douliery

Interested in U.S. politics? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!