Interior Secretary Deb Haaland recently announced Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks along with other public lands across Wyoming will receive $183.8 million for maintenance and repairs under the new Great American Outdoors Act.
However, Western Energy Alliance president Kathleen Sgamma says the state could see a significant reduction in conservation funding in the future because President Biden is risking the program’s largest source of revenues: oil and natural gas production on public lands.
Sgamma explains the investment for America’s national parks is not possible without oil and natural gas production on federal lands, which provides practically all the funding,” The act authorizes up to $1.9-billion annually, predominantly from oil and natural gas production on non-park, non-wilderness public lands, for maintenance and conservation in national parks and other protected public lands.
The act also permanently funds the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund to the tune of $900-million annually, which is exclusively generated from offshore oil and natural gas. Of the $1.6-billion available nationwide in 2021, Yellowstone National Park will receive $126.6-million and Grand Teton National Park will receive $51.4-million to address the backlog of infrastructure repairs
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