WASHINGTON, D.C. —The CORE Act received its first committee vote before the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, a moment Sen. John Hickenlooper described as a high watermark for the long-debated bill.
The CORE Act, which stands for Colorado Outdoor Recreation & Economy, aims to protect roughly 400,000 acres of public lands in Colorado — adding 20,196 acres to the nearby Eagles Nest, Ptarmigan Peak, and Holy Cross wilderness areas — and also creates new wildlife conservation areas and a first-ever National Historic Landscape designation for Camp Hale. The bill would also create the Tenmile Recreation Management Area to preserve access to a wide range of recreational sports. It has passed the U.S. House of Representatives four times.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources contains 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, so there are few surprised when committee votes result in a tie.
Such was the fate of the CORE Act on Tuesday — but that doesn’t necessarily mean the legislation won’t receive a vote in the full Senate.
The tie vote Tuesday allows Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to file a discharge motion which, if approved, would absolve the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of its duty to recommend the bill for a vote of the full Senate. It can then be placed on the Senate’s executive calendar, which would allow the Senate to proceed with consideration of the bill for a final vote.
Thompson Divide survives test
Republicans were steadfast in their disapproval of the CORE Act’s creation of areas where new mining and mineral leases won’t be issued on federal lands.
“We need to increase American development of energy and critical minerals,” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. “Now isn’t the time to be permanently withdrawing federal land.”
Roughly 200,000 acres in the Thompson Divide area, which the CORE Act seeks to protect approximately from the impacts of new oil and gas leasing, was debated separately in a proposed amendment to the CORE Act, which would exclude the Thompson Divide provisions from the bill.
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah referenced a recent quote from President Biden in offering the amendment, in which Biden pledged to use “every tool at our disposal” to limit the effect on gas prices in the U.S. caused by sanctions against Russia.
“Back in 2014, the Forest Service estimated that this area still has a high occurrence of oil and gas resources with a high potential for continued development and production,” Lee said. “In the words of the president, we should be using every tool in the toolbox to boost domestic production, and not stifle it.”
Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said his state is the No. 2 producer of oil and gas in the nation.
“I wish I could say that as we have increased our production that some of the savings would find their way to the gas pump. They have not,” Heinrich said.
Hickenlooper reminded his colleagues that he spent a number of years working in the oil and gas industry. The Thompson Divide area “has some natural gas, but the cost of exploring and putting in a pipeline would never justify production,” Hickenlooper said. “There’s just not enough production that would come out of it. We also respect existing drilling rights, so the currently held leases would be protected, if someone wanted to drill on those leases, they remain effective and intact.”
The amendment received a 10-10 vote on party lines and was not added to the CORE Act.
Camp Hale not supported by Republicans
In an ironic twist, the bill’s celebration of the WWII training ground at Camp Hale — once seen as a way to help in garnering conservative approval of the bill — was listed as a reason for Republicans in the Senate Committee on…