​During a Senate hearing this week officials from the Biden Administration extolled the conservation benefits from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). However, they failed to acknowledge the program is funded almost entirely by revenues generated from oil and natural gas production on public lands. If they did, they’d risk running afoul of Interior Sec. Deb Haaland, who’s keeping the financial benefits of federal oil and natural gas leasing on the down low while working to eliminate the program.
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​Testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Shannon Estenoz, the assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, celebrated the achievements possible under GAOA. She said the law combines “an historic financial commitment to conservation and recreation.” Speaking specifically about national parks funding, she called GAOA’s new Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) “a game changing investment program that is helping us to make meaningful progress on protecting high-priority assets”