A bill that would create a new mechanism for using mediation to resolve environmental conflicts involving one or more federal natural resource agencies is headed for passage in Congress next year.
The bill, introduced last March by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., passed the Senate in October. The House passed an identical measure in November, but since it had a different bill number, it will have to be reintroduced in the Senate early next year before it can be passed on to the President.
The bill would set up a U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution in Tucson. The Institute would become part of the Morris Udall Foundation, a quasi-government body established by Congress in 1992 in honor of the former Arizona representative and unsuccessful candidate for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination.
McCain's bill would allow the Institute to train environmental conciliators and mediators and permit it to coordinate federal mediation efforts on the environment.
"Environmental conflicts are growing in number and in the uncertainty of their outcomes," says John Raidt, staff director of the Senate Commerce Committee. "Resolving them is costly and takes a lot of time."
"The courts are not good at setting public policy and Congress is not good at resolving highly technical issues," Raidt says. "Wouldn't it be good to have a place where the parties can work out their own solutions without turning to Congress or the courts?"
Jeffrey P. Cohn is a freelance writer who covers environmental and other issues for Government Executive.
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