Baucus wants key bills passed before leaving

Sen. Max Baucus may leave office sooner than expected.

He announced his retirement back in April, but he was recently nominated U.S. ambassador to China by President Barack Obama and awaits confirmation by the Senate.

Baucus is hopeful he can get two key pieces of conservation legislation passed before he leaves. The Democrat is the sponsor of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act and the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act.

The former would prohibit any new oil and gas leases in the North Fork and Middle Fork of the Flathead River. The latter would add about 67,000 acres to the Bob Marshall Wilderness and designate 208,000 acres for a conservation management area that limits road building but preserves traditional uses like hunting, grazing and motorized recreation.

Both bills have been before Congress for two years and the clock is ticking, but Baucus is optimistic.

“These bills are top priorities for Max and he’s looking for every opportunity to bring them to the finish line,” the senator’s aide, Kathy Weber, said last week.

The National Parks Conservation Association is also calling on Congress to pass the North Fork bill soon.

“The legislation costs taxpayers nothing, protects the engines driving our region’s economy, and honors all private property. It not only protects Glacier National Park but also the municipal water supply for the city of Whitefish as well as commercial operations at destinations such as Whitefish Mountain Resort,” NPCA Northern Rockies regional director Tim Stevens said last week. “The act has achieved widespread bipartisan support and is poised for quick Senate passage. We urge them to make it happen quickly.”

The North Fork bill also has the support of Montana Congressman Steve Daines, a Republican, but the Rocky Front bill has received a lukewarm response from him.

Traditionally, land use bills in Montana need bipartisan support to pass.

Montana hasn’t seen a new wilderness bill pass in decades. The last major land use bill with bipartisan support was a Montana wilderness bill in 1988.

That bill passed both houses of Congress but was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan as a favor to incoming Republican Sen. Conrad Burns.