Landmark Conservation Bill Approved

 

The measure, a package of more than 160 bills, would set aside about 2 million acres (such as Red Rock Canyon In Nevada—shown here), which would include parks, rivers, streams, desert, forest and trails -- in nine states as new wilderness and render them off limits to oil and gas drilling and other development.

The Democratic-led U.S. Congress gave final approval on Wednesday to sweeping land and water conservation legislation that environmental groups praised as one of the most significant in U.S. history. The House of Representatives approved the measure on a vote of 285-140 a week after it cleared the Senate, capping years of wrangling and procedural roadblocks. It now goes to President Barack Obama to sign into law, which he is expected to do swiftly.

Opponents, most of them Republican, complained the legislation would deny access for oil and gas drilling and said House Democrats refused to consider changes.

The 2 million acres that would be designated as new wilderness are mostly in California, followed by Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico and Michigan. Separately, the legislation would permanently protect and restore a 26 million-acre (10.5 million-hectare) system composed of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s most historic and scenic lands and waters, including the Canyons of the Ancients in Colorado and Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.