Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 148 - Michigan Wilderness

(House)
(Rep. Kildee (D) Michigan and 11 others)

The administration has no objection to House passage of H.R. 148, but will seek amendments in the Senate to:

— either delete the provision designating the Nordhouse Dunes as wilderness because the subsurface rights are in private ownership and have a high potential for significant oil and gas reserves, which would probably result in costly Federal acquisition of such rights, or expressly preserve the private owner's access to the subsurface;

— restrict any Federal acquisition of land interests in the wildernesses designated by the bill to land exchanges, to avoid direct Fedeial budget costs; and

— conform the rest of the wilderness designations to the administration's recommendations, including deletion of the proposed Delirium and Les Cheneaux Island wildernesses, because the former contains too many remnants of past development to qualify as wilderness and the latter is too small and too close to an adjacent private island to offer quality wilderness recreation.