The outdoor industry was energized Thursday when the chairman of the Senate Committee overseeing Secretary of Interior nominee Sally Jewells confirmation hearing acknowledged the positive economic impacts of outdoor recreation in his opening remarks at REI CEO Sally Jewell’s confirmation hearing as U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Americans are now spending $646 billion a year on outdoor recreation and generating nearly $40 billion in Federal tax revenue, so the economics of public lands have changed in America. said Sen. Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee (E&NRC). Recreation has become a big jobs engine and it will be good for our economy if it grows bigger.
The remarks validated two major public policy initiatives launched by Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) in recent years. First, was OIAs decision in 2006 to begin documenting and publicizing the economic impact of the outdoor recreation industry. Second, was its decision to create a political action committee in 2009 to back candidates for federal office. Five of the 22 members of the Senate E&NRC, including Wyden, have received OIAs Friend of the Outdoor Industry Award. As importantly, several national news organizations focused their coverage of the hearing last week on the growing economic impact of outdoor recreation.
While Jewell was widely praised at the hearing for her business experience, the hearing made clear that many Western senators are concerned she will favor conservation and recreation over oil, gas and other extractive uses of federal lands and waters. Jewel was the outdoor industrys most visible advocate during the first Obama Administration, serves on the National Parks Conservation Association and has been honored by the Audubon Society for her conservation work.
We need you to affirm that public lands provide not just a playground for recreational enthusiasts, but also paychecks for countless energy producers, miners, loggers, and ranchers, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK. The senator has pledged to block Jewells nomination if sitting Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar does not reverse a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service decision to block construction of a single lane, 10-mile gravel road through a national wildlife refuge needed to provide medical evacuations to a remote town.
Jewell, who worked four years as a petroleum engineer and 19 years as a commercial banker before being named CEO at REI in 2006, repeatedly assured Western senators that she supported Obamas all of the above energy policy, which emphasizes using the best scientific information available to ensure safe and responsible development. She said that leaning into oil and gas development is an important mission for the Department of Interior.
If confirmed, Jewell will be responsible for overseeing agencies that host more than 500 million visitors a year as well as the Bureau of Land Management which oversees 245 million acres of land and 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral rights. All told, DOI manages one fifth of the land in the United States, which most of it concentrated in the West.
Sally Jewell is the right person for this job, said OIA President and CEO Frank Hugelmeyer. It is critical that the needs of our nations public lands and waters are managed in a balanced and holistic manner to support the economy and create jobs. Ms. Jewell recognizes that this is not an ‘either-or choice.
