WASHINGTON, D.C. – Staff working the Cape Cod National Seashore could see another 10 years of employment following a House subcommittee meeting last week.
The hearing was centered around a House bill to reauthorize the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission for another decade.
“I was in Washington D.C. on Wednesday and I testified in front of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on national parks to support and urge the committee’s passage of the bill, H.R. 182, if people want to voice their support for it. That would simply reauthorize the Cape Cod National Seashore for another ten years and allow us to exist,” said advisory commission chairman Richard Delaney.
“It’s a necessary step. Congressman Keating has been terrific. He filed the bill early on this year.”
Deputy Director of the National Park Service P. Daniel Smith stated at the hearing that the Interior Department recommends the commission not be authorized at all, or at least reduced.
Congressman Bill Keating (D-Mass 9th District) spoke alongside Delaney, of Orleans, at the hearing and explained the necessity of having the commission.
“It’s a commission that’s been in existence for over 60 years. I said to Congress it really was the key to the establishment of Cape Cod National Seashore because frankly, there was a lot of local opposition to a federally run organization that overlays many of the towns here,” Delaney said.
“Hopefully, before too many months go by we have a reauthorized committee and then we’re back to the kind of push and tug with the Department of the Interior about when and how to schedule meetings.”
The House version of the bill passed unanimously last year. A vote on the House floor is the only procedural step remaining to reauthorize the commission.
The advisory commission meets with the Seashore Superintendent four to six times a year to discuss the protection of natural resources, land development, and wildlife protection, among other issues.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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