Mike Thompson: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the Democratic lead on the conservation easement bill…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the Democratic lead on the conservation easement bill and to very regrettably say that I rise in opposition to this bill that I think so highly of. I don't disagree with the policy. I don't disagree with the need for certainty, something that has been referred to many times today. And I don't disagree that the way the Republicans did it last year--in the last 2 weeks and doing it retroactively--I don't disagree that that was the wrong way to do it. I have worked for permanency on conservation easements ever since Chairman Camp and I passed the big expansion in 2006. I have been the Democratic lead in every Congress to make conservation easements permanent. Conservation easements are good public policy. They protect open space. They protect important ag lands. They protect important wildlife habitat. They are essential for clean air and clean water. They are essential for locally sourced good, healthy food. They are important to hunters, to fishermen, to conservationists. They are important to people who live in rural areas and they are important to people who live in urban areas. Nowhere is that more apparent than what happened in New York. We were able to save New York City from having to spend $8 billion in building a water filtration system because we were able to protect their watershed area, in large part through conservation easements. We all know that these are important.…”