Examples of Earmarks in Farm Bill

The following earmarks were airdropped into the Farm Bill Conference Report, which recently passed the House of Representatives (worst ranked first):

1)  Plum Creek (section 15316)

This provision, sponsored by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, authorizes the issuance of $500 million in tax-credit "forest conservation bonds" to finance the sale of at least 40,000 acres of land adjacent to Forest Service land and "subject to a native fish habitat conservation plan approved by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service."  It enables the buyer to raise cash for the purchase by issuing tax-credit bonds, and would not have to pay most of the interest on the bonds because the bond-holder would receive tax credits instead.  That comes at a $202 million cost to taxpayers over 10 years, according to congressional scorekeepers.  The language is narrowly crafted that the application of the bonds could only be used for one specific property, appearing to benefit Seattle-based Plum Creek, the country's largest private landowner, as well as The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit group that has a history of land exchanges with Plum Creek and might make a bid for the Montana land in question.

2)  Salmon Recovery and Fishermen Relief (section 12034)

Speaker Pelosi and Rep. Thompson (D-CA) submitted this earmark, providing for a transfer of $170 million from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Commerce for the National Marine Fisheries Service.  The funds will be distributed to commercial and recreational members of fishing communities affected by the salmon crisis in California, Oregon, and Washington.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture argued the funds weren't needed because West Coast salmon fishermen received $60 million in federal aid two years ago.

3)  Desert Terminal Lakes (section 2807)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid championed $175 million in mandatory funding to provide water for desert lakes in his home state of Nevada.  It allows these funds to be used to lease or to purchase land, water appurtenant to the land, and related interests in the Walker River Basin from willing sellers.

4)  Green Mountain National Forest (section 8303)

An earmark sponsored by Senator Leahy, which provides for the federal government to sell portions of land in the Green Mountain National Forest to the Bromley Mountain Ski Resort, Inc.