The vote is on the Hansen (R-UT) Amendment to the Udall Substitute bill (HR 2379), to eliminate those parts of the bill designed to protect National Parks from threats occurring outside the actual park boundaries but near their borders. The Reagan Administration has supported a number of development projects next to National Parks which could hurt the Parks. For example, Reagan has supported a strip mining project only a few miles from scenic Yovimpa Point in Bryce Canyon National Park, a spot visited by 400,000 people each year. The Administration also proposed a coal lease sale which would damage or destroy archaeological artifacts in Chaco Cultural National Historic Park, and is considering siting a high level nuclear waste dump within a mile of Canyonlands National Park.

Partly in response to the actions, the House voted to require the Secretary of the Interior to evaluate the impact of any proposed sale, lease or use permit for any federal lands next to National Parks. The Secretary's finding would then be reported to Congress to give it a chance for review. The Hansen Amendment would have eliminated this protection, which author John Seiberling (D-OH) called the most important provision in the bill. The Hansen Amendment would also have deprived the public of access to the courts to enforce any of the provisions of the Act.

Hansen Amendment rejected 160-245; October 4, 1983. NO is the pro-environmental vote.