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Washington • The Obama administration said Wednesday it opposes legislation by Rep. Rob Bishop to overhaul a public-lands conservation program, arguing the Utah Republican's efforts would hamper efforts to preserve recreation areas and instead divert funds to the oil and gas industry.

"The draft bill proposes overly prescriptive, top-down and arbitrary limits on federal-lands acquisition, which would undermine efforts to create, protect and preserve public access to some of our nation's most important outdoor spaces," Kristen J. Sarri, principal deputy assistant Interior Department secretary, said in written testimony Wednesday to the House Natural Resources Committee.

The Obama administration opposes Bishop's legislation, she added, and supports passage of another bill — with 195 co-sponsors — to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund in its current form.

"From building city parks and trails and boat ramps, to protecting iconic places such as Glacier National Park or the Gettysburg battlefield, to providing important access for wildlife, the LWCF is one of the best tools our nation has to enrich the great outdoors for all Americans," Sarri said.

Bishop's legislation would require more money from the fund — which is paid for by oil and gas royalties and not taxpayers — to go to grants to states; significantly restrict how much land the federal government can buy in the West; and pour new cash into education and training for oil and gas industry workers.

The Utah Republican and chairman of the Natural Resources Committee has held up hearings on a reauthorization of the 50-year-old program, which has bipartisan support, as he proposes his revamp.

He says the program has become a "slush fund" for the Interior Department to buy more land while it can't maintain the millions of acres it already owns.

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, the top Democrat on the committee, said the goal of Bishop's legislation is to take away "one of the most popular and effective tools we have to affect" the quality of life for Americans and shift part of it to a subsidy for the oil and gas industry and promote more development.

The amount of money flowing to state grants has fluctuated over time, he said, and Bishop's complaint about the lack of such funding is an "attempt to conceal the real agenda behind the whole debate."

Grijalva presented a letter signed by himself and a dozen other Democrats on the committee demanding, under House rules, another hearing, with witnesses called by the minority side. Bishop said that he would be happy to hold such a hearing on a Sunday morning before adding that he was joking.

Bishop said there would be another hearing and Democrats could "invite witnesses; you can invite anyone you'd like to."

While Democrats and the Obama administration are raising concerns about his bill, Bishop contends he really is pushing to give more money to projects that Americans want, such as recreation opportunities and preserving battlefields and not just buying up more land.

He added that the oil and gas industry is going overseas to find workers because there aren't enough trained and educated Americans ready to take the jobs, and that shifting money to helping that industry's workforce will keep the Land and Water Conservation Fund afloat.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the federal government does a "horrible" job in managing the lands it owns and agencies are now just buying land for themselves and not for the American people. He backed Bishop's legislation as a new approach to fix the program.

"It needs tuning; it needs pruning; it needs a different result," Young said.

The oil and gas industry is Bishop's top source of donations — $49,500 this election cycle and $280,000 over his career, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The industry is Young's second biggest contributor this election, donating $28,000, and No. 1 during his career — kicking in $1.3 million.

Bishop has faced a backlash from conservationists who say he's trying to kill a successful program. One group, the Western Values Project, ran a TV spot in Washington against Bishop during the last GOP presidential debate.

Travis Campbell, the president of the outdoor recreation company Far Banks Enterprise, said there were some good goals of Bishop's bill such as ensuring more money for state and urban parks, but also some parts that need to be cut, such as diverting money to oil and gas industry worker training.

He said a reauthorization of the current program would ensure Americans can reap the benefits of access to a forest or a refuge or for children to play in a neighborhood park.

"Recreation has no boundaries," Campbell said. "Sportsmen, hikers, mountain bikers and paddlers don't see state or federal lands, they see the great outdoors."