Manchin Celebrates Passage of EXPLORE Act

Washington, D.C. - Today, Senator Joe Manchin III (I-WV), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, celebrated final passage of the bipartisan Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation (EXPLORE) Act by the United States Senate after speaking in support of the legislation on the Senate Floor and asking for unanimous consent for its passage. The bill will now head to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“Every American deserves to enjoy the great outdoors, and I am proud that during my time as Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, we have made a focus of supporting our public lands and the outdoor recreation economy,” said Chairman Manchin. “This historic bipartisan legislation will greatly expand access to our scenic public lands and waters in West Virginia and around the country while strengthening the communities that surround these natural treasures.” 

The EXPLORE Act is a bipartisan piece of legislation that will improve the lives of outdoorsmen and women while expanding access to America's public lands and waters. It is supported by more than 100 outdoor organizations, including advocates for hunting, fishing, horseback riding, recreational boating, camping, rock climbing and more. 

The legislation will:

1. Improve access to public lands and waters for outdoor recreation

2. Modernize technology to improve visitor experiences, like increasing broadband connectivity and creating digital recreation passes

3. Streamline the permitting process and reduce fees for small businesses that depend on public land access

4. Protect rock climbing in iconic places and create new long-distance bike trails

5. Restore campgrounds and modernize infrastructure

6. Support gateway communities by addressing housing shortages and outdated infrastructure

7. Improve accessibility for military service members, veterans, individuals with disabilities and kids

To learn more, click here. 

A video of Chairman Manchin’s floor speech is available here and his remarks as prepared are below:

Mr. President,

In a moment, I’ll be asking for unanimous consent to pass the EXPLORE Act, a package of outdoor recreation legislation.

I am proud that during my time as Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, we have made a focus of supporting our public lands and the outdoor recreation economy.

One of the first things we did was pass the Dingell Act, which permanently authorized the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Just one year later, we passed the Great American Outdoors Act, which permanently funded the LWCF and provided nearly $2 billion per year for five years to address the deferred maintenance backlog on our federal recreational lands.

The same year we passed the Great American Outdoors Act, Senator Capito and I passed legislation designating the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in our home state.

Since that designation four years ago, visitation to that area jumped by more than 40 percent.

A year later, in 2021, Senator Barrasso and I introduce the America’s Outdoor Recreation Act, which is the basis of the EXPLORE Act.

We reported that bill out of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a bipartisan basis, and we tried very hard to pass that bill by the end of 2022, but ultimately we had some disagreements with the House.

However, Senator Barrasso and I were not ready to give up. We reintroduced the bill and were again able to report it out with a bipartisan voice vote.

Congressman Westerman, to his credit, introduced the EXPLORE Act last year, which includes nearly every provision of my bill along with some additional House priorities.

My and Senator Barrasso’s staff immediately got to work with the House to iron out the differences between the two bills, and we have had bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the negotiated text for more than 6 months.

We’ve tried for months to get that passed, but have been blocked along the way.

This late in December, we are simply out of runway.

I am willing to pass the House version without those negotiated changes so it can be sent straight to the President’s desk because that’s the path that is still available to us.

This is our last shot to get this important legislation done.