Weekly Newsletter | March 15, 2019
Issues
New bill proposed to limit development oversight on nonfederal lands. This week, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney proposed “Ending Duplicative Permitting Act,” H.R. 1650, a bill intended to amend the Mineral Leasing Act to forbid the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from requiring oil and gas companies to obtain permits to drill for federally owned mineral resources on private and other nonfederal lands when less than half the mineral resources are federally owned.
Cheney’s bill is nearly identical to legislation filed last year by then-New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce (R) and, like the earlier legislation, Cheney’s bill would require only that the company provide the Interior secretary with a copy of the state permit authorizing the drilling activity; once done, drilling “may commence” within 30 days.
Such exploratory or production drilling would be “categorically excluded” from further environmental analysis required under the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as from further consultation or analysis under the Endangered Species Act.
The Natural Resources Committee voted to approve Pearce’s bill, 18-13 and Cheney was one of six GOP co-sponsors. Similarly, Cheney’s current version of the bill has four co-sponsors, all Republicans: Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Duncan Hunter of California and Mark Meadows of North Carolina.
House Natural Resources Subcommittee warned of failing conservation efforts. Earlier this week, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife convened a panel as part of what the subcommittee chairman, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), billed as a WOW 101 session. Prior hearings in the series included one on water supply reliability and another on oceans. During the discussion, guest panelists warned that current conservation efforts were failing and suggested updating some key legislation – namely, the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
“Litigation has plagued the recovery process to the point where many have jokingly likened the ESA to the ‘Hotel California,’ where species check in but never check out,” Oregon rancher Rodger Huffman insisted on behalf of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and other groups.
Hearing the concern, Chairman Huffman responded in kind saying, “We’ve got a lot of work to do, to hold this administration accountable, and to bring forward new and good ideas.”
In the News
Reclamation drought plan would nix environmental reviews. E&E News, Sub req’d. As the Trump administration moves toward a drought contingency plan for the Colorado River, the Bureau of Reclamation is pushing legislation that would exempt its work from environmental reviews. That includes potential impacts on what has emerged as a major sticking point in the drought negotiations: Southern California’s Salton Sea, a public health and ecological disaster. Draft legislation obtained by E&E News would authorize the Interior secretary to implement the drought plan “notwithstanding any other provision of law” and “without delay.” “When you combine those two phrases together, you are essentially trying to override laws to say it doesn’t matter what other laws say, you shall do ‘X,'” said Kim Delfino, an attorney with Defenders of Wildlife. “It is not irrational to believe there will be a public clamor, if not an outright demand, to find that water in the Imperial Valley,” IID General Manager Henry Martinez told Metropolitan earlier this week. And that’s when the “notwithstanding” language would matter. If the extra shortage water comes from the Imperial Valley, it would undoubtedly further reduce inflows to the Salton Sea and expose more of its lake bed. Such a move should theoretically trigger a review under the National Environmental Policy Act and, potentially, the Endangered Species Act. IID says the “notwithstanding” language would shield Interior from that liability.
Panel hears dire warnings on wildlife. E&E News, Sub req’d. Lawmakers yesterday heard decidedly dire reviews about the state of wildlife, as well as a few hopeful suggestions, in a congressional hearing that could help set the stage for future action. Some witnesses offered explicit warnings to members of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife. “A growing body of evidence points to the disturbingly unambiguous conclusion that we are losing the war to save wildlife,” former Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe testified. “We are losing locally, nationally and globally. We are losing daily, monthly and yearly.” Ashe is now president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Another former FWS director, Jamie Rappaport Clark, largely shared his somber assessment. Clark is now president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife. “More and more species, such as the southern resident orca population, teeter on the brink of extinction,” Clark testified, “and vital and irreplaceable wildlife habitats, such as the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, are at grave risk of industrialization.” At the same time, Christy Plumer, chief conservation officer for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said that “congressional opportunities exist to support the nation’s fish and wildlife and advance conservation.”
DOJ budget would help feds take border land. E&E News, Sub req’d. The overall budget for the Justice Department’s environmental team would stay mostly flat under President Trump’s proposal for fiscal 2020, but it would shuffle money to fund an increase in staff focused on border wall issues. The White House spending blueprint unveiled yesterday requests $110.5 million for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, which prosecutes environmental crimes and defends EPA, the Interior Department and other agencies in the courtroom. The division’s current appropriation is $109.4 million, an agency spokesman said yesterday. The proposal outlines ENRD’s growing caseload for litigation involving infrastructure development and the Trump administration’s aggressive development of federal fossil fuels, but it doesn’t direct any new money to those areas. The only significant program change is nearly $1 million for an additional six attorneys and four staffers focused on securing land for border security projects along the U.S.-Mexico line.
Trump offers $200B, looks to Congress for details. E&E News, Sub req’d. President Trump’s fiscal 2020 budget request offers a window into his administration’s thinking on infrastructure policy, as Congress looks to move a broad infrastructure package by late spring. It’s a big change from last year. When the fiscal 2019 budget request came out last spring, the White House was pushing a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that relied heavily on leveraging investment from the private sector. This year, the White House is sitting on the sidelines, and the ball is in Congress’ court. Lawmakers are hoping to muscle through a broad infrastructure bill by May, although significant hurdles remain. With a nod toward the talks on the Hill, the president’s budget request would provide a down payment of $200 billion for “infrastructure priorities,” according to a fact sheet released by the White House. “The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress to develop a package that will significantly improve the Nation’s infrastructure, and the Budget includes $200 billion towards this effort,” the fact sheet says.
Dems spar with fisheries chief over seismic surveys. E&E News, Sub req’d. House Democrats grilled NOAA Fisheries chief Chris Oliver yesterday over the agency’s plan to allow new energy searches in the Atlantic Ocean, charging him with ignoring science and doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry. Testifying before a House Natural Resources panel, Oliver defended his agency’s November decision to let seismic testing proceed and countered Democrats’ assertions that the loud air gun blasts used in exploration pose a significant threat to endangered North Atlantic right whales. “They will have a negligible impact,” Oliver told the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife. Democrats on the panel were quick to pounce on Oliver, President Trump’s fisheries chief since 2017. “These air gun blasts happen every 10 seconds, for hours on end, for weeks on end, to a species that calls the ocean home,” Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) told Oliver. “There are literally bombs going off for those animals every 10 seconds. … I don’t think that’s a negligible impact, and I think the science makes clear that’s not the case.” Noting that fewer than 420 North Atlantic right whales exist, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the subcommittee, said NOAA’s decision will not only harm the right whale population but marks “yet another handout to the oil and gas industry” from the Trump administration.
Lawyers, advocates to follow gray wolf tracks. E&E News, Sub req’d. Wolf lovers and lawyers, start your engines. An intense and sustained competition with a familiar track but an unpredictable finish will commence when the Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to remove the gray wolf’s population in the Lower 48 states from Endangered Species Act protections, probably within the next few days. This will be a marathon, not a sprint. Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt raised the ready flag yesterday, when he announced at a conference in Denver the imminent plan to delist the gray wolf. Bernhardt did not delve into the details in his speech. “Recovery of the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act is a one of our nation’s great conservation successes, with the wolf joining other cherished species, such as the bald eagle, that have been brought back from the brink with the help of the ESA,” an FWS statement declared. As early as tomorrow, or perhaps more likely sometime early next week, FWS will publish online the formal gray wolf proposal. Packed with all of its scientific justifications, the proposal will appear in the Federal Register the next business day. The Federal Register publication will start a public comment period, likely 30 days, which is bound to be busy given the outcry that followed Bernhardt’s brief, initial announcement.
