Weekly Newsletter | April 12, 2019

Issues

Outcome of Bernhardt confirmation. On Thursday, the Senate voted to confirm David Bernhardt as the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Secretary. Senators voted 56-41, largely along party lines, in favor of Mr. Bernhardt’s confirmation. Three Democrats — Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee; Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona; and Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — supported Bernhardt, as did one independent, Senator Angus King of Maine.

Senator Heinrich said that, as a lawmaker from a state where roughly one-third of the land is owned and operated by the DOI, it was important to him to have stability at the head of the agency, even if the person in that role was not his first choice.

“I need to be able to pick up the phone and talk to the secretary of interior on a regular basis. I’m not going to be able to get the Interior Secretary I wanted. We didn’t win in 2016,” he said, referring to the presidential race. “But in New Mexico, I’m going to put my state and protection of public lands in my state first.”

Republican leaders have praised Bernhardt’s experience in the Bush administration. “Mr. Bernhardt has significant private practice experience as well as a past record of service at the Department,” said Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Senate majority leader, in a statement. “Along the way, he’s earned the respect of those who rely on the public lands the Department of the Interior is charged to oversee, from Native American leaders to sportsmen’s groups. He’s been praised as a ‘proven leader’ who ‘acts with integrity’ and has ‘the right approach and skill set.’”

As DOI Secretary, Mr. Bernhardt, will now serve as the nation’s senior steward of its 500 million acres of public land and vast coastal waters.

Colorado sage-grouse habitat slated for BLM sale. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is evaluating whether to include nearly 70,000 acres of greater sage grouse habitat in northwest Colorado in a planned September oil and gas lease sale, just weeks after it finalized revisions to Obama-era grouse conservation plans that critics say will open more habitat to drilling.

The 75 parcels covering 69,057 acres were among nearly 150,000 acres BLM removed from a December 2018 lease sale after former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) and other state leaders complained to BLM that allowing drilling in this area could harm the imperiled bird.

A BLM spokesman in Colorado said no decision has been made on whether to include the 75 parcels at issue in the planned lease sale this fall. The parcels are being evaluated and are open for comment through April 16 as part of a public scoping process. An additional 30 days for public comment will occur when BLM issues an environmental assessment of the parcels in the coming months.

BLM shakes up Montana-Dakotas office, lending key sage-grouse planner to Forest Service. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has experienced a mild shakeup as the bureau welcomes a new director to the bureau’s Montana-Dakotas state office and temporarily lends another top administrator to the Forest Service.

Brian Steed, BLM’s deputy director of policy and programs, announced in an email to the bureau’s executive leadership team, that John Mehlhoff will take over the Montana-Dakotas office for Don Judice. Mehlhoff and oversee about 47.2 million acres of federal mineral estate in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Steed also announced that Kristin Bail, BLM’s assistant director of resources and planning, is going to the Forest Service on a six-month detail. In this role, Bail will oversee non-energy-related policy and planning issues for the bureau, including threatened and endangered species, as well as the greater sage-grouse. Bail was involved in the recently finalized revisions to Obama-era federal sage-grouse conservation plans, according to Steed.

“Thank you to Kristin for her dedicated leadership, most recently on the implementation of numerous Secretarial Orders as well as the finalization of the greater sage-grouse plans,” Steed wrote in his email.

The move is the latest in a series of high-profile changes to the bureau’s senior leadership in the last six months.

In the News

Judge shoots down challenge to trophy hunting policy. E&E News, Sub req’d. A federal judge has given a green light to a Trump administration policy allowing U.S. hunters to import elephant part trophies from overseas safaris. In a decision issued yesterday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth dismissed a challenge to the controversial policy brought by Friends of Animals and the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force. Lamberth cited lack of standing, among other administrative or procedural reasons, for tossing out the lawsuit’s various claims against the Fish and Wildlife Service. “The plaintiffs’ entire case is premised on the proposition that allowing the importation of sport-hunted trophies from Zimbabwe into the United States increases both the legal and illegal killing of African wildlife, harming the plaintiffs’ … interests,” Lamberth wrote. Lamberth added that “the organizations may not rely on aesthetic or recreational interests” to demonstrate standing. And even while agreeing the groups could show some injury in having to “expend resources,” Lamberth said the claim in question still lacked merit.

Wolves hit record number, expand to central Cascades. E&E News, Sub req’d. A record number of wolves are roaming the forests and fields of Oregon, 20 years after the species returned to the state. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported yesterday that the number of known wolves in Oregon at the end of 2018 was 137, a 10% increase over the previous year. There are likely even more wolves because not all individuals or packs are located during the winter count. “The ongoing recovery of Oregon’s wolf population is something to celebrate, and perhaps 2019 will be the year that wolves return home to the Oregon Coast Range and Siskiyou Mountains,” said Nick Cady, legal director of Cascadia Wildlands, a conservation organization. Still, the group warned against lifting wolf protections — as the Trump administration is proposing — saying it would be premature and a setback for the species that was almost exterminated in the contiguous United States.

Calls grow for Congress to reject Trump cuts. E&E News, Sub req’d. As House and Senate appropriators wait for top-line budget numbers to start writing fiscal 2020 spending bills, members in both parties are lining up to urge them to ignore the Trump administration’s proposed cuts for key energy and environmental programs. The House this week will take the first step in setting spending caps, although it will still have to negotiate with the Republican-led Senate and a resistant White House (E&E Daily, April 8). With key Cabinet officials hitting Capitol Hill this week to defend their budget requests, lawmakers have sent a flurry of letters registering their views. Yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators released a plea to top Senate appropriators to urge “robust” funding for the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program, which would be zeroed out under the administration’s request “Ultimately, the program helps to ensure that the United States continues to be a leader in promoting the successful development of innovative energy technologies that help provide meaningful solutions to our nation’s energy challenges,” states the letter, which was dated Friday and signed by Energy and Natural Resources members Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Angus King (I-Maine).

Biologists: Killing hungry sea lions saving imperiled fish. E&E News, Sub req’d. A plan to kill California sea lions to save an endangered run of fish on a river that cuts through Portland, Oregon, appears to be working just months after wildlife officials began euthanizing the giant marine mammals, biologists said yesterday. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife began killing the sea lions in January after getting permission from federal authorities late last year. They have killed 16 so far, including three Wednesday, said department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy. In the same period, 2,400 steelhead fish have reached the upper Willamette River and its tributaries to spawn this spring — the most in three years and double last year’s tally, the agency said. Less than 30 years ago, the number of steelhead making that journey was at least 15,000 a year, but pollution and the construction of dams on key rivers reduced that number dramatically.

Lawmakers push pipeline, rare earth, biofuel bills. E&E News, Sub req’d. House and Senate lawmakers have introduced a flurry of energy and environmental bills in recent days, including measures to tackle permitting, pipeline safety, rare earth elements, biofuel tax credits and energy efficiency grants. S. 1050 from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would amend the Clean Water Act to make it easier for states to take over permitting responsibilities for dredging and filling in streams and wetlands. Only two states — Michigan and New Jersey — have assumed that permitting authority, with the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA reviewing permits for the other 48 states. Another streamlining bill from Cornyn, S. 1051, would allow states that meet certain conditions to take on environmental review and consultation responsibilities for highway projects under the Endangered Species Act. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is co-sponsoring both measures, along with Alaska Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) is also co-sponsoring S. 1050.

Groups sue to restrict salmon fishing, help Northwest orcas. E&E News, Sub req’d. Federal officials say they may restrict salmon fishing off the West Coast to help the Pacific Northwest’s critically endangered killer whales, but two environmental groups are suing anyway to ensure it happens. The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit nearly two decades ago to force the U.S. government to list the orcas as endangered, and the Wild Fish Conservancy asked the U.S. District Court in Seattle yesterday to order officials to reconsider a 2009 finding that commercial and recreational fisheries did not jeopardize the orcas’ survival. NOAA Fisheries issued a letter early last month indicating that it intends to do so. Julie Teel Simmonds, a CBD attorney, said the point of the lawsuit is to ensure the agency finishes the job with urgency, given the plight of the whales, and to take short-term steps in the meantime to help provide more of the o

California condors could find new home. E&E News, Sub req’d. The majestically soaring, entrails-eating California condor will bring its expansive wingspan and its gross appetite back to parts of the Pacific Northwest, under a long-awaited Fish and Wildlife Service proposal made public today. The transplanted birds would be deemed a “nonessential experimental population” within their new home in Redwood National Park, according to the plan. “The best available data indicate that reintroduction of the California condor into the Pacific Northwest is biologically feasible and will promote the conservation of the species,” FWS stated. The “nonessential experimental population” designation means no critical habitat will be established. The proposal will be formally published tomorrow in the Federal Register, kicking off a 60-day public comment period. Protected under the Endangered Species Act since the law was passed in 1973, the California condor is North America’s largest vulture and boasts a wingspan of about 9.5 feet.