National

 

White House Eyeing Rob Bishop, David Bernhardt for Interior, Sources Say. “White House officials have intensified their focus on Representative Rob Bishop, a Utah Republican, and the Interior Department’s acting chief, David Bernhardt, as possible nominees to lead the agency, according to people familiar with the deliberations.” [Bloomberg, 1/9/19 (=)]

BLM postpones planned ANWR meetings. “The Trump administration is pulling back on plans to hold a series of public meetings this month on its proposal to allow drilling for oil on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a terse press release issued yesterday by the Bureau of Land Management, the government said it is postponing public meetings on the agency's proposed environmental impact statement for the 1.6-million-acre coastal plain.” [E&E News, 1/10/19 (=)]

Dems seek longer comment period for ANWR drilling proposal. “Five Democratic senators are calling on the Interior Department to give the public more time to comment on the Trump administration’s plans to allow oil and gas lease sales in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In a letter sent today to Interior acting Secretary David Bernhardt, the senators argued that the timeline should be extended ‘due to the extreme sensitivity of the resources affected by leasing, the great complexity of the analysis, the overlapping public comment periods for other actions taking place in the Refuge and the continued government shutdown.’” [E&E News, 1/9/19 (=)]

Trump repeats overly simplistic, False claim on California’s wildfires. “President Trump claimed California’s deadly wildfires "would never happen" with "proper Forest Management.” Experts on climate, forestry and firefighting all rejected a similar assertion by Trump in November, calling it overly simplistic. They said forest management is just one element, while climate change and urban sprawl are also key contributors. Trump has, once again, erroneously placed the blame on just one factor. We rate his latest claim False, as well.   We rate the claim False.” [Politifact, 1/9/19 (+)]

Manchin meets with enviro group leaders. “West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who has taken over as the top Democrat on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, met yesterday with two leading national environmental group leaders. The meetings with the heads of the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund came as the coal state lawmaker looks to assure green groups and their Capitol Hill allies he will work with them on issues important to climate change and the environment.” [E&E News, 1/10/19 (=)]

Members float mining, land and water bills. “Lawmakers introduced a range of natural resources bills this week dealing with topics from agency transparency to restoration of lands and waters affected by coal mining. S. 40 from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) aims to learn how the Bureau of Reclamation manages its infrastructure assets.” [E&E News, 1/10/19 (=)]

 

The Green New Deal Is a Great Deal for the Outdoors. “While these are lofty goals, and many are skeptical of the plan’s feasibility, advocates see it as setting the bar for a sufficient response to climate change that politicians can be held to. And the proposal is already gaining steam in Washington, D.C., as a platform to rally around heading into 2020: more than 40 lawmakers have endorsed Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a congressional select committee to map out the Green New Deal. Many in the outdoor industry are also paying attention to what could be the best hope to save our ski seasons and protect our public lands.” [Outside Online, 1/9/19 (+)]

 

Public lands package, LWCF on Senate calendar. “A broad public lands package that would permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund has re-emerged in the Senate and could see a vote soon. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this morning placed S. 47 on the calendar via Rule 14, which allows lawmakers to bypass the committee process and bring legislation directly to the floor. That gives McConnell the authority to call up the bill whenever he wants to schedule it. A 680-page package failed in late December after months of negotiations because of objections from Republicans Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky.” [E&E News, 1/9/19 (=)]

 

House chairman says Trump should close parks during shutdown. “The top House lawmaker overseeing the National Park Service (NPS) says President Trump ought to close parks during the ongoing partial government shutdown. The Obama and Clinton administrations closed national parks during shutdowns in 2013 and 1995, but the Trump administration has left gates open and allowed visitors to keep coming in, despite nearly all staff being furloughed.” [The Hill, 1/9/19 (=)]

 

Government Shutdown

Oil drillers, nature lovers get access to public lands despite shutdown. “The department’s Bureau of Land Management, for example, has accepted and published 22 new drilling permit applications in Alaska, North Dakota, New Mexico and Oklahoma between the start of the shutdown and Wednesday afternoon. Officials said they did not anticipate any delays in the processing of either permit applications or requests for inspections of drilling operations on federal land. But elsewhere the department says it is not even accepting other sorts of filings — such as public-records requests from journalists, activists and other members of the public made under the Freedom of Information Act — due to the shutdown.” [Washington Post, 1/10/19 (=)]

Interior Restaffs Some Wildlife Refuges During Shutdown. “Just days after announcing that some furloughed staff will be returning to clean up trash-riddled national parks during the government shutdown, the Trump administration is making a similar move at dozens of wildlife refuges around the country. The plans, which have not been publicly announced, would restaff 38 wildlife refuges around the country for roughly 30 days.” [NPR, 1/9/19 (=)]

Trump said 'raking and cleaning' forests would prevent more devastating wildfires. But the government shutdown is stopping the Forest Service from doing just that. “But the government shutdown has cut off funds for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), including the National Forest Service and the Department of the Interior. That means the employees that would be "raking" the debris on the forest floor, or conducting other forest management services like prescribed burns, are unable to do so.” [Business Insider, 1/10/19 (+)]

As damage grows, NPS muzzles its superintendents. “With trees razed and drivers making new roads on normally protected desert land, the damage at Joshua Tree National Park in California may be far worse than imagined, but Park Superintendent David Smith says he can’t talk about it. Faced with growing public outrage over the condition of parks across the country, the National Park Service has decided to muzzle its superintendents and other employees, at least during the partial government shutdown, now in its 19th day. Joshua Tree will lock its gates at 8 a.m. tomorrow, but the park service says it may reopen by the end of the week after workers have a chance to pick up trash and clean the bathrooms.” [E&E News, 1/9/19 (=)]

 

State and Local

 

Shutdown delays S.C. AG's entry in seismic lawsuit. “Uncertainty over the Trump administration's next move on seismic testing in the Atlantic Ocean is throwing a procedural wrench in litigation over a batch of federal permits. Citing the ongoing government shutdown, attorneys for NOAA Fisheries this week asked for more time to respond to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson's request to join a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.” [E&E News, 1/10/19 (=)]

Commissioner seeks higher cap on oil royalties. “New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard says she is working on a bill with state lawmakers to allow higher royalty rates for oil and natural gas production on state trust land. Garcia Richards said yesterday that she wants New Mexico to raise its royalty cap to 25 percent on future leases to match Texas. The commissioner currently can charge up to 20 percent on oil and gas production in some areas.” [E&E News, 1/9/19 (=)]

 

Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis

 

Op-Ed: Protect Montana's public lands. “Public lands not only serve as the foundation for Montana’s $7 billion outdoor recreation economy, but they allow for any person regardless of income to connect with nature. Perhaps surprisingly, this experience with nature allows us to better connect with being human in a way that can’t be found on a manicured soccer field. For a species hard-wired to connect, living in a world where connection is increasingly difficult, it isn’t a stretch to realize Montana’s quality public lands are an essential tool for our health and survival and must be protected.” [Missoulian, 1/9/19 (+)]