National

 

Acting Interior chief faces confirmation hearing as critics say department is too close to industry. “Soon after being appointed to the Interior Department in 2017, acting secretary David Bernhardt kickstarted a plan to change how California handles water in a way that would benefit farmers and businesses. It was a step toward the same goal he'd pursued as a private lawyer and lobbyist. The move by Bernhardt, whom President Donald Trump handpicked to oversee the nation's parks and public lands, is a sticking point in his nomination. He testifies Thursday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.” [ABC News, 3/27/19 (=)]

Dems put spotlight on Bernhardt's schedules and meetings. “On the eve of a crucial Senate confirmation hearing, the Interior Department has turned over to a House panel thousands of pages disclosing more about acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's schedules and activities. The 7,137 documents containing 26,792 pages delivered late yesterday to the Democratic-controlled House Natural Resources Committee include detailed calendars, day-ahead schedule previews and meeting proposal forms describing who has wanted to meet with Bernhardt and why.” [E&E News, 3/26/19 (=)]

Dems worry Bernhardt is cutting climate programs. “While the Senate spent yesterday debating a nonbinding show vote on climate, the House was digging into the alleged neglect of climate programs already on the books. Democratic appropriators scrutinized Interior Department climate programs targeted for cuts in the White House's 2020 budget proposal, suggesting the Trump administration has already undercut those efforts despite congressional requirements to enact them.” [E&E News, 3/27/19 (=)] 

Appropriators press for details on reorganization, ANWR. “A top Interior official yesterday said the department is still interested in moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters out West but hasn't decided yet on the destination. Scott Cameron, principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, also said the department is "only talking about moving something in the order of 40 positions" in 2020, out of roughly 300 BLM employees working now in the Washington, D.C., headquarters.” [E&E News, 3/27/19 (=)]

Alaskans deliver competing pleas on drilling. “For Bernadette Demientieff, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a sacred place for the Gwich'in people and the caribou that roam there. "We are caribou people — we carry a piece of the caribou in our heart, and the caribou have a piece of us in their heart," said Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich'in Steering Committee, testifying to a House Natural Resources panel yesterday. Demientieff found plenty of support yesterday from Democrats on the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources who want to make sure that no oil drilling is allowed in the refuge.” [E&E News, 3/27/19 (=)]

Democrats question Bernhardt on pesticide studies. “The pre-hearing battle over acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's nomination is burning hotter, with environmental groups posting opposition research and three top House Democrats calling for full release of allegedly suppressed pesticide impact reports. Citing a New York Times account, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and two colleagues yesterday afternoon asked Bernhardt to release the Fish and Wildlife Service's reports on the impacts of the pesticides malathion and chlorpyrifos.” [E&E News, 3/27/19 (=)]

Which Native voices? On Arctic Refuge, lawmakers practice selective listening. “A bill in Congress would reverse the 2017 decision to open the northernmost part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. A hearing about it in the U.S. House Tuesday became a debate, sometimes an angry one, over which Alaska Native people should have the ear of Congress. Congressman Don Young told his colleagues not to listen to some of his constituents – the Gwich’in residents of the Interior who had come to testify against drilling in the refuge. Young, Alaska’s sole member of the House, instead pointed to the witnesses from the North Slope, the Inupiat, who favor drilling.” [Alaska Public Media, 3/26/19 (=)]

Start Your Engine, U.S. Justices Tell Hovercraft-Riding Moose Hunter. “In the words of Justice Elena Kagan, an Alaska hunter can now "rev up his hovercraft in search of moose" after the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously ruled in favor of his bid to use a river on a federal preserve to reach his prey. The nine-member court sided with hunter John Sturgeon, who park rangers had prevented from riding his hovercraft on a river through territory overseen by the National Park Service to reach remote moose-hunting grounds in the northernmost U.S. state. It marked the second time Sturgeon has won at the Supreme Court in his long-running feud with the federal government.” [U.S. News, 3/26/19 (=)] 

Compromise With the Oil and Gas Industry Made the Sage Grouse Vulnerable to Extinction. “The current extinction crisis is a deadly and enduring problem of the highest order. It calls for bold action, not political compromise. The U.S. has a law—the Endangered Species Act—that is incredibly effective at ensuring existence. Indeed, the ESA has successfully the extinction of 99 percent of the species it protects. It is also incredibly popular with the American public: one recent study found that roughly four in five Americans support the law. If the collapse of the compromise sage grouse plans tells us anything, it is that we should embrace and expand the full power of this law and use it unsparingly to protect species like the grouse. The present moment demands nothing less.” [Pacific Standard, 3/25/19 (+)]

 

State and Local

 

AP | Push renewed to elevate White Sands to national park status. “The push to elevate a vast expanse of shifting white sand dunes in New Mexico to national park status was renewed Tuesday as members of the state’s congressional delegation reintroduced legislation aimed at boosting the profile of the already popular tourist destination. “Like no place on earth” is how the National Park Service describes the world’s largest gypsum dune field.” [Washington Post, 3/26/19 (+)]

Utah lawmaker who led protest ride alleges ‘jiggery-pokery’. “A Utah state lawmaker who led an illegal all-terrain vehicle protest ride in 2016 on Bureau of Land Management lands is criticizing officials for "jiggery-pokery" as the U.S. Attorney's Office seeks to boost his restitution payments. Federal prosecutors including Assistant U.S. attorney Allison J.P. Moon want to raise Republican state Rep. Phil Lyman's monthly payment from $100 to $500, citing improved financial circumstances. Lyman was elected to the state House in 2018.” [E&E News, 3/26/19 (=)]

D.C. wants feds to sell RFK stadium site. “Last week, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said the abandoned RFK Stadium site "may be the only national park dedicated to asphalt.” That would change under a bill introduced in the House today that calls for the National Park Service to sell the site to the district "for fair market value."” [E&E News, 3/26/19 (=)]

 

Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis

 

Editorial: The Mining Industry Has Had It Easy for Far Too Long. “In 1969, Stewart Udall, who served as Interior secretary under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy, said that replacing the Mining Act of 1872 was “the most important piece of unfinished business on the nation’s resource agenda.” Fifty years later, it’s still true. The task won’t be easy under the current administration, but the shift of opinion in Congress gives grounds for hope.” [Bloomberg, 3/26/19 (+)]