National

A Biden victory positions America for a 180-degree turn on climate change. “Biden’s team already has plans on how it will restrict oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters; ratchet up federal mileage standards for cars and SUVs; block pipelines that transport fossil fuels across the country; provide federal incentives to develop renewable power; and mobilize other nations to make deeper cuts in their own carbon emissions.” [Washington Post, 11/7/20 (+)]

9 Things the Biden Administration Could Do Quickly on the Environment. “Mr. Biden has pledged to take “immediate steps to reverse the Trump assault on America’s national treasures” including major cuts in 2017 to Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, as well as opening parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. He has said on the first day of his administration he will sign an executive order to conserve 30 percent of United States land and waters by 2030.” [New York Times, 11/8/20(=)]

Dems demand Bernhardt turn in errant projects list. “Congressional Democrats voiced increasing frustration over Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's failure to meet a deadline for implementing a landmark public lands law, with one lawmaker accusing the Trump administration of a "vendetta against conservation funding." Montana Sen. Jon Tester (D) and New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland (D) on Friday joined the chorus of critics accusing the Trump administration of fumbling the rollout of the Great American Outdoors Act, after neither the Interior nor the Agricultural departments submitted lists of priority projects due to Congress on Nov. 2 (E&E Daily, Nov. 3).” [E&E News, 11/9/20 (=)]

What A Biden Presidency Means For The Outdoor Industry. “After an agonizingly slow election week, Biden supporters can finally breathe. Clean air at last, now that our next president may address the climate crisis, the epidemic of industrial polluters and the damage President Trump caused to our nation’s environmental policies. With a shift in executive powers nearing, we will soon see big changes that could have great effects on the environment, the outdoors and the recreation economy.” [Forbes, 11/8/20 (=)]

Voters pass dozens of environmental ballot measures across the country. “The importance of nature and the environment was evident this election as voters across the country approved more than two dozen conservation ballot measures. The initiatives include nearly $3.7 billion in new funding for land conservation, parks, climate resiliency and habitat, according to The Trust for Public Land Action Fund.” [ABC News, 11/8/20(=)]

Trump Leaves Unfinished Business in Environmental Litigation. “Major environmental litigation is set for an abrupt shift after President-elect Joe Biden steps into the White House, as the Trump administration leaves behind a trail of unanswered legal questions. In four years, President Donald Trump and his appointees in the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department, and other agencies made dramatic regulatory changes that sparked an ongoing series of legal battles. Biden’s team is expected to reverse course on big-ticket items, stopping many of those lawsuits in their tracks.” [Bloomberg Law, 11/7/20 (=)]

Biden win ushers in seismic energy policy shift. “Joe Biden was declared president-elect Saturday, giving him the opportunity to reverse President Trump's boost of the fossil fuels industry and invest in green energy to tackle climate change. Biden passed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency after being declared the winner in Pennsylvania.” [E&E News, 11/9/20 (=)]

State and Local

Interior secretary was involved in Vigneto whistleblower case, document shows. “Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was directly involved in a federal decision to overturn another official’s insistence on a thorough analysis of a 28,000-home Benson project’s impact on the imperiled San Pedro River, a court document shows. In August 2017, when Bernhardt was deputy interior secretary, he met secretly with a top official of El Dorado Holdings, the developer of the planned Villages at Vigneto, says the Justice Department document.” [Tucson Sentinel, 11/7/20 (=)]

Republican governor wins in Montana, raising fears for beloved wilderness. “Admirers of national parks and world-class trout streams in the state of Montana have expressed alarm over the election of a new Republican governor and his environmental plans. The governor, former software developer Greg Gianforte, has in the past sought to strip protections from 700,000 acres of wilderness, and his conservative “Montana Comeback Plan” election platform promises to “streamline” permitting processes to increase logging, coalmining, and oil and gas production.” [Guardian, 11/9/20 (+)]

Proposed monument would protect southern Clark County lands. “Outdoor lovers have long recognized the special character of southernmost Nevada, with its wide expanses of open land, geological wonders, canyons, springs, rolling hills, prehistoric sites and a wide variety of flora and fauna. Now, a new national monument is being proposed to protect and manage these treasures.” [Las Vegas Review Journal, 11/7/20 (=)]

Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis

Op-Ed: Public land decisions must be based on science, not convenience. “The BLM needs to scuttle any plans to bypass the public process required by NEPA, and carefully consider input from citizens and scientists before sending bulldozers and masticators onto public lands. No matter your political leanings, how could eliminating public input from land management decisions possibly be a good thing? Our iconic western woodlands are not just a nuisance to get out of the way. They are our heritage. Please, BLM, manage them with some finesse.” [Deseret News, 11/6/20 (+)]

Op-Ed: Empty promises will plague our public lands. “Sen. Daines, who rode his support for LWCF to reelection, needs to keep his promise to Montanans. He needs to keep fighting for LWCF to be implemented, and for the public lands, access, and outdoor recreation that he values. Montanans are resilient, and don’t easily lose sight of what we value. We value our public lands, and we value the honor of a promise, both of which we intend to keep fighting for.” [Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 11/7/20 (+)]

Op-Ed: Long before a vote was cast, Trump deployed the federal government to cheat. “Even more egregious, federal agencies have been enlisted to shift the playing field in the president’s favor. The Interior Department and National Park Service have cleared national park land like Mount Rushmore and the Mall for events aimed at boosting the president, and the Interior Department has produced videos best described as propaganda films for Trump, including one posted in August lavishly praising the president’s conservation efforts with dramatic visuals including fighter jets flying over the Lincoln Memorial.” [Washington Post, 11/5/20 (+)]

Editorial: Opponents must stand fast in court against Trump's move to despoil Tongass. “Trump’s zeal to reverse those strides is nothing less than environmental vandalism. On the Tongass question, as on so many others, opponents should be relentless in their legal challenges.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/8/20 (+)]