National

Biden to overturn Trump’s climate legacy on dozens of fronts. “Within hours of taking the oath of office as president Wednesday, Joe Biden intends to sign more than a dozen executive orders and direct nearly 100 agency actions aimed at unraveling Donald Trump’s environmental policies, as he works to cement the government’s role in safeguarding air and water, protecting endangered species, and combating climate change at home and abroad.” [Washington Post, 1/20/21 (+)]

Flouting Congress, Bernhardt guts parks program. “President Trump's public lands legacy has been further complicated by a set of actions handed down by the Interior Department with less than 24 hours left to go in his tenure. Last night, on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, outgoing Interior Secretary David Bernhardt greenlit significant changes to the implementation of the Land and Water Conservation Fund that would hamstring federal land acquisitions and gut an entire park equity initiative. Critics of these eleventh-hour policy changes aren't greatly concerned about the long-lasting implications, saying that the Biden administration would certainly undo the new mandates.” [E&E News, 1/20/21 (=)]

The Radical Possibility of Deb Haaland at the Department of Interior. “Many see Laguna Pueblo Rep. Deb Haaland’s nomination to be the next secretary of the Department of the Interior as a paradigm shift where Indigenous demands for mass land return are no longer aspirational, but possible. Organizations like NDN Collective have their sights for #LandBack set on the more than 500 million acres of public lands that fall under DOI’s oversight.” [Gizmodo, 1/19/21 (+)]

Bernhardt Predicts Trump’s Arctic Oil Leases Will Survive Biden. “Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said he expects both political and legal constraints to get in the way of President-elect Joe Biden’s pledges to block new oil and gas permitting on federal land. “You can write a lot of executive orders, but an executive order doesn’t get you past go,” Bernhardt said in an interview with Bloomberg News on his last full day leading the Interior Department. “They still have to run through the gauntlet of the law.”” [Bloomberg, 1/19/21 (=)]

Biden nominee Elizabeth Klein speaks her mind. “Environmental attorney Elizabeth Klein brings bureaucratic experience and some decidedly green perspectives to bear as the Biden administration's nominee for Interior deputy secretary. As deputy director of New York University School of Law's State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, Klein has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration (E&E Daily, Jan. 19). "State attorneys general will not stand idly by while this administration continues to trample on state authority to protect their residents from dangerous water pollution," Klein declared in July 2019.” [E&E News, 1/19/21 (=)]

Trump admin finalizes ANWR sale, a challenge for Biden. “The Trump administration has cleared a final hurdle in selling drilling rights to oil speculators in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and set up a snag for the incoming administration, by issuing several of the leases sold at auction earlier this month. Critics of the controversial refuge oil program had hoped the Trump administration would fail to convey leases before leaving office. President-elect Joe Biden, who has committed to immediately reinstating drilling protection in the refuge, will be sworn in later today.” [E&E News, 1/20/21 (=)]

An era of public lands cuts, capped by outdoors act. “During the battle for the Republican nomination in 2016, President Trump aimed to sway Western voters by praising the nation's "beautiful" sprawling federal estate, while criticizing its lands managers as "draconian." Following his election that same year, Trump vowed to honor the legacy of President Theodore Roosevelt in part by protecting public lands for hunters, anglers and other recreational users (E&E Daily, Dec. 7, 2016).” [E&E News, 1/19/21 (=)]

Interior solicitor: Treaties don't exempt tribes from ESA. “Native Americans can still be charged with violating the Endangered Species Act regardless of treaty protections, under a departing declaration by the Interior Department's top political lawyer. But environmental prosecutors may also lose a little sway under the latest last-minute opinion by Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani. In what amounts to a complicated legal two-step as his term ends, Jorjani upheld the reach of the landmark 1973 law.” [E&E News, 1/19/21 (=)]

Pendley exits, tells staff it's a 'privilege' to work in the West. “William Perry Pendley, the man who has been leading the Bureau of Land Management under a cloud of legal questions and fierce criticism, is heading for the exit a day before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. Pendley, in an email to all BLM staffers this morning, thanked the bureau's more than 9,000 employees "for the many courtesies and kindnesses shown me during my 18 months with you. I have learned a ton and am indebted to all of you who taught me about what you do in service to our great country and fellow Americans." Pendley, who is formally BLM's deputy director of policy and programs, has been at the helm of the bureau that manages 245 million acres of federal lands since July 2019.” [E&E News, 1/19/21 (=)]

Fossil fuel boosters prepare for Democratic takeover. “Fossil fuel companies are tweaking their lobbying strategies ahead of Joe Biden's presidential inauguration, hoping to align their messaging more closely to the Democrat's policies. Biden ran on an aggressive clean energy and climate change agenda that promises to drastically reduce the production and use of fossil fuels like coal and oil, including stopping new permits to drill on federal land and offshore, and to decarbonize the electric grid by 2035. Democrats will soon control both chambers of Congress as well and are preparing to help Biden move his plans forward.” [E&E News, 1/20/21(=)]

Interior opens 10M acres to mining in northwest Alaska. “The Interior Department today ordered that 9.7 million acres of public land in northwest Alaska be opened to mineral development. The land between the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the Chukchi Sea along the Arctic Ocean was previously withdrawn from mining claims, as well as oil and gas leasing. Passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act in 1971 set aside large swaths of the state to consider for conservation and other land use classifications.” [E&E News, 1/19/21 (=)]

Interior's OK on lithium mine draws species, water worries. “The Interior Department's swift approval of a Nevada lithium mine has drawn blowback from conservationists who say the project threatens rare species and could deplete water resources. The Thacker Pass mine, which was approved Friday, has become the latest flashpoint in a debate over the environmental impacts of extracting minerals for electric vehicle batteries. Canada's Lithium Americas Corp. has billed its Nevada project as a potential leading source of raw materials in the domestic battery supply chain, which right now includes just one active U.S. lithium mine.” [E&E News, 1/19/21 (=)]

State and Local

Here’s how the new Biden administration will impact Coloradans. “Environmental advocacy groups in the state also think Biden will change the way federal agencies manage public land concentrated in the western states. “We won’t see more of the giveaways to the oil and gas industry that we saw under the Trump administration … such as the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lease sale,” said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities.” [Denver Post, 1/20/21 (=)]

Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis

Op-Ed: Trump sold off the Arctic Refuge — Biden can help save it. “Native peoples have occupied the Arctic and have been stewards of the land for millennia, just as we have successfully stewarded lands across the United States. Our involvement in management of public lands is crucial, and key to protecting our inherent inalienable rights and for protecting Mother Earth.” [The Hill, 1/15/21 (+)]

Op-Ed: Lawmakers Should Support Public Lands Funding. “Montana is still the Last Best Place. To keep it that way, the state should invest the revenue generated by the sale of recreational marijuana in preserving, maintaining, and securing access to our public lands, as voters intended. We look forward to working with Gov. Gianforte and the Montana Legislature to protect our outdoor way of life and the tens of thousands of jobs it supports by crafting a budget that supports the needs of all Montanans, prioritizes public lands, and grows our state’s long-term prosperity.” [Flathead Beacon, 1/20/21 (+)]