OPINION: Why Memphis' Black and brown communities have most to lose from Byhalia Pipeline:
“The proposed route for this high-pressure crude oil pipeline travels through predominantly Black neighborhoods in South Memphis. It is just the latest example of undesirable industrial and toxic waste sites being placed in communities of color. This history
is part and parcel of America’s problematic pattern of building highways and other infrastructure projects in the way most likely to harm Black and Latinx neighborhoods, as shown by a wealth of recent research, including by one of this op-ed’s authors. No
pipeline is guaranteed to be 100% safe and spill proof, and as pipelines age and erode they become increasingly more likely to burst and leak. Pipeline spills can be larger than those from other sources, with nearly 9 million gallons of crude oil spilled between
2010 and 2016. Beyond the inequities imposed on the people and communities directly above the would-be pipeline, the oil would flow on top of the Memphis Sands aquifer, which supplies drinking water to the entire city and beyond. This poses a huge threat to
thousands of Memphis residents. Byhalia representatives have claimed this route was chosen because it was the path of “least resistance,” which seems to have been defined as the path of “most pigmentation.” These communities have historically been marginalized
in our political process, and Byhalia Pipeline, LLC seems to have assumed their views won’t matter. The Army Corps of Engineers is facilitating the discriminatory placement of this pipeline by allowing Byhalia Pipeline, LLC to bypass environmental impact and
community review periods.”
[Memphis Commercial Appeal, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/3zxVGxP
Democrats call for secure mineral supplies, faster permits: “A group of 14 House Democrats
praised the White House's push to build out U.S. mineral supply chains in a letter to President Biden on Tuesday. Biden launched a review of supply chain vulnerabilities in February for lithium, nickel, cobalt and other materials needed for the United States
to compete with China's world-leading production of electric vehicles. That document, released last week, laid out a plan to expand mining and mineral processing on American soil as well as to invest in projects in allied countries. A cohort of 14 Democrats
told Biden this week that the focus on ramping up U.S. mineral supply will strengthen national security and the economy. "We look forward to working with you on bold action that supports domestic mining and the production of raw minerals and materials, core
competencies, and industrial processes — including processing, refining, and smelting," the lawmakers wrote. Signatories of the letter were Reps. Jim Costa, Mike Thompson, Eric Swalwell and Raul Ruiz of California; Reps. Sanford Bishop and Lucy McBath of Georgia;
Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, Susan Wild and Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania; Brian Higgins of New York; Marcy Kaptur of Ohio; Elissa Slotkin of Michigan; and Frank Mrvan of Indiana. The lawmakers also called for shortening projecting permitting timelines, a priority
usually championed by Republicans. Mine developers complain that project reviews can take as many as 10 years. Other projects, such as the complex assessment of Pebble LP's enormous proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska, take closer to three years
to review.”
[E&E News, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/35vbCTT
Gov Mike Dunleavy: Biden Cancels Economic Opportunity in Alaska: “President Joe Biden recently
revoked congressional approval of oil and gas development in a small corner of Alaska's North Slope known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). That probably doesn't mean much to Washington D.C. bureaucrats without any skin in the game, but there
are very real consequences for residents of the Last Frontier. The suffering caused by this decision will be borne by the Iñupiat people of the North Slope and, frankly, the entire state. As Alaska's first governor with roots in the Arctic, and the tribal
president of the only community within ANWR, the two of us have personally witnessed the tragedy that results when rural Americans are denied economic opportunity. The state of Alaska possesses more resource wealth than nearly any other place on the planet,
yet in hundreds of roadless communities, jobs and opportunities remain scarce to nonexistent. Rural and Native Alaskans shouldn't be forced to abandon their traditional lands in search of a better life, yet that's exactly what occurs when outsiders deny Alaskans
access to our own resources. It's not surprising that the president has chosen to shut down Alaska's economic potential in order to shore up his political base, but it's shocking that he has brushed aside input from the indigenous residents that live there.
Alaskans living in Kaktovik and elsewhere on the North Slope are an "inconvenient truth" to an administration dead set on shutting down Arctic development. The Kaktovikmiut are now refugees on their own lands.”
[Newsweek, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/3zxVIWt
Judge prevents drilling-site work, citing threats to sage grouse: “A federal judge has prevented
drilling and construction on 449 oil and gas leases covering 334,762 acres in Wyoming, saying the federal government didn’t examine potential effects to imperiled greater sage grouse when it leased those lands in 2017. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management “failed
to take a hard look at the direct and indirect impacts to greater sage-grouse,” Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush of Idaho wrote in a June 9 ruling. He sent the leases back to the BLM for additional scrutiny. The BLM also failed to consider a reasonable
range of alternatives in February, June and September 2017 when it sold rights to develop the parcels, the judge wrote in a 51-page decision. The agency considered only two options — whether to lease or not to lease — not whether the leases could be deferred
as had been the previous practice in priority greater sage grouse habitat. The ruling, which covers leases issued from the Buffalo, Newcastle, Casper, Worland, Lander, Kemmerer, Pinedale and Rawlins BLM offices, came in an ongoing case in which conservationists
challenged the Trump administration’s America First Energy Plan. Judge Bush also remanded leases in Montana for reconsideration. Bush’s decision came in a suit Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity filed naming Secretary of the
Interior David Bernhardt and the BLM and claiming they didn’t follow environmental laws when they sold the leases. The State of Wyoming, Western Energy Alliance and Jonah Energy joined the suit on Bernhardt’s side.”
[WyoFile, 6/16/21]
https://bit.ly/3vtCfmI
4 takeaways from Deb Haaland's Senate appearance: “Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana
handed Haaland a golden opportunity to wax enthusiastic about Tracy Stone-Manning, the Biden administration's nominee to head the Bureau of Land Management, who has come under scrutiny for an unexplained personal loan and her decades-past affiliation with
a group of radical environmentalists. Instead of effusive praise, though, Haaland offered a short and generic statement that could easily invite overinterpretation by nomination cryptologists. "I would just hope that you would put your full support behind
her and make sure you're doing everything you can do to get her confirmed," Tester said. "Thank you very much, senator," Haaland replied. "We are supportive of all of President Biden's nominees." She did not elaborate, and Tester — Stone-Manning's former boss
who personally recommended his one-time aide for the BLM position — moved on to a question about the Milk River. When asked by E&E News later whether he had hoped Haaland would have been more forceful in her defense of Stone-Manning, Tester replied "yes."
Asked what he would have liked for her to say, Tester said, "I wish she'd said, 'We're going to the mat for her.'" He added, though, that he ultimately thought Haaland was "forceful in her own way." nterior Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said Haaland
strongly supports Stone-Manning's nomination.”
[E&E News, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/3vDDU9k
Obama Presidential Center Delay to Set Modern Record: “Former President Barack Obama, once
a community organizer, has gotten a taste of community organizing himself as preservationists and other activists have slowed the construction of his presidential center. The groundbreaking for the center to celebrate Mr. Obama and press its mission of fostering
future leaders could finally happen late this summer after years of lawsuits, fundraising and federal reviews. The eventual opening, previously scheduled for 2021 before the challenges arose, is poised to set a modern record for time between a presidency and
completion. While many of Chicago’s political and business leaders have embraced the center, some activists have tried to stop construction, and others have sought to stake a claim for a piece of the economic windfall it is expected to generate. They have
protested outside government meetings, organized petition drives and appealed a case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Presidential libraries opened in recent decades have done so in about half the time as what is expected for Mr. Obama’s center, Wall Street Journal
calculations show. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library welcomed visitors just more than 1,000 days after Mr. Reagan’s last day in office. Bill Clinton’s took 1,398 days. Monuments to George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush averaged 1,653 days.”
[Wall Street Journal, 6/17/21]
https://on.wsj.com/3gyqHdF
Obama's presidential center may set modern record for length of delay: “Former President
Obama’s presidential center, which was initially scheduled to open this year prior to a series of construction delays and legal battles, is on track to set a modern record for the length of time between a presidency and the completion of a presidential library.
The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that if construction on the center follows current estimates by beginning in September and taking no more than four years to complete, there will be more than 3,100 days between Obama leaving office and the opening
of the project. The longest previous periods occurred following the administrations of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, whose libraries each took an average of 1,653 days to complete, according to the Journal. Comparatively, the Ronald Reagan Presidential
Library opened just over 1,000 days after Reagan left the Oval Office, and Bill Clinton’s library took 1,398 days to complete. Obama’s planned center, which is expected to include a museum, Obama Foundation offices, a public library and recreational space,
has prompted a wave of legal challenges and federal reviews. The approximately $700 million campus is set to be constructed in Jackson Park in Chicago’s South Side, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the most prominent legal
challenges to the center was from the nonprofit Protect Our Parks and other groups who have demanded that government agencies should have considered relocating the Obama center to a different area where there will be less traffic disruptions and environmental
damage.”
[The Hill, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/3gJnvuu
DeSantis, Cabinet approve highway extension across wetlands tied to Everglades: “While questioning
the future of the project, Gov. Ron DeSantis and a divided state Cabinet on Tuesday backed Miami-Dade County as it seeks to extend a highway across wetlands tied to the Everglades. DeSantis, along with Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer
Jimmy Patronis, rejected a March 2020 recommended order by Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk that said the proposed road doesn’t comply with the local comprehensive plan and is possibly incompatible with efforts to protect the Everglades. The decision
is expected to set off additional legal challenges against the planned Kendall Parkway extension to the Dolphin Expressway, while DeSantis added that the road might not get through the permitting process. The 13- to 14-mile extension is aimed at providing
traffic relief to the Kendall area. “This has not been approved to be consistent at all with anything that we’re doing with Everglades restoration. I mean, it’s not like this is going to happen,” DeSantis said. “I mean, they’ve got to go through all those
environmental reviews. And so, I think it’s premature to say it’s going to do some of the things, because I think if some of the things that are happening that are positive do happen, I don’t think it’s going to get permitted by South Florida Water Management
District.’”
[South Florida Sun Sentinel, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/35xdxYe
SpaceX spat with Viasat: Rival accused of abusing legislation to halt Elon's Starlink expansion:
“SpaceX has accused a satellite telecommunications rival of trying to a weaponise environmental legislation to hamper the expansion of its Starlink internet service. Elon Musk's business said this in a response filed on Monday [PDF] in an ongoing legal dispute
with Viasat, Dish Network, and consulting firm The Balance Group. The trio are contesting SpaceX's recently given Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to operate Starlink satellites at a lower altitude. In a ruling published late April, the FCC
allowed SpaceX to move 2,814 existing satellites from their current orbits of 1,100km to 1,300km to between 540km to 570km above Earth's surface. This would make its satellites more effective and improve coverage in rural areas, as well as in the polar regions.
Viasat has argued the move will increase the risk of collisions from wayward satellites and the increased proliferation of orbital debris. It claimed the approval process had been forced through, and further alleged that the FCC had failed in its obligation
to review the approval under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Also on Monday, the Balance Group filed a supporting motion for placing a stay on the FCC's order, pending a judicial review. In the filing, it supported Viasat's concerns about potential
radio frequency interference, as well as interference with astronomical research. The NEPA legislation compels federal agencies to determine whether a proposal would have a "significant effect on the human environment." For efficiency, it allows agencies to
identify actions that are unlikely to have an adverse effect, and waive any environmental investigation.”
[The Register, 6/17/21]
https://bit.ly/2U4MWPy
Justin McCarthy
He/Him/His
Director, NEPA Campaign
The Partnership Project
C: 540-312-3797
E: jmccarthy@partnershipproject.org
The Partnership Project, a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit, is a collaborative effort of over 20 of the country’s most influential advocacy organizations, including Sierra Club, Earthjustice, League of Conservation Voters, and Natural
Resources Defense Council.