White House

 

Biden: Oil And Gas Are ‘Not Going To All Go Away’ — “President Joe Biden doubled down Tuesday on his State of the Union comments that oil and gas will be around for a while, even as he knocked the industry’s profits. ‘Guess what? We’re gonna need oil for a long time, gas for a long time,’ the president said in a speech to the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington. ‘It’s not going to all go away.’ His comments came a week after he said during his State of the Union address, ‘We’re going to need oil for at least another decade,’ prompting laughter from some GOP lawmakers. ‘And beyond that,’ he added (Energywire, Feb. 8). The president also repeated his criticisms of oil companies Tuesday, accusing them of raking in profits during an energy crisis ‘because they bought back their stock and they’re not investing in refineries, repairing them or maintaining them.’ … Biden also touted the passage of the law Democrats have dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act during his speech to county leaders Tuesday. ‘We’re also making the biggest investment ever, ever in climate,’ he said, ‘creating millions of good-paying jobs, investing in fence-line communities that suffer the most as a consequence of being smothered by pollution.’” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Here’s Who Scored White House Climate Sit-Downs — “On a Friday in mid-October, influential environmental advocates huddled with President Joe Biden’s senior adviser John Podesta to urge the administration to use cash from the massive new climate law to benefit public lands. ‘Of course we want to speak to the person who’s implementing the Inflation Reduction Act to emphasize our interest in spending the money to restore public lands and national parks,’ said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association. Brengel was one of 11 conservation leaders who huddled with Podesta in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Oct. 15, according to White House visitor logs. Biden hired Podesta in September as his top White House official tasked with implementing the sweeping climate and clean energy law that passed last year, which Democrats dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. Also present during that October meeting: Loren Blackford of the Sierra Club, Brendon Cechovic of the Western Conservation Foundation, Christy Goldfuss (who was then with the Center for American Progress and has since moved to the Natural Resources Defense Council), Daniel Hartinger and Jamie Williams of the Wilderness Society, Gene Karpinski of the League of Conservation Voters, Amy Kenney with the National Ocean Protection Coalition, GreenLatinos’ Mark Magaña, Shannon Colbert of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and the Conservation Lands Foundation’s Brian Sybert.” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

 

Congress

 

AP | Alaska Native Leaders, US Senators Back Major Oil Project — “Alaska’s Republican U.S. senators and several Alaska Native leaders on Tuesday urged the federal government to approve a major oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope, casting the project as economically critical for Indigenous communities in the region and important for the nation’s energy security. The Biden administration ‘damn well better not kill the project, period,’ Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters on a video conference. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management earlier this month released an environmental review for ConocoPhillips Alaska’s Willow project that listed as a preferred alternative an option calling for up to three drill sites initially, compared to the five that had been favored by the company. It is an option project proponents, including Alaska’s bipartisan congressional delegation, have expressed support for. But Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan said any further limiting of the project could kill it. The Bureau of Land Management noted its listing of a preferred alternative ‘does not constitute a commitment or decision.’ The U.S. Interior Department said separately that it had ‘substantial concerns’ about the project and the report’s preferred alternative, ‘including direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions and impacts to wildlife and Alaska Native subsistence.’ The Bureau of Land Management falls under Interior.” [The Washington Post, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Murkowski: President Biden 'Better Not' Kill Oil Project — “Alaska lawmakers forcefully made a final push Tuesday to secure a massive oil project currently in the last stages of Biden administration consideration. ‘They damn well better not kill the project — period,’ said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) in a call with reporters, of ConocoPhillips Co.’s Willow project, a 30-year oil and gas proposal on federal lands on Alaska’s North Slope. … Murkowski, joined by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) and several Alaska Native leaders from the North Slope, said that a denial, or further restrictions that effectively kill the project, would be unconscionable. ‘This project is a matter of life and death,’ Sullivan said, nodding to increased quality of life in Alaska rural areas where natural resource development pours revenue into infrastructure, education and other necessities. He said a rejection of Willow — or a significant reduction in the allowed drilling — would reveal the ‘raw political power’ of environmental groups. Rep. Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native representative in Congress and a Democrat, did not speak on the call but has previously expressed support for Willow.” [E&E News, 2/15/23 (=)]

 

White House ‘Better Not Kill’ Alaska Oil Project, Senators Warn — “Alaska’s senators sharply condemned any potential Biden administration move to authorize ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion Willow oil project with restrictions so onerous it wouldn’t be viable, warning that would be seen as a rejection — and an unacceptable blow to residents across the nation’s largest state. ‘They damn well better not kill the project,’ Republican Lisa Murkowski told reporters in a briefing Tuesday. At issue is the company’s proposed project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which could yield 180,000 barrels of oil per day. It’s won support from some labor unions and Alaska Natives in northern Alaska, who say the venture would unlock financial opportunity and new jobs. But Willow also is deeply opposed by environmental activists and some residents of a village roughly 35 miles away from the planned drilling who say it could disturb caribou migration patterns and exacerbate climate change. The project creates a political challenge for President Joe Biden, who has sought to accelerate the US transition away from fossil fuels while also asking American oil companies to produce more crude in the meantime in a bid to tame gasoline prices. The Interior Department is expected to render its final verdict in early March.” [Bloomberg, 2/15/23 (=)]

 

Alaska Republicans Demand Biden 'Better Not Kill' Latest Willow Project Oil Drilling Proposal — “Several Republican lawmakers in Alaska along with Alaska Native leaders urged the Biden administration Tuesday to allow a major oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope to continue unfettered. The Biden administration ‘damn well better not kill the project, period,’ Sen. Lisa Murkowski told a group of reporters on Tuesday, urging the federal government to approve the project which has been described as economically critical for Indigenous communities and important for the nation’s energy security. … City of Nuiqsut Mayor Rosemary Ahtuangaruak said there are ‘many who would like to say everybody in Alaska supports oil and gas development. Well, for our village, this development is in the wrong area.’ ‘Our concerns are real. It’s about our way of life, the life, health and safety of our village,’ she added. … The project is expected to create up to 2,500 jobs during construction and an estimated 300 permanent jobs, along with generating billions of dollars in revenues for federal, state and local governments, the company announced.” [Fox Business, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

 

Federal Agencies

 

Department of the Interior (DOI)

 

AP | Interior Secretary Hires Native American As Policy Adviser — “A Native American attorney who oversaw New Mexico’s Indian Affairs Department has been tapped to serve as a top policy adviser to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. The department announced the appointment of Lynn Trujillo as senior counselor to the secretary Friday. Trujillo is a tribal member of Sandia Pueblo on the outskirts of Albuquerque and has ties to Acoma and Taos pueblos. Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a U.S. Cabinet secretary. Trujillo worked as a state Cabinet secretary for nearly four years under Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as a crucial liaison with Native American communities during the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initiatives during Trujillo’s tenure provided increased funding for local school districts on Native American lands held in trust by the federal government — where property taxes cannot be levied. She also promoted the pursuit of justice for missing and murdered Indigenous people across New Mexico and agreements authorizing tribal cannabis programs to spur economic development in Native American communities. New Mexico legalized recreational cannabis sales last year amid concerns about conflicts with federal prohibition.” [The Washington Post, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Critics Question BLM's 'Breakneck Pace' On Western Solar — “The Bureau of Land Management received pushback Tuesday from residents and conservation groups that say the agency needs to give the public more time to weigh in on the possible expansion of a solar energy plan that could cover millions of acres. The complaints came during a virtual public hearing hosted by BLM and designed to gather input on the plan to update and possibly expand the Western Solar Plan, which analyzed millions of acres and identified 17 solar energy zones in six states where commercial-scale solar projects were deemed suitable. BLM’s update of the 2012 Western Solar Plan could result in adding millions of acres of federal lands in five additional states, including new SEZs where projects would be able to go through a streamlined permitting process. The public comment period for the programmatic environmental impact statement (EIS) the bureau is conducting, which BLM started in December, concludes on March 1. Several speakers at the more than two-hour hearing called for the public comment period to be extended until at least April 1. ‘This is a gigantic planning process. I think we need another month to provide detailed comments,’ said Laura Cunningham with the Nevada-based group Basin and Range Watch, which has been watching solar power development in the Silver State for more than a decade.” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

 

Attrition Cuts Into Workforce Gains At Forest Service — “Bill Imbergamo, executive director of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, told attendees the federal government is moving too slowly on certain types of projects, including clearing ‘fuel breaks’ in national forests that could help slow fires’ spread. That work is allowed through categorical exclusions from the National Environmental Policy Act — meaning they don’t need as deep an environmental impact review — and embraced in recent congressional appropriations language, but the Forest Service approved only five such exclusions in fiscal 2022, he said. ‘That is extremely concerning,’ said Imbergamo, whose group represents sawmills, loggers and others whose business involves harvesting trees on federal land. ‘This should be extraordinarily uncontroversial.’ … But Imbergamo said the practice is being over-promoted as a panacea, overlooking the need to cut down and remove trees and vegetation before lighting fires. And he knocked the Forest Service for lighting backburns during wildfire operations — intentionally lit fires that can help change the direction of a wildfire — and counting the backburns as hazardous fuels reduction. Imbergamo’s complaint: Counting backburns as hazardous fuels removal creates an impression that the agency is making more progress than it really is on that type of work — and can make hazardous fuels reduction look cheaper than it really is, since backburning doesn’t require the sort of NEPA reviews involved in other settings. In some cases, Imbergamo later told E&E News, backburns have escaped control and damaged privately owned timberland.” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Feds Cite 'Scientific Support' For Policy Shift On Tree Removal — “The U.S. Forest Service is defending its decision, in early 2021, to scrap a decades-old restriction on cutting down old and large trees in the Pacific Northwest, arguing that a more flexible standard is needed to ensure that forests in the region can survive a growing number of wildfires. Responding on Friday to a lawsuit filed by environmental activists, the Forest Service cast its old regulations — prohibiting the removal of trees that measure over 21 inches in diameter — as outdated and overly rigid. The federal agency said its new standard, adopted in January 2021, provides a flexible approach that emphasizes protecting old trees in the Pacific Northwest but allows the removal of certain tree species that aren’t fire tolerant and crowd out ecologically beneficial species. That policy shift, the Forest Service said, ‘satisfies all statutory requirements and enjoys strong scientific support.’ … Responding on Friday, however, the Forest Service said Nez Perce officials have not identified a treaty or statute establishing such an obligation. Without a clearly delineated responsibility, the agency said it complied with the National Environmental Policy Act simply by offering the tribe ‘meaningful opportunities to participate in the NEPA process.’ The plaintiffs sought summary judgment in late December, alleging the Forest Service violated a host of federal laws, including NEPA, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act.” [Law360, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

 

Advocacy

 

ME First — LCV Hits Biden On Willow — “The League of Conservation Voters is spending almost $400,000 on an ad buy launching today calling on President Joe Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to halt the Willow oil project in Alaska. In a rare direct criticism of the Biden administration, LCV calls the project ‘a huge step in the wrong direction for our planet’ that amounts to ‘locking us into fossil fuels for decades.’ Interior released an environmental review earlier this month that indicates it will give the go-ahead to the ConocoPhillips project, but a final decision is still pending.” [Politico, 2/15/23 (=)]

 

 

30x30

 

Op-Ed: ‘Vanishing Habitats’ For Wildlife Greatly Exaggerated In Push For ‘Biodiversity,’ Biden’s ’30 By 30′ Land Grab — “Decades-long mantras about ‘vanishing habitat’ and ever-growing threats to wildlife have long been used to justify locking up more land through federal ownership or other restrictive measures. The perfect example is the Biden administration’s proposal to conserve 30% of the nation by 2030—aka ‘30 by 30.’ Exactly what the administration envisions is ambiguous, as it hasn’t defined words like ‘conserve’ and ‘protect,’ although insiders at the Department of the Interior say the 30% language is being incorporated into many Interior Department documents. At an event leading up to the U.N. conference on climate change in Egypt in November, Monica Medina, the assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, spoke at one of the staggering number of ‘side events.’ There, her new additional title was mentioned, special envoy for biodiversity and water resources. By glitch or otherwise, a video’s audio of Medina’s remarks cuts out for almost the first minute. After it returns, she states, ‘ … not only do we need 30%, but one of the other speakers mentioned we need 30% to 50%.’ ‘So, by aiming for 30%, we’re already aiming at the least ambitious target we can, and it seems like it’s challenging for us to reach. So, if I had one key message first, it’s that 30% is on the low end of what we need.’” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (-)]

 

 

Outdoor Industry

 

Op-Ed: The Strength Of Hunter And Angler Voices In The Methane Debate — According to Williams-Grand Canyon News, “As a western public land hunter, I have often seen the flaring of wellheads all along the horizon in oil-producing states. This routine burning of natural gas is a source of frustration for me because it is so antithetical to the hunting mentality of not wasting a precious resource. Oil and gas companies routinely flare gas to protect equipment or to discard gas when they aren’t able to transport it. The energy industry views this gas as a waste product, but it is in fact a valuable resource that is being carelessly thrown away. As a hunter, I am held to strict standards of conservation and waste reduction when it comes to the pursuit of game on public lands. So why are we allowing oil and gas companies to waste resources on those same lands? Wasting natural gas isn’t just unethical, it is dangerous. Methane leakage and flaring is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions – methane is 85 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Thankfully, the current administration is taking steps to address this issue and stop these harmful practices. The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to update its rules on methane waste and while it is a good start, it needs to be stronger. The agency is proposing to increase the royalties charged for flared gas, but there is no evidence that this will actually reduce flaring. The companies are focused on profits for shareholders and it is often cheaper for them to pay the royalties than to invest in proper equipment and infrastructure to reduce waste.” [Williams-Grand Canyon News, 2/14/23 (+)]

 

 

States & Local

 

Alaska

 

BP’s Polar Bear Plan For Oil Pad Cleanup Weighed By Interior — “The Interior Department is proposing to allow BP to displace or harass polar bears on Alaska’s North Slope as the company closes and remediates an oil well pad near Prudhoe Bay, according to a Federal Register pre-publication notice published Tuesday. If approved, the US Fish and Wildlife Service would allow BP America Production Co. to ‘take’ or harass small numbers of polar bears in 2023 without killing or injuring them as the company shuts down a decades-old well pad, according to the notice.” [Bloomberg Law, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Montana

 

Judge Blocks Mont. Coal Mine Expansion — “A federal judge in Montana has halted the expansion of a controversial underground coal mine on public land north of Billings, ordering the Interior Department to conduct a deeper and more comprehensive environmental review. Senior Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in a decision on Friday faulted an earlier National Environmental Policy Act analysis of the Bull Mountains mine and warned that Signal Peak Energy’s planned 175-million-ton expansion of the site may not proceed. ‘A properly conducted [environmental impact statement] does not necessarily mean federal mining in the Expansion Area will proceed as Signal desires,’ Molloy wrote. Interior declined to comment. Signal Peak Energy did not immediately respond when asked to comment. The court ruling came nearly three years after Molloy, a Clinton pick, had tossed out the Interior Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement’s 2018 analysis of the project and ordered the agency to conduct a new environmental assessment for the planned expansion of the mine. While rejecting most of the environmental groups’ claims at the time, Molloy had agreed that OSMRE had violated NEPA by not considering the risk of train derailments from increased train traffic during its analysis of the project (Greenwire, March 11, 2020).” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

Utah

 

BLM Eyes Geothermal Power Expansion In Utah — “The Bureau of Land Management has approved a geothermal exploration project in an area of southwest Utah with high resource potential that could eventually lead to a large-scale production plant. The Cape Modern Geothermal Exploration Project, proposed by a subsidiary of Houston-based Fervo Energy Co., would drill and test as many as 29 wells on 266 acres of federal lands in Beaver County, northeast of Milford, Utah. If the exploration wells ‘indicate a commercially viable geothermal resource, a development well field and generation facility could be proposed in the future,’ according to an environmental assessment of the project released by BLM this week. The exploration project is near the already approved Bailey Mountain Geothermal Exploration Project and the Energy Department’s Utah Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, which is testing a new method of geothermal production. It’s also in an area of known winter habitat for pronghorn, and any surface-disturbing activities ‘may be restricted for up to 60 days during pronghorn fawning season,’ according to the assessment. In addition, the company will apply buffers around all known raptor nests. Administrative appeals can be filed over the next 30 days with the Interior Board of Land Appeals.” [E&E News, 2/14/23 (=)]

 

 

 

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