White House

 

Biden Designates Monuments: ‘It’s A Big Deal’ — “President Joe Biden took a victory lap Tuesday as he touted sweeping new measures to conserve U.S. lands and waters, including the designation of two much-anticipated national monuments. ‘It’s a good day,’ the president told a crowd of lawmakers, tribal leaders, conservationists and others at the Interior Department’s Washington headquarters for an event the White House dubbed a conservation summit. Biden and some of his top energy and environment officials heralded the new monuments and touted the administration’s conservation during its first two years on the job. ‘Our natural wonders are literally the envy of the world,’ Biden said. ‘They’ve always been, and they always will be. They’re central to our heritage as a people, and they’re central to our identity as a nation.’ Biden designated two new national monuments: the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in southern Nevada and the Castner Range National Monument in West Texas. The president also directed the Commerce secretary to consider creating a massive new marine sanctuary southwest of Hawaii (Greenwire, March 21). ‘I want you to know it’s a big deal,’ Biden said of the Avi Kwa Me monument (pronounced Ah-VEE kwa-meh). Biden received some help with the pronunciation from the crowd.” [E&E News, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Willow Hangs Over Monuments Announcement — “President Joe Biden set aside more than 500,000 acres of public lands against future development Tuesday, establishing national monuments in Texas and Nevada. The Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in southern Nevada had encountered some opposition from renewable energy developers who eyed the land for projects, but the White House pledged in a fact sheet that the new designation ‘will not slow the positive momentum of clean energy development’ in the state. The moves, announced at an event at the Interior Department, came a week after Biden angered many environmental advocates by greenlighting the massive Willow oil project in Alaska. On Tuesday, Biden was greeted by anti-Willow protesters outside Interior, who brought along a speaker to play his line from the 2020 Democratic primary debate, ‘No more drilling on federal lands’ on repeat, according to Alaska Public Media. And Republicans, who were furious about Biden’s other move last week to prohibit future drilling on vast amounts of the Alaskan wilderness while approving Willow, saw Tuesday’s moves as doubling down. ‘After taking flak from the far left on their Willow decision in Alaska last week, the Biden administration is clearly feeling the need to do damage control,’ said House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) in a statement. He intends to ‘request a full account from DOI on what went into these rushed and seemingly politically-motivated decisions.’” [Politico, 3/22/23 (=)]

 

Avi Kwa Ame Designated: Biden Officially Dedicates The Area As A National Monument — “Protecting what he called ‘national treasures’ that ‘define our identity as a nation,’ President Joe Biden on Tuesday designated 506,814 acres of Clark County near Laughlin as the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument, providing additional federal protection for lands considered sacred by the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and other Native Americans. The designation by proclamation came during Tuesday’s White House Conservation in Action Summit at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. Biden said the designation was ‘in the public interest to ensure the preservation, restoration and protection of the objects of scientific and historic interest on the Avi Kwa Ame lands, including the entire monument landscape, reserved within the Avi Kwa Ame boundary.’ Avi Kwa Ame — Spirit Mountain in the Mojave language — is considered the spiritual birthplace of the Mojave people; another 11 Native American tribes also consider it sacred, either as their place of origin or as a place of cultural and historic significance.” [Mohave Valley Daily News, 3/22/23 (=)]

 

Avi Kwa Ame Is Officially A National Monument — “On March 21, President Joe Biden finally followed through on his pledge to designate Avi Kwa Ame as a new national monument, over 100 days after promising to do so. ‘It’s a place of reverence, it’s a place of spirituality, it’s a place of healing,’ said Biden. ‘And now it will be recognized for the significance it holds and be preserved forever.’ The designation, which includes provisions for tribal co-stewardship, will protect more than 500,000 acres of desert landscape in southern Nevada that is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management, including Avi Kwa Ame, a granite mountain that is the origin place for 10 Yuman-speaking tribes. The area, which includes habitat for the desert tortoise, Gila monsters and Joshua trees, has been a target for solar and wind development. ‘Since the beginning of the Biden and Harris administration, the president has demonstrated the commitment to respect tribal nations and our nation-to-nation relationship,’ said Fort Mojave Tribal Chairman Tim Williams at the designation ceremony in D.C. ‘Under his leadership we have a seat at the table.’ Biden also designated Castner National Monument in Texas, an almost 7,000-acre expanse of high desert east of the Franklin Mountains, not far from El Paso. With these designations, following his announcement of Camp Hale National Monument in Colorado last fall, Biden has now created three national monuments.” [High Country News, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Gov. Lombardo Raises Concerns About Biden Designating Avi Kwa Ame As National Monument — “Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo is blasting President Biden’s for his designation of Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument. Lombardo released a statement Tuesday morning saying in part, ‘Since I took office, the Biden White House has not consulted with my administration about any of the details of the proposed Avi Kwa Ame national monument which, given the size of the proposal, seems badly out of step.’ The governor added that he’s reached out to the White House multiple times to raise several concerns including terminal disruption of rare earth mineral mining projects and long-planned, bi-partisan economic development efforts. During Tuesday’s White House Conversation in Action Summit, President Biden officially established Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument.” [KRNV-TV, 3/21/23 (-)]

 

Op-Ed: Castner Range - 'A Labor Of Love': US Rep. Veronica Escobar — “After more than five decades of persistent advocacy from our community, Castner Range — the crown jewel of West Texas — was designated a national monument by President Joe Biden. El Pasoans have worked relentlessly for the federal protections that come with this special designation for Castner Range, and with the stroke of a pen in Washington, D.C., our president granted our great wish. This is a tremendous victory for our community, especially because with each passing year, many of us feared that one day, the gorgeous section of mountainside that towers over northeast El Paso might one day see sections of it sold off for development. We knew that a federal designation and the preservation that comes with it would be the only way to prevent that. Countless El Pasoans and visitors alike look forward to each spring, hoping there was enough rainfall in the months before to create a blanket of yellow on the towering mountainside. During peak poppy season, families, couples and outdoor enthusiasts flock to the site, inspired to take photos, go on long walks or challenging hikes while enjoying the delicate beauty of the flowers that adorn our beloved mountain. And every spring, El Pasoans celebrate the annual blooms during Poppyfest, where El Pasoans of every age connect with the great outdoors. Like innumerable families, I treasure the photos of my own family among the poppies, taken when my now-adult children were small.” [El Paso Times, 3/21/23 (+)]

 

Biden To Create New Marine Sanctuary In Pacific — “President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he would expeditiously expand and increase environmental protections for a group of remote atolls and islands in the Central Pacific and the nearly 777,000 square miles of waters around them. He’s directing the commerce secretary to consider initiating a new national marine sanctuary designation within the next 30 days around the Pacific Remote Islands, which would further his goal of conserving at least 30% of U.S. ocean waters by 2030. A coalition of Pacific island leaders and members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation among others applauded Biden’s decision, though there were some lingering concerns. ‘With his support, this action ensures a healthy marine ecosystem of native species, corals, seabirds, and all of the marine ‘ohana that support the perpetuation of traditional voyaging practices in Oceania,’ Jonee Peters, executive director of Conservation Council for Hawaii, said in a release. Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, Jarvis Island, Palmyra Atoll/Kingman Reef and the Baker and Howland Islands have been protected since President George W. Bush established the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument in 2009, which banned deep-sea mining and commercial fishing in their waters out to 50 miles.” [Honolulu Civil Beat, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

A Pacific Remote Islands National Marine Sanctuary Supported By President Biden — “On Tuesday, President Joe Biden directed the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to consider initiating a new National Marine Sanctuary designation within the next 30 days to all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands, which are southwest of Hawaiʻi. If completed, the new sanctuary would conserve 777,000 square miles and ensure the United States will reach the Biden’s goal of conserving at least 30 percent of ocean waters under American jurisdiction by 2030. Biden announced this directive and other environmental efforts at the White House Conservation in Action Summit. The new marine sanctuary would encompass areas unaddressed by previous administrations so all areas of U.S. jurisdiction around the islands, atolls and reef of the Pacific Remote Islands would be protected, according to a White House release.” [Kauai Now, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Biden Releases Nation's First Ocean Climate Action Plan To Help Combat Climate Crisis — “President Joe Biden released a first-of-its-kind U.S. Ocean Climate Action Plan on Tuesday, which he said will ‘harness the tremendous power of the ocean to help in our fight against the climate crisis.’ Speaking at the White House Conservation in Action Summit, Biden said: ‘We can reduce emissions by building offshore wind farms, better protect our coastal and fishing communities from worsening storms, changing fisheries and other impacts on climate change.’ Ocean advocates say it comes not a minute too soon. By absorbing more than 90% of the Earth’s warming in recent decades, the ocean is ‘already playing an enormous role in the climate crisis,’ said Lara Levison, senior director of federal policy for the ocean conservation group Oceana. ‘Ocean policy is often overlooked in discussions of climate action and climate solutions, Levison said. ‘There’s so much emphasis on what’s happening on land and not nearly enough focus on the ocean.’ … On Tuesday, the Biden administration said it would direct Gina Raimondo, secretary of the Department of Commerce, to consider initiating a new national marine sanctuary designation around the Pacific Remote Islands within 30 days. That would meet the goal of protecting 30% of the nation’s ocean.” [USA Today, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Biden Declares First Ocean Climate-Action Plan Meant To Help Fishing And Limit Warming Seas — “The Biden administration has established what it calls the first-ever action plan specifically targeting ocean health. It’s part of a White House agenda setting the nation on course to conserve at least 30% of ocean waters under U.S. jurisdiction by 2030. And it fits with steps to date that leave some observers labeling Joe Biden the ‘climate-change president.’ The initiatives were pitched as part of Biden’s budget proposal out earlier this month and detailed Tuesday. The Ocean Policy Committee, co-chaired by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy organized the ideas under what they’re calling the United States Ocean Climate Action Plan. … Biden announced other conservation steps Tuesday. They included establishing national monuments at scenic and sacred natural areas in Nevada and Texas, plus creating a marine sanctuary in U.S. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. The designations mean that no commercial development can take place on the lands. Tuesday’s conservation agenda also called for support of wildlife corridors. Biden also announced new spending to improve access to outdoor recreation, promote tribal conservation and reduce wildfire risk.” [MarketWatch, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

 

Federal Agencies

 

Department of the Interior (DOI)

 

Interior And Pentagon Unite To Increase Recreation Near Bases — “The Pentagon and Interior Department on Tuesday announced they’re joining forces in an $80 million campaign to both preserve land and provide space for outdoor fun. Dubbed the Readiness and Recreation Initiative, the effort will combine $40 million from the National Park Service and $40 million from the Defense Department. The money will be distributed through competitive grants to fund outdoor recreational projects on tribal, private, state or local lands near military bases. ‘This collaboration with the Defense Department is a natural partnership, one that will encourage planning and coordination across local, state and federal agencies,’ said Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz. Estenoz added that the program will ‘reserve natural areas that increase outdoor recreational opportunities, sustain native wildlife and habitats, and guard against climate impacts and severe weather events such as wildfire and flooding.’    The NPS contribution will come from unobligated balances in the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Defense Department’s share will come from the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program. That program secures land adjacent to military bases to serve as buffers to development and enhance recreational access, among other priorities.” [E&E News, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Biden Interior Secretary Chokes Up While Talking About Importance Of Bison For Native Americans — “Interior Secretary Deb Haaland choked up while speaking about the importance of Native American stewardship of lands and wildlife during her remarks at a White House conservation summit Tuesday. Haaland became visibly emotional in particular as she recalled her recent secretarial order restoring populations of American bison across the country using more than $25 million earmarked in the Inflation Reduction Act passed and signed into law over the summer. The Department of the Interior (DOI) said, under the order, bison would be returned to tribal and ‘ancestral’ lands where Indigenous groups developed strong ties to the animal. ‘We’re incorporating Indigenous knowledge and honoring tribes for their role in stewarding our lands and waters since time immemorial,’ Haaland said before tearing up. ‘Two weeks ago, I signed an order to elevate the department’s work to restore the American bison in prairie grasslands. And it won’t surprise you that I teared up when I signed the documents.’ ‘I was thinking about how the federal government tried to erase Indigenous people in so many ways, taking their land, taking their children, taking their lives and taking away the bison that were so central to many tribal nations’ lifeways,’ she continued. ‘But you know that the bison are still here and Indigenous people are still here.’” [Fox News, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

 

Democrats Press Interior Secretary To Direct More Money To BOEM To Reach US Offshore Wind Goals — “Dive Brief: Thirty-three members of the House and Senate – all but one of them from states with expressed interest in offshore wind – called on Department of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to direct a ‘significant’ portion of a $150 million environmental review fund to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. With 11 coastal states aiming to deploy 77 GW of offshore wind, BOEM faces a rapidly expanding pipeline of projects in need of site and permit reviews, according to a letter sent to Haaland on March 15. Delays in permitting ‘whether due to a slow and under-resourced process or adverse court decisions resulting from quick and shoddy reviews – will hamper and possibly lead to a death knell for project development,’ the letter says.” [Utility Dive, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)

 

FWS, Forest Owners Seek Collaboration On Research — “The Fish and Wildlife Service and private forest owners announced Tuesday the expansion nationwide of a collaborative conservation program that’s found some success in the Southeast. In what’s being billed as a ‘long-term commitment to the sustainable management of private working forests as a wildlife conservation solution,’ leaders from FWS and the organization representing timber companies and major forest owners made public a deal they say can reduce conflict and protect species habitat. ‘Through proactive, voluntary participation and collaboration, we can leverage the insights, information and experience of private forest owners, conservation groups and the Service to achieve positive results for wildlife,’ said Dave Tenny, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Forest Owners. The new memorandum of understanding between the federal agency and the private group, though formally signed without fanfare in January, was announced Tuesday as part of a package of green initiatives touted by the Biden administration as part of today’s White House Conservation in Action Summit.” [E&E News, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Texas Challenges Chicken Listing — “ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent rule extending Endangered Species Act protections to populations of lesser prairie chickens in Texas and several other Western states. The agency found conservation efforts had fallen short, but the listing, Reg. 1018-BB27, has drawn criticism from the oil and gas, agriculture and other key industries. Paxton’s lawsuit argues that ‘procedural and legal defects plague’ the listing. ‘The Service made inaccurate and arbitrary assumptions about current impacts, relying on those assumptions to make equally arbitrary predictions about future impacts,’ the suit said. It also argues that FWS didn’t properly consider conservation efforts and that the rule is too vague about what activities are restricted within the bird’s habitat.” [Politico, 3/22/23 (=)]

 

 

States & Local

 

Arizona

 

9th Circ. Weighs Tribal Opposition To Ariz. Copper Mine — “The Ninth Circuit wrestled on Tuesday with the extent of federal protections for religious liberty as it revisited a controversial land exchange in Arizona at the heart of plans to build North America’s largest copper mine, a project that Indigenous activists say would raze a sacred site. Litigation over the exchange, under which the U.S. government would give the mining company Resolution Copper close to 2,500 acres in the Tonto National Forest, is once again before the circuit court after it vacated an earlier panel decision last November. At an en banc rehearing in Pasadena, California, counsel for the San Carlos Apache Tribe group known as Apache Stronghold challenging the land transfer said the move would permanently stop Native Americans from worshipping at a sacred site, known as Oak Flat, within the mine’s planned footprint. The exchange is therefore unlawful under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, according to Luke Goodrich, a vice president and senior counsel at the religious-liberty law firm Becket. Arguing that the government wouldn’t fine Apache worshippers for visiting Oak Flat, Goodrich said Tuesday that federal officials are now ‘doing something far worse’ by letting that site be destroyed to make way for the Resolution Copper mine. ‘Here, the government has made the Apaches worse off,’ he said. ‘As they sit here today, they have a right to go onto Oak Flat … and use it for their religious purposes.’” [Law360, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Florida

 

FWS Can't Doom Fla. Suit Over Road Project In Panther Lands — “A Florida federal judge denied a request Monday to dismiss a suit claiming a highway expansion project was greenlighted without adequate consideration of the endangered Florida panther, ruling that the suit is not mooted by the completion of the project. U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell said the dispute is not the expansion of State Road 82 in southwest Florida but whether the defendants — the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Florida Department of Transportation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — considered the impacts of the road on the Florida panther. ‘The effects of these alleged violations on the Florida panther — and corresponding harm to plaintiffs — are ongoing post-construction,’ the judge said. ‘So the controversy remains ‘live.’ Judge Chappell said a case only becomes moot when it is impossible for a court to grant any relief to a prevailing party. The defendants argued that any relief other than vacating the construction permit or stopping construction is a theoretical possibility that the court cannot grant, but the judge said that the complaint in this case ‘contemplates relief beyond simply enjoining construction.’” [Law360, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

North Dakota

 

Oil Co. Expands ND Drilling Rights Suit — “An oil and gas developer has beefed up its lawsuit in North Dakota federal court accusing two energy companies of working in secret with the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to usurp its drilling rights on the Fort Berthold Reservation, adding the U.S. Department of Interior and other federal defendants to an amended complaint. In the new complaint filed Monday, Prima Exploration Inc. named the DOI, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the Interior Board of Appeals as additional defendants in the suit, seeking a court order forcing the DOI to complete Prima’s long-pending administrative appeals over the allegedly unlawful lease transfers. Prima’s proceeding in the Interior Board of Indian Appeals is challenging an unnamed BIA regional director’s 2018 affirmation of the agency’s decision to strip Prima of its 320-acre oil and gas lease. The IBIA proceedings, Prima said, are ongoing despite the briefing being complete in January 2020. The delay has been exacerbated by other cases that have been pushed ahead of Prima’s appeal, the complaint said. In August 2022, Prima’s case was 40th in a queue of 92 cases to be decided, but the case had dropped in priority to 42nd as of January, the suit alleged. ‘Given that briefing was complete two and a half years ago, that Prima has been pushed from number 40 to number 42 in the last nine months, and that cases are being pushed ahead of Prima, there can be no reasonable expectation that the IBIA will issue a decision until it is too late,’ Prima said.” [Law360, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

Utah

 

Enviros Win Intervention Bid In Utah Monument Suit — “A Utah federal judge allowed a host of conservation groups to back the Biden administration in litigation challenging its restoration of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments while denying multiple intervention bids from a dozen other organizations, finding that the conservation coalition’s interests encompass those of the rejected intervenors. U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Kohler on Friday reasoned that the environmental groups shared the same objective as the federal government and four intervenor tribes — getting the complaints from Utah, two counties and a group of Utah locals tossed — but their private interests could clash with those of the federal officials and tribes. Facing four intervention bids from 22 different groups, however, Judge Kohler determined the 10 environmental groups, which include the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Sierra Club and Center for Biological Diversity, can broadly represent the three remaining groups, two of which are concerned with only one monument, while the other — a consortium of archeological and anthropological associations — ‘asserts narrow anthropological interests in both monuments.’ The decision was made on a first-come, first-served basis: because ‘the first group to file a motion to intervene was the group of SUWA intervenors, the court grants their motion,’ the judge said.” [Law360, 3/21/23 (=)]

 

 

 

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