White House

 

Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)

 

CEQ Declines To Address Snake River Dam Negotiations — “The Biden administration will press ahead with negotiations over the future of 14 dams in the Pacific Northwest despite the leak of a confidential draft settlement by House GOP lawmakers Wednesday. The White House, along with multiple states, tribal nations and environmental groups, are engaged in a settlement process stemming from a lawsuit over the 2020 federal plan for hydropower operations on the Snake and Columbia rivers, and the impacts of those facilities on restoring the region’s endangered salmon and steelhead. Ahead of a Dec. 15 settlement deadline in the lawsuit, four GOP lawmakers — Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan Newhouse of Washington state, Cliff Bentz of Oregon, and Russ Fulcher of Idaho — published a draft mediation document, along with a letter to President Joe Biden seeking more information on the looming agreement. A Council on Environmental Quality spokesperson, who asked not to be identified given the confidential nature of the settlement talks, said Thursday: ‘No documents have be finalized and we are still in active negotiations.’” [E&E News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

 

Congress

 

Senate

 

Daines Urges Faster FWS Decision On Grizzly Bears — “Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana has dialed up the pressure on the Fish and Wildlife Service to make a decision on removing grizzly bears from Endangered Species Act protections. Prompted by a court ruling, Daines fired off a letter dated Wednesday asking FWS Director Martha Williams to ‘expeditiously complete the ongoing review of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) grizzly bears.’ ‘Allowing serial litigants to continue to use the listing of grizzlies under the ESA to block everything from wolf management to forest management is irresponsible and hurts our Montana way of life,’ Daines said. ‘It’s past time to allow the state of Montana to use common sense to manage our wildlife populations.’ Daines added that environmentalists are using the current ESA-listed status ‘as a wedge’ to block Montana’s wolf-trapping regulations.” [E&E News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

House

 

Outdoor Recreation Bill Gets Big Love In House Hearing — “A landmark outdoor recreation package had its first hearing in the House on Thursday, with legislators on both sides of the aisle in rare agreement over the bill. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands heard from several witnesses testifying in favor of H.R. 6492, the ‘Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act,’ which brings together more than a dozen individual outdoor recreation bills aimed at boosting the industry, encouraging public-private partnerships and instructing agencies to clarify some rules around recreation on public land. ‘This legislation, as has been said, is bipartisan. It’s bicameral, and it didn’t come from the top down. There are more than 15 individual bills in here from members on both sides of the aisle that have been worked on for years,’ said full committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), who introduced the bill with support from ranking member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) on Wednesday. Westerman said the bill ‘will transform recreational experiences on our public lands across the nation and in my home state of Arkansas as well.’ Grijalva said at the hearing Thursday, ‘It is common ground for all of us politically speaking and policy speaking. And I’m appreciative of the work that has gone into this.’” [E&E News, 12/1/23 (=)]

 

House Passes Bill To Ban Migrant Housing On Public Lands — “The House approved a bill Thursday that would make it illegal for federal agencies to allow migrant housing on public lands. H.R. 5283, the ‘Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act of 2023,’ passed on a vote of 224 to 203. Six Democrats joined nearly all voting Republicans in advancing the bill. Republicans advanced the bill after the National Park Service and the Interior Department in September approved a lease allowing migrant housing at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field, which is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. ‘This is the Biden administration’s legacy for the National Park Service,’ said Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. He said the bill would also ‘put an end to the legally questionable lease’ by revoking it. ‘If you go to Floyd Bennett Field today, you wouldn’t see any children on playgrounds or fishermen dotting the shoreline,’ Westerman said during debate Wednesday.” [E&E News, 12/1/23 (=)]

 

House Passes Bill Barring Funding To House Illegal Aliens On Federal Land — “The federal government shouldn’t be permitted to use taxpayer funds to house illegal aliens on federal government land, under a bill passed by the House on Thursday. The legislation was introduced by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and specifically prohibits federal funding from being used to provide housing for illegal aliens on land that is under the jurisdiction of federal land management agencies, including land belonging to the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service. ‘Turning our federal parks into encampments for unvetted migrants from all over the world is unfair to surrounding communities, and the taxpayers being forced to foot the bill while having their public spaces taken away,’ Malliotakis said in a statement. The bill passed almost entirely along party lines in a vote of 224 to 203, with all Republicans voting for it, along with six Democrats. The Biden administration announced that it ‘strongly opposes’ the bill in a statement from the Office of Management and Budget on Monday.” [The Daily Signal, 11/30/23 (-)]

 

 

Department of the Interior (DOI)

 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

 

Work Resumes On $10B Renewable Energy Transmission Project Despite Tribal Objections — “The tractors are back at work clearing land and building access roads for a $10 billion transmission line that the Biden administration describes as an important part of the nation’s transition to renewable energy. But Native American leaders have vowed to keep pushing the federal government to heed their concerns about the project cutting through a culturally significant valley in southern Arizona. Billed by California-based developer Pattern Energy as an infrastructure undertaking bigger than the Hoover Dam, the SunZia transmission line will stretch about 550 miles (885 kilometers). It will funnel electricity from massive wind farms in central New Mexico to more populated areas as far away as California. Executives and federal officials gathered in New Mexico in September to break ground on the project, touting negotiations that spanned years and resulted in the necessary approvals from the Bureau of Land Management.” [Associated Press, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Biden $26M Oil Sale Gets Pushback On Multiple Fronts — “Oil sales on public lands netted nearly $26 million this week in Wyoming and New Mexico, rejuvenating criticism from both environmentalists and industry of the Biden administration’s auctions. The oil sales, which are occurring during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also underscore that the nation’s oil and gas program continues to garner industry interest despite the administration’s ambivalence to continued drilling on public lands. This year, the U.S. is expected to set an annual record for oil production. Public oil and gas output has also reached record highs. As of September, the Biden administration permitted nearly 4,000 new onshore oil and gas wells for the fiscal year, according to the Bureau of Land Management. Most of the auction revenue this week came from New Mexico. Just nine parcels for sale in the southeastern oil fields of the state generated nearly $22.5 million, according to preliminary counts Thursday, reflecting the strong oil and gas interest along New Mexico’s border with Texas.” [E&E News, 12/1/23 (=)]

 

BLM Aims To Revise Massive Western Transmission Corridor — “The Biden administration is planning a major step forward in ongoing efforts to improve electric transmission capacity to facilitate renewable energy development and other priorities across the West. The Bureau of Land Management announced Thursday it would begin a detailed analysis aimed at potentially revising seven sections of the sprawling West-wide Energy Corridor — designated more than a decade ago and stretching nearly 6,000 miles across 11 states — to help speed up expansion of the nation’s energy grid, in part to address increased solar and geothermal power development. Altering the seven sections of the West-wide Energy Corridor covering about 670 miles of the corridor route would require BLM to amend 19 resource management plans in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, according to a notice in Thursday’s Federal Register. The West-wide Energy Corridor routes adopted in 2009 included specific uses, such as transmission lines or underground pipelines. These sections of the corridor were limited to ‘underground-only,’ ‘electric-only’ or multiple use, and often did not consider new technologies such as solar and wind power.” [E&E News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Bureau Of Land Management Seeks Public Comment For Oil, Gas Lease Sales — “The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is seeking public comment for several oil and gas lease sales in the United States, the organization’s site shows. In a statement posted on its site on November 27, the BLM noted that its Nevada state office opened a 30-day public scoping period to receive public input on two oil and gas parcels totaling 2,320 acres. The parcels may be included in a June 2024 lease sale in Nevada, the BLM outlined in the statement. The comment period ends December 27, the organization highlighted. In a separate statement posted on its site on November 20, the BLM revealed that its New Mexico state office opened a 30-day public comment period to receive public input on 26 oil and gas parcels totaling 6,162 acres ‘that may be included in an upcoming lease sale in New Mexico and Kansas’. The comment period for these parcels ends on December 20, the BLM pointed out in the statement.” [Rigzone, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

 

Emails: Interior Granted Offshore Wind Project 15-Year Delay On Cleanup Costs — “The Biden administration granted the nation’s first offshore wind farm a 15-year grace period on posting the full price of decommissioning the wind array to help the costly project get off the ground, according to internal emails. Currently under construction off the coast of Massachusetts, Vineyard Wind was approved by the Biden administration in May 2021, the first full-scale wind farm given a green light in the United States. Shortly after its approval, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management agreed to Vineyard’s request for a 15-year delay in posting decommissioning costs. Those funds are set aside to cover the price of dismantling and cleaning up when a large energy project reaches its end of life. Former BOEM renewables chief, James Bennett, wrote in a June 15, 2021, letter that the delay ‘does not expose the U.S. Government to undue risk,’ because Vineyard will be generating revenue 15 years into its operations for the electricity it produces from the wind farm, among other factors.” [E&E News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Offshore Gulf Of Mexico Oil Lease Sale Pushed Back To Dec. 20 After Appeals Court Ruling — “A federal appeals court has given the go-ahead for a controversial Gulf of Mexico oil lease sale, including acreage that had previously been excluded to protect an endangered whale, to proceed on Dec. 20. Lease Sale 261 was initially scheduled for Sept. 27 and then reset for Nov. 8 as a result of federal court decisions. The Biden administration had pared back the size of the lease sale in August as a way to protect the habitat of Rice’s whale in the northeastern part of the Gulf, a move that caused the state of Louisiana, American Petroleum Institute (API) and Chevron USA to challenge the restrictions in federal district court. The lower court granted the plaintiffs an injunction setting aside the Bureau of Ocean Energy and Management (BOEM) restrictions on the sale, and the Fifth Circuit left the injunction in place because BOEM did not specifically challenge it in the latest legal round. Several environmental groups that intervened in the case did challenge the injunction on appeal, but the court dismissed that challenge because the groups lacked standing.” [Louisiana Record, 12/1/23 (=)]

 

 

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

 

USDA Nominee Pledges To Build Staff For Field Offices — “The Biden administration’s pick to head rural energy, utility and housing programs said his top priority is fully staffing Agriculture Department field offices that are seeing stepped up workloads because of the recent surge in congressional spending. Basil Gooden, nominated for undersecretary for rural development, told the Senate Agriculture Committee he’d focus heavily on building staff during his first six months on the job, if confirmed. Gooden, who’s already director of state operations for USDA’s rural development programs, had a smooth confirmation hearing at which Republicans and Democrats alike praised his work for the department and his background as a farmer in central Virginia. Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said she hopes to vote on the nomination next week, along with that of Summer Mersinger to a seat on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Like other USDA agencies, those handling rural development initiatives — such as the Rural Utilities Service — have been tasked with implementing programs expanded through the Inflation Reduction Act.” [E&E News, 12/1/23 (=)]

 

Exclusive: Heavy Interest In Biden's "Climate Corps" — “Even before formal applications open, over 2,500 young people have signaled interest in joining a major unit of the federal ‘American Climate Corps’ (ACC) program, Ben writes. Why it matters: The info shared with Axios is an early metric of the Biden administration’s ability to transform its recently unveiled ACC into a meaningful initiative. Driving the news: Applications open today for Forest Corps, a joint program between AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service that officials call the first major new interagency program within the much wider ACC. What’s next: The first cohort of 18- to 26-year-olds is slated to begin work in the summer of 2024. Members will have jobs nationwide in forest and grassland conservation, wildfire risk mitigation and crisis response, reforestation and more. They’ll receive a compensation package ‘equivalent to $15/hour and includes lodging, transportation, clothing, a living allowance, health benefits, and more.’ Of note: The tally comes via preliminary signups through AmeriCorps’ website, and officials say anyone interested is still encouraged to apply. ‘AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service are invested in training the next generation of diverse conservation and climate resilience workers,’ AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith said in a statement.” [Axios, 12/1/23 (=)]

 

 

Courts & Legal

 

Oil And Gas Majors Step Into M&A Spotlight Moving Into 2024 — “Exxon’s and Chevron’s respective $60 billion and $53 billion mega-deals announced last month could mark the beginning of a new era of consolidation in the gas and oil industries — and it is unlikely that regulators will stand in the companies’ way as they look to close the transactions in 2024. In the first of the two deals, Exxon Mobil Corp. said on Oct. 11 it had agreed to buy Permian Basin shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources, represented by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, for nearly $60 billion. On Oct. 23, Chevron Corp. said it agreed to buy Hess Corp. for $53 billion. Both oil majors said they anticipate closing the deals in the first half of 2024. The transactions provide a burst of energy to a mergers and acquisitions market that experienced a lull in 2023, with attorneys anticipating that other major oil and gas companies could be eyeing large acquisitions as 2024 approaches. ‘This does feel like a new stage of consolidation for the industry, and not just two large isolated deals that will come and go,’ said Jeffrey S. Oliver, a Baker Botts LLP antitrust partner. ‘We’ve entered a phase where it seems likely there will be a series of large transactions that may somewhat change the makeup of the industry.’” [Law360, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

 

States & Local

 

Alaska

 

World's Largest Gathering Of Bald Eagles Threatened By Alaska Copper Mine Project, Environmentalists Say — “Every November, an American icon returns to Alaska’s Chilkat River to roost. ‘It’s akin to being on the Serengeti and watching the migration of the wildebeest,’ photographer Mario Benassi told CBS News. The Alaskan panhandle town of Haines is the gateway to the largest congregation of bald eagles in the U.S., and the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve is a migratory mecca. ‘This is the greatest concentration of bald eagles anywhere on the planet,’ Benassi explains. ‘At times, we’ve counted up to 4,000 individuals.’ It’s a phenomenon Benassi says is made possible by geothermal springs, which prevent the river from freezing, leaving the salmon that run through it ripe for picking.” [CBS News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Alaska, Willow Backers Fight 'Drastic' Bid To Halt Oil Project — “Alaska and other backers of the Willow oil project are urging a federal judge to let ConocoPhillips proceed with more construction work this winter and not block it as conservation groups have requested while they appeal an order affirming the Biden administration’s approval of the project. The Last Frontier State said in a court filing Wednesday that the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic and other conservation groups challenging the Willow project have already been correctly denied injunctions multiple times. The groups are now seeking ‘extraordinary and drastic injunctive relief to halt and effectively terminate’ the Willow project after receiving a ‘lengthy, well-reasoned decision dismissing all their claims on the merits,’ the state said. A host of other project backers, including the state’s Legislature and congressional delegation, the North Slope Borough, the Kuukpik Corp. and the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., are also urging U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason to deny the requested injunction in court filings this week.” [Law360, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

California

 

NOAA Proposes Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary — “NOAA has released the draft designation documents for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary for public comment. The action comes after the agency analyzed and evaluated feedback from the public, stakeholders, tribes and Indigenous communities, scientists and federal and state agencies. The proposed sanctuary designation stretches over 134 miles of coastline, enclosing more than 5,600 square miles of water off the Central California coast. It would advance President Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative, which supports locally led conservation efforts nationwide to conserve and restore 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. The Chumash people are Native American inhabitants of the central and southern coastal regions of California, and they have a rich cultural and historical heritage in the area. Efforts to establish marine sanctuaries or protected areas that recognize and preserve the cultural and natural resources associated with indigenous communities are not uncommon.” [The Log, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Montana

 

Conservation Groups Concerned With Incidental Trapping Exceptions In Wolverine Listing — “Conservation groups in Montana and the West largely applauded the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday to list the North American wolverine as a threatened species, but some said they remain concerned that the animals could still be incidentally trapped under exceptions in the interim rule. The effort to get wolverines listed spans two decades and numerous court cases, and some of the groups involved in getting to this point say they are relieved, but feel the interim rule portion of the decision could be improved and will be submitting comments during the next two months to urge changes. ‘We appreciate that the Fish and Wildlife Service finally listed wolverines as threatened but their 4d rule, which allows trapping in wolverine habitat, is a road map for extinction, not recovery,’ said Mike Garrity, the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. ‘Wolverines are scavengers and will continue to be taken if trapping is allowed to continue. The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to follow the law like all Americans are required to do and come up with a plan to recover wolverines.’” [Daily Montanan, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Nevada

 

Burning Man Digs Out Of The Mud, Clears BLM Review — “Despite torrential rains that turned the Burning Man festival into an enormous mud pit this fall and resulted in buried debris, federal land managers said event organizers have successfully cleaned up the mess. The Bureau of Land Management approved cleanup efforts conducted by Black Rock City LLC, the event’s organizers, according to newly released report. ‘We want to thank everyone in Black Rock City who helped keep the playa beautiful and our spirits high as we navigated this year’s unusual weather conditions together,’ Burning Man Project CEO Marian Goodell said in a statement. BLM approved restoration efforts on nearly 3,900 acres leased for the event, based on a spot check of 126 sites. The review failed 11 sites for containing more than a square foot of debris or litter per acre, below the 10 percent threshold required to pass the review process. ‘This year’s post Event clean up was significantly more challenging due to the rainy weather conditions encountered during the Event,’ the report by BLM’s Winnemucca District says.” [E&E News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

New York

 

New York Launches Bid To Save Floundering Offshore Wind Projects — “New York extended a lifeline Thursday to four offshore wind projects struggling to stay afloat, saying it will accept bids for new offshore wind proposals until the end of January. The announcement is part of New York’s plan to rescue offshore wind projects struggling with higher construction and financing costs. It opens the door for four offshore wind projects to be paid higher electricity prices for their power after state regulators rejected their request to amend their existing power contracts in October. In its ruling, the state Public Service Commission said it did not want to set a precedent where renewable developers could come back to the state and ask for higher prices after winning a competitive bid for state offshore renewable energy credits. But offshore wind remains critical to the state’s climate goals, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) made clear that she wanted to press forward on new projects. Thursday’s announcement by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is central to that effort. Issuing contracts to offshore wind projects is usually a lengthy process.” [E&E News, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Oklahoma

 

Study: Oklahoma Tribal Nations May Feel The Brunt Of Climate Change — “Tribal nations across Oklahoma are likely to feel the most severe effects of a changing climate, a new study suggests. That case study, published by the University of Oklahoma, focuses on the risk posed by heavy rains and increased flooding. Yang Hong, the study’s corresponding author, says that risk is ‘imminent’. ‘Indigenous communities are grappling with an imminent climate crisis, compounded by systemic injustices,’ Hong wrote. The study suggests that too little research exists to understand the full scope of how climate change will affect Native communities. To remedy that, the team from OU projected potential heavy rainfall, two-year floods, and flash floods in tribal nations. The results showed remarkably higher vulnerabilities for Native communities, compared to the rest of the state. ‘Indigenous people are the most vulnerable community in Oklahoma,’ with regard to climate change, the study found.” [The Black Wall Street Times, 11/30/23 (+)]

 

Gulf of Mexico

 

AP | Hunt For Gulf Pipeline Leak Continues As Oil Spill Tops 1 Million Gallons — “As much as 1.1 million gallons of oil may have been discharged into the Gulf of Mexico from a pipeline system off Louisiana’s southeast coast, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday. The affected pipeline has been shut down but authorities were still trying to determine the exact location and cause of the leak, officials said during a Coast Guard news conference. None of the oil has reached land so far, though its affect on wildlife was still being investigated. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife official said two oily pelicans were sighted off the Louisiana coast Saturday, but still appeared active and able to fly. The oil discharge was discovered amid high winds in the Gulf, which helped some of the oil evaporate and disperse. However, sheens and patches were will visible, said Capt. Kelly Denning, the Coast Guard’s New Orleans sector commander. The Coast Guard said the oil was discovered near a pipeline system owned by Main Pass Oil Company, a subsidiary of Houston-based Third Coast Infrastructure LLC. The company did not immediately respond to a Tuesday morning request for comment. A 67-mile stretch of pipeline was shut down last week as officials worked to pinpoint the location and cause of the leak.” [HuffPost, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Search Continues For Source Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill — “The source of a Gulf of Mexico oil spill believed to be roughly one-tenth the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster has not yet been identified, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday. An initial report made to the Coast Guard on Nov. 16 said a pipeline rupture offshore Louisiana, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, released an estimated 1.1 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. The report cited pipe corrosion as the likely cause of the leak that formed a slick between 3 to 4 miles wide ‘with dark oil scattered throughout,’ according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A 67-mile pipeline operated by Houston-based Third Coast Infrastructure, believed to be the source of the spill, has been forced to shut down, halting associated production from Houston-area oil companies including Occidental Petroleum, Talos, W&T Energy, Walter Oil and Gas, and Arena Offshore. Around 61,165 barrels, or nearly 2.6 million gallons, of daily oil production have been shut in until the source of the spill can be confirmed and addressed.” [Beaumont Enterprise, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Two Weeks Later, Many Questions Remain About An Oil Spill In The Gulf Of Mexico — “Earlier this month an oil spill was detected in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. Pipelines in the area were quickly shut down, but not before roughly a million gallons of oil were discharged into the gulf. No new oil has been detected in the waters since Nov. 20, according to the US Coast Guard, but it is still unclear where it came from or what happened. Rebekah Ward, environmental reporter with the Houston Chronicle, has been covering the latest, and spoke with the Standard about what is known so far. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.” [Texas Standard, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

Gulf Drilling Faces Reckoning As Biden Administration Scales Back Leasing — “Three years after President Joe Biden came into office pledging to end oil and gas production on federal lands and waters, the Gulf of Mexico, the largest offshore oil field over which the U.S. government has authority, is closing in on its highest production level since 2019. But the longer term future of the Gulf’s oil and gas industry, a mainstay of the Texas and Louisiana economies, is falling into increasing question after the Biden administration announced in September it was scaling back oil and gas leasing in the Gulf from twice a year to just once every two years. Oil companies maintain that without regular leasing by the federal government, the costs and risk of drilling the depths of the Gulf will increase, potentially pushing investment to oil fields abroad. ‘Conversations are already happening,’ said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association. ‘You see the potential for a service company to ask whether it’s worth putting money into their facilities in the U.S. when there’s less lease sales and should we shift to South America and Asia.’” [Beaumont Enterprise, 11/30/23 (=)]

 

 

Research, Analysis & Opinion

 

Op-Ed: Next Thanksgiving, Smokey Bear Should Talk About Climate Change — According to Sammy Roth, “Call me basic, but I love waking up on Thanksgiving morning and watching the Macy’s parade. Without fail, I’m enthralled by the pageantry and comforted by the tradition: the floats, the crowds, the Broadway dance numbers. Santa Claus. The last few years, though, one element has bothered me. ‘Look who we have here — USDA Forest Service’s most-loved ambassador, Smokey Bear, towering above the parade,’ Savannah Guthrie, one of the anchors of NBC’s ‘Today’ show, told viewers during last week’s broadcast. ‘For nearly 80 years, this American legend has been helping protect our forests and grasslands. And he’s returning to the parade with his ever-important message — that nearly nine out of 10 wildfires are started by humans, and they can be prevented.’ Turning to ‘Today’ weather anchor Al Roker, she asked, ‘Hey Al, what do you think Smokey would say about that?’” [Los Angeles Times, 11/30/23 (+)]

 

Op-Ed: ‘Cherry-Picking Of Experts’: Biden’s Landmark Climate Report Authored By Eco-Activists Linked To Liberal Dark Money — According to Nick Pope, “Nearly two dozen authors and contributors to the Biden administration’s landmark climate report work for left-wing environmental groups, some of which receive money from a liberal dark money network. The Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5), published in November, projects dire climate change scenarios and emphasizes the need for large-scale economic mobilization to prevent its worst effects. Over two dozen of the report’s hundreds of listed authors and technical contributors work for environmentalist or left-of-center policy advocacy organizations, like the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Nature Conservancy. … Several of the organizations named in the report’s credits receive funding from groups managed by Arabella Advisors, a for-profit company that oversees several nonprofits that variously support left-wing causes and Democratic candidates. … Other groups represented in the report’s credits include the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Soros family-funded Open Society Foundations, both of which are explicitly left-of-center in their advocacy. John Podesta, a Democratic insider working for Biden in the White House and distributing green energy subsidies, established the Center for American Progress in 2003. In 2022, the organization received $280,000 combined from the Arabella-managed Sixteen Thirty Fund and Hopewell Fund, according to their tax filings.” [The Daily Caller, 11/29/23 (-)]

 

 

 

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