Tough resource disputes at issue as NDAA talks launch: “The legislators tasked with crafting
a final National Defense Authorization Act met for the first time Wednesday to start the process of reconciling House and Senate versions of the bill. Some provisions are bound to be deeply controversial. The House bill includes riders related to sage grouse
protections and environmental permitting, and both have drawn criticism from environmentalists. The sage grouse provision from House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who is also on the NDAA conference committee, would prevent the greater sage
grouse and lesser prairie chicken from being listed under the Endangered Species Act for the next 10 years. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) is leading the negotiations in the absence of Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is battling brain
cancer. When asked whether he thought there would be arguments over the grouse language during the conference committee, Inhofe replied: "I would certainly hope so. It's something that they've talked about on the House side and that we've talked about on the
Senate side." Iraq War veteran Garett Reppenhagen, Rocky Mountain director with the Vet Voice Foundation, recently traveled from Colorado to Capitol Hill to speak out about his opposition to environmental riders in defense legislation. "When things like the
defense bill that's supposed to be used for the training and the equipment that our troops need overseas becomes a vehicle to try to move these amendments that basically help destroy the public lands that I love, it becomes pretty offensive," he told E&E News.
He disagrees with Bishop on whether grouse and resource measures are germane in a defense bill. Still, the chairman and his allies have for years said resource rules affect the military. The environmental permitting provision for so-called critical minerals,
by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), may generate even more controversy this time around. It would significantly reform and accelerate the National Environmental Policy Act review process for mines…Aaron Mintzes, senior policy council for the nonprofit Earthworks,
opposes Amodei's provision as well as several others, including a land exchange with a mining company that is detailed in the Senate version of the bill. "We would like to see the conference committee remove the anti-environmental provisions and pass a clean
bill, as the tradition has been for a long time," Mintzes said.”
[E&E News, 7/13/18]
https://goo.gl/gJz1sm
This GOP Congressman Has Begun a Huge Fight Over a Key Environmental Law: “A linchpin environmental
law is now being scrutinized by the Trump administration and could be targeted for reforms. The National Environmental Policy Act, commonly referred to as NEPA, dictates the environmental planning process for federal agencies. Any changes to the NEPA process
could have far-reaching impacts on the vast public lands and infrastructure of the West. The NEPA reform push broadly traces political dividing lines, as pro-business and anti-regulation Republicans, who want to see NEPA reworked, square off with environmental
groups and conservation-minded Democrats hoping to preserve the law and implementation process. Caught between the vocal factions of each party are state governments and federal land managers arguing for a middle ground of limited reform…Heading the push for
NEPA reform is Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who has had the law in his sights for the last decade. During a committee meeting on NEPA, Bishop, the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, complained the law has been warped by lawsuits and court interpretations
and become “a weapon for litigants to force delays and denials on all sorts of activities.” Bishop, who has been a vocal proponent of loosening federal regulations on oil and gas companies and the transfer of federal lands to state control, said, “Environmental
reviews should inform government of the actions they need to take, not paralyze it.”
Conservation groups are digging in order to preserve NEPA and asking for an extended public commenting period on the current review. The “Protect NEPA Campaign,” which is a coalition of environmental,
labor and civil rights group, such as the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council has called the Trump administration’s review an unprecedented attack on the law. More than 350 environmental organizations signed a letter to the Council on Environmental
Quality, asking for an extension of the public comment period from 30 to 90 days. Raul Garcia, the senior legislative counsel for the environmental law group Earthjustice, said the month-long commenting process “is the latest in a long line of this administration’s
efforts to silence public opinion and hinder democracy.’”
[Mother Jones, 7/10/18]
https://goo.gl/sLhuKu
Colorado Lt Gov Little testifies on grazing: “Lt. Gov. Brad Little was among a set of four
witnesses who appeared Thursday before a House subcommittee which held an oversight hearing on public lands grazing. Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee have in recent months been moving toward significant changes to the Endangered Species
Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Equal Access to Justice Act, which allows groups who successfully prove in court that federal agencies violated federal rules to recover attorney fees. Rep. Tom McClintock of California, the Republican chairman
of the Subcommittee on Federal Lands, blasted environmental groups who file such suits as “a racket,” saying federal land management had slowed to a snail’s pace due to “endless, frivolous lawsuits filed by serial litigants.” In her opening remarks the ranking
Democrat, Rep. Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts, advocated proposed legislation that would allow private groups to pay ranchers to retire their grazing permits, reducing the long-term amount of grazing on public lands. She pointed out that the Bureau of Land
Management and Forest Service have set grazing fees so low that they don’t come close to the cost of grazing management activities the federal agencies perform — in 2016, agencies collected about $27 million in fees but spent about $136 million on grazing
management. Little also touted Idaho’s efforts to create rangeland fire protection associations, which allow ranchers to be integrated into wildland firefighting efforts. Little said ranchers can often respond more quickly to fires, allowing the response to
begin before they get out of control. Erik Molvar is executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, a group that has been heavily critical of grazing on public lands and has frequently used court actions to challenge federal grazing plans. He argued
that excessive grazing increases the risk of wildfire, in addition to eroding stream banks and creating other environmental damage to public lands. “You don’t have enough grass left for the grass to provide from year to year,” he said, adding that this may
contribute to the spread of invasive cheatgrass. When cheatgrass, which grows quickly and early and dries out early in the season, takes over, it greatly increases the likelihood that rangeland will be subject to regular catastrophic wildfires.”
[Post Register, 7/13/18]
https://goo.gl/7zBsVd
Senate Talks Gas Infrastructure amid Increasing Delays: “The Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee returned Thursday to the issue of natural gas infrastructure permitting following reports of increasing delays at FERC. Two former FERC chairmen, James Hoecker (1997-2001) and Joseph T. Kelliher (2005-2009) agreed with J. Curtis Moffatt, general
counsel for Kinder Morgan, and James Murchie, CEO of investment advising firm Energy Income Partners, that failing to build adequate pipelines would lead to higher prices for consumers. They also said delays in state and federal approvals cause uncertainty
and could discourage down investment. While these sentiments aren’t new, they came on the heels of a report by Bloomberg on Wednesday that FERC has notified several developers of LNG export terminals that their applications could be delayed by 12 to 18 months
as it struggles to deal with its backlog. The commission asked the developers to consider sending private contractors to help, according to Bloomberg’s sources. In a series of tweets before the story broke, Commissioner Neil Chatterjee suggested better pay
for staff and opening a regional office in Houston, “the center of the world” for natural gas. FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre told the committee at an oversight hearing last month that the commission has 14 pending LNG applications, up from four in 2007. McIntyre
said the commission has hired private contractors to supplement its workforce and is seeking to hire additional engineers, while also considering reallocating other staff and hiring additional contractors. It also is seeking to improve coordination with the
Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation and seeking internal efficiencies. The panelists at Thursday’s hearing made no mention of commission staffing as a problem. Rather, they mostly offered suggestions for how the commission could more
efficiently process pipeline applications. Kelliher, executive vice president for federal regulatory affairs for NextEra Energy, said FERC could be more transparent in its certificate orders about how it weighs the benefits and adverse impacts of projects.
“There is a need to clarify whether and how environmental impacts should be weighed in this balancing, and whether the commission’s environmental review is under the auspices of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 or part of the broader public interest
determination in the Natural Gas Act,” he said.”
[RTO Insider, 7/12/18]
https://goo.gl/M7Ziyc
White House, Congress Take Aim at Environmental Review Law: “A law for evaluating the environmental
impact of infrastructure projects is being targeted for changes by the White House and Congress. The National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA lays out the review process for federal agencies when considering major projects. Western Environmental Law Center
staff attorney Susan Jane Brown says NEPA allows agencies to "look before they leap." But it's garnered criticism from Republicans, including Congressman Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who says the NEPA process paralyzes activity in the West. Brown says the Trump administration
wants to follow his lead. "There are many in the administration that have taken the House's willingness to gut NEPA as a green light to proceed with larger policy initiatives coming from the executive branch that have the same sort of impact," says Brown.
Federal agencies use the NEPA process to consider the environmental impacts of many projects, including timber sales, building highways and bridges, and renewing licenses for dams. One review now underway is looking at dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers
and their impact on endangered salmon. The rule changes aren't final, but Brown cites concerns about proposals from the Trump administration. She says agencies may not have to consider alternative plans that could have less impact on the environment, and they
could also reduce the public's role in the planning process. Brown thinks the public should be part of the NEPA process, because the outcome affects them. "Suggesting that public comment is burdensome for federal agencies to deal with, frankly, is pretty
obnoxious and anti-democratic," says Brown. Brown says the Trump administration has made it clear it wants to permit as much fossil-fuel development as it can, both on and off public lands.”
[Public News Service OR, 7/13/18]
https://goo.gl/6cGFEJ
Justin McCarthy
Communications Director, NEPA Campaign
The Partnership Project
1101 Connecticut Ave NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20036 USA
T: (202) 650-0327
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, Defenders
of Wildlife, League of Conservation Voters, Earthjustice, and Natural Resources Defense Council.