[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE: House members float bill to overturn California waiver decision”] House lawmakers introduced legislation on March 6 that would overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) denial of California’s request for a waiver to allow the state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The “Right to Clean Vehicles Act,” from Reps. Peter Welch…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE: House members float bill to overturn California waiver decision”] House lawmakers introduced legislation on March 6 that would overturn the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) denial of California’s request for a waiver to allow the state to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The “Right to Clean Vehicles Act,” from Reps. Peter Welch…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”Opportunity to support National Science Foundation”] ESA would like to alert you to an opportunity to help increase funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Representatives Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Bob Inglis (R-SC), and Brian Baird (D-WA) are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter to each member of House of Representatives asking for their…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”ENDANGERED SPECIES: Oil and Gas Lease Sales Proceed Ahead of Polar Bear Listing Decision”] On February 6 the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced that there were $2.6 billion in winning bids on oil and gas leases to companies seeking to drill for oil and natural gas in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, including a record…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”BUSH BUDGET PRIORITIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009″] The Bush Administration unveiled its proposal for the fiscal year (FY) 2009 federal budget on February 4, 2008 . The proposed budget reflects the Bush Administration’s continued emphasis on defense and security as well as on bolstering the physical sciences. In a budget briefing at the White House…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE CHANGE: EPA’s Johnson Defends Decision to Reject California Waiver Request”] Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Jan. 24 in the first of several congressional hearings on EPA’s rejection of the California waiver request to regulate vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. Another hearing on the…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”APPROPRIATIONS UPDATES: President Bush signs omnibus spending bill into law”] On December 26, President Bush signed the 2008 omnibus appropriations bill into law, bringing the 2008 appropriations process to a close. According to the budget analysis prepared by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), overall highlights for individual agencies are as follows:…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”WATER: SENATE COMPLETES VETO OVERRIDE FOR WRDA”] On November 8, the Senate voted 79-14 to reverse President Bush’s veto of legislation that authorizes more than $23 billion in water projects, enacting the first Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) since 2000. With the House having voted 361-54 on November 6 to override, the Senate action completed…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”AGRICULTURE: FLOOR CHALLENGES AWAIT SENATE FARM BILL COMPROMISE”] The farm bill compromise cleared by the Senate Agriculture Committee October 25 will likely face aggressive attempts on the Senate floor to cut crop subsidies, in addition to other changes that even Committee Chairman Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) said he may support. The Committee unanimously backed a rewrite…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”OCEANS: HOUSE OKAYS EFFORT TO EXPAND ‘DEBT FOR NATURE’ SWAPS”] The House cleared a bill on October 10 that would let foreign nations pay off some of their debt by protecting coral reefs and tropical forests. The bill, H.R. 2185 , passed without objection, putting it in a good position to make it to the…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”FORESTS: GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE CONCERNS FUEL SENATORS’ IRE ON WILDFIRES”] Concerns that global climate change might alter the makeup of North American forests and increase the risk of wildfires could fan the flames for congressional action on forest management. At an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on September 24, Western senators lamented the Forest…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION LEGISLATIVE UPDATES”] – No Child Left Inside Act – Higher Education Sustainability Act 1) No Child Left Inside (NCLI) – Congressman Sarbanes (D-MD) recently introduced the “No Child Left Inside Act ” (HR 3036), and Senator Reed also introduced a companion bill (S 1981). The act would: Create a new environmental education (EE)…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE: HASTERT HOPES TO SHAPE CLIMATE CHANGE DEBATE BEFORE HILL EXIT”] Republican Dennis Hastert (IL) is expected to retire from Congress at the end of next year, but the former House speaker won’t leave without trying to work with Democrats on energy and climate legislation. Hastert is ranking member of the House Energy and Air…
POLICY-RELATED SESSIONS AT ESA’S ANNUAL MEETING IN SAN JOSE, CA: If you plan to attend the meeting this year, be sure to check out these sessions and events (list at end of Policy News). [toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”AGRICULTURE: MULTIBILLION DOLLAR FARM BILL ON ITS WAY TO THE HOUSE FLOOR”] The House Agriculture Committee voted July 19 to approve…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”APPROPRIATIONS: HOUSE DROPS DEMOCRATIC AMENDMENTS, APPROVES INTERIOR BILL”] On June 27, the House dropped major amendments from the Interior spending bill on Western rights of way and natural gas leasing and defeated an attempt to limit hunting of polar bears. After dropping the amendments, the House voted 272-155 to approve H.R. 2643, the fiscal 2008…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”ENERGY POLICY: SENATE INCLUDES CLIMATE AMENDMENTS IN SWEEPING ENERGY BILL”] The Senate adopted several climate-related amendments June 21 before passing a major energy bill that would boost auto efficiency standards and require a roughly five-fold increase in the use of biofuels. The final amendment package that cleared the Senate without objection includes provisions that call…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE: BILL FORCING U.S. PARTICIPATION IN CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS CLEARS HOUSE PANEL”] The Bush Administration would be required to participate this year in international global climate change negotiations aimed at setting binding targets to limit heat-trapping emissions under legislation approved May 23 by a near party-line 29-16 majority in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Chairman…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE: IPCC REPORT URGES CHANGE IN ENERGY POLICIES, LAND USE”] The world will need to overhaul its energy and land-use policies within the next few decades to avoid a sweeping shift in the Earth’s climate, according to a United Nations report approved May 4 by more than 100 government officials, scientists and economists. In sharp…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”DOE: SENATE PASSES BILL ESTABLISHING NEW ENERGY-RESEARCH AGENCY”] The Senate approved a broad science research-and-education bill April 25 that creates an agency in the Department of Energy (DOE) aimed at spurring research into breakthrough energy technologies. The bill also requires policies to prevent suppression or distortion of research at science agencies and to ensure the…
[toggles title=”In This Issue”] [toggle title=”CLIMATE: SUPREME COURT ORDERS EPA TO CONSIDER REGULATING GREENHOUSE GASES”] The Bush administration must consider regulating carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, the Supreme Court said April 2 in its first decision addressing legal issues surrounding global warming. In a 5-4 ruling on Massachusetts v. EPA , the court sided with 11 states and 13 environmental…