Policy News: January 18, 2022

In this issue:

ESA Water Cooler Chat: COP 26 Debrief
Join ESA in sharing lessons learned from COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Congress
Senate committees advance EPA, USFWS and USDA nominees.

Executive Branch
White House releases scientific integrity report.

Courts
Judge orders USFWS to reconsider 2019 decision to not list the Yellowstone bison under the Endangered Species Act.

States
Pennsylvania governor vetoes measure stopping the state from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

International
A draft of IPBES’ thematic assessment of invasive alien species and their control is open for review.

Scientific Community
The USCRP seeks ecologists feedback on outline of NCA5 chapter outlines.

Federal Register opportunities

ESA Water Cooler Chat: COP 26 Debrief

Please join ESA in sharing lessons learned from the 2021 United Nations Conference of the Parties Meeting (also known as COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, and actions we can take going forward as a professional society Jan. 27 at 11:00am eastern. Panelists will share their experience at COP26 and together we will discuss what actions ESA members can take to help society mitigate and adapt to climate change in a just and equitable way.

ESA President Dennis Ojima will share some introductory remarks and Pamela Templer will facilitate the discussion. Join COP 26 attendees Kaydee Barker, Andrew Barton, Fabio Berzaghi and Andrea Swei to hear their insight and perspectives.

You can also read Andrew Barton’s blog posts from the event here.

The webinar will take place on Jan. 27 at 11:00am eastern. Register here. 

Congress

Nominations: The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to advance the nominations of Chris Frey to the assistant EPA administrator for research and development and Martha Williams to be director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Biden administration renominated Frey and Williams at the start of the year, as required by Senate rules.

Frey is a former chair of the EPAs Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) and he was a member of the CASAC Particulate Matter Review Panel that former EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler dismissed in 2018. He was a prominent critic of the EPA during the Trump administration.

Williams joined the Biden administration in January 2021 and is currently serving as the agency’s principal deputy director. She previously worked as the director of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks from 2017 to 2020 and was an assistant professor of law at the University of Montana.

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved the nomination of Chavonda Jacobs-Young to be the US Department of Agriculture’s Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics, the top scientific position at the USDA.

Jacobs-Young currently serves as the Agriculture Research Service and she has led the National Institute of Food and Agriculture on a temporary basis. The Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics oversees the Agriculture Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, among other agencies. Jacobs-Young has a Ph.D. in wood and paper science.

Executive Branch

White House: The Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report about scientific integrity in the federal government. The report recommendations include creating a Scientific Integrity Council with representatives from across the federal agencies, standardizing scientific integrity policies across the government and requiring federal contractors and grantees to complete scientific integrity trainings.

BLM: The Biden administration is walking back plans developed by former President Trump to open most of the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska (NPR-A) for drilling. The Trump administration proposed opening 80% of the around 19 million acres, or about 80% of the area, to oil and gas development. This move reverts the area to the previous management plan, finalized in 2013, which protected 11.2 million acres of the NPR-A, citing the importance of these areas to migratory birds and caribou.

EPA: The agency announced a new policy to evaluate the potential effects of a new pesticide active ingredients on federally threatened or endangered species and their habitats and initiate endangered species consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA, as appropriate. This reverses a decades-old policy. The EPA hopes that the new policy will reduce the number of legal challenges to its approvals of new active ingredients.

PCAST: The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology will meet virtually Jan. 20-21 to discuss measuring and monitoring greenhouse gases and accelerating innovation in energy technologies.

More News:

• The heat stays on: Earth hits 6th warmest year on record – Associated Press
• EPA moves to crack down on dangerous coal ash storage ponds – Associated Press
• U.S emissions surged in 2021, putting the nation further off track from its climate targets – The Washington Post
• White House departures send tremors through environmental community – Politico
• New chief scientist wants NASA to be about climate science, not just space – CNBC

States

• Wolf vetoes measure to block RGGI entrance – StateImpact Pennsylvania
• Youngkin backs off plan to use executive power to remove Virginia from RGGI – Richmond Times-Dispatch
• Senate committee passes FPL priority bill to restrict rooftop solar on bipartisan vote – Miami Herald
• Maryland policymakers gather with legal marijuana, climate change and a multi-billion dollar in surplus on the agenda – The Washington Post
• Governors turn to budgets to guard against climate change – Associated Press

Courts

• Judge orders do-over on Yellowstone bison protections – E&E News

International

IPBES: A draft of the chapters and the summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment of invasive alien species and their control is open for review. This second external review is addressed to governments and interested and qualified experts, including scientists, decision-makers, practitioners and other knowledge holders. To ensure this assessment’s highest scientific quality and policy relevance, the Multidisciplinary Expert Panel seeks the widest possible participation from experts from all relevant disciplines and backgrounds. Expert reviewers can register on the IPBES website. The draft is open for review through Feb. 15, 2022, and IPBES will hold an online workshop for reviewers Jan. 20, 2022.

More News:

• ’Chemical cocktail’ polluting English rivers – MPs warn – BBC
• Indonesia’s massive research reform triggers layoffs and protests – Science

Scientific Community

NCA: The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USCRP) released an annotated outline of the NCA5 and is seeking public feedback on the annotated outlines of each chapter report. The annotated outlines can be accessed by visiting USGCRP’s Review and Comment System. The feedback received through this public comment period will be used by author teams as they develop their draft chapters. The outlines are open for public comment through Feb. 20, 2022.

The National Climate Assessment is a congressionally mandated quadrennial report led by the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The report evaluates the effects of climate change on regions and sectors of the United States and reports on trends in climate change for the next 25 to 100 years. The Fifth National Climate Assessment will highlight advances in scientific understanding of human-induced and natural processes of climate change and the resulting implications for the United States. Major themes will be presented through the lens of vulnerability, impacts, risks, and adaptation. The report is expected for release in late 2023.

Participate in USGCRP Public Engagement Workshops: https://www.globalchange.gov/content/nca5-engagement-workshops

Sign up for the newsletter for the latest updates on the U.S. Global Change Research Program and the National Climate Assessment: https://www.globalchange.gov/newsletter-signup

For more information, please visit https://www.globalchange.gov/nca5.

NSF: The National Science Board will publish The State of U.S. Science and Engineering Jan. 18, 2022.

Part of NSB’s congressionally mandated Science & Engineering Indicators, the report summarizes data on K-12 science and math education, higher education in science and engineering, the Labor Force, R&D, production and trade, innovation, and more. NSB will host a briefing to introduce the report. Speakers will highlight key trends and their implications for the country – including what is needed to ensure that the U.S. has the science and engineering workforce it needs to compete globally – and will lay out areas for action for the U.S. to remain at the forefront of innovation. NSB is the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation and an independent advisor to the President and Congress. Register here.

NOAA: The application period for the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program is now open. The Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational and professional experience to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. The Fellowship, named after one of Sea Grant’s founders and former NOAA Administrator John A. Knauss, matches highly qualified graduate students with “hosts” in the legislative and executive branch of government located in the Washington, D.C. area, for a one year paid fellowship.  

This is a great opportunity for ecologists who may want a policy career. One unique aspect for the program is that individuals still pursuing a PhD and master’s level ecologists qualify.

DHS: New leadership under President Biden at the Dept. of Homeland Security announced a new Climate Change Professionals Program to recruit recent graduates and current federal employees to support the Department’s growing focus on adapting to climate change and improving resilience under its Climate Action Plan.

NAS: The Division on Earth and Life Sciences will hold a public briefing webinar Jan. 27 to introduce a new booklet titled “Biodiversity at Risk: Today’s Choices Matter.” The booklet, produced by an international committee of experts, provides a publicly accessible overview of the many dimensions of biodiversity and why it’s vital to the health of all life on the planet. The booklet also examines the causes of biodiversity loss and presents actions that can be taken from the individual to the global level to stop this decline. A free pdf of the booklet will be available online at nap.edu at 11:00 a.m. EST Jan. 27.

More News:

• Meet the scientist moms fighting climate change for their children – The Christian Science Monitor
• Landmark Colombian bird study repeated to right colonial-era wrongs – Nature
• Copernicus Sentinel-1B satellite monitoring health of the planet falls silent – The Times

ESA Correspondence to Policymakers

• Multiorganization letter in support of the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (Nov. 18, 2021)
• ESC – Recommendation to the White House Office of Management and Budget for FY 2023 Budget (Nov. 9, 2021)
• CNSF – Recommendations to the White House Office of Management and Budget for FY 2023 Budget (Nov. 5, 2021)
• CNSF – FY 2022 Appropriations Conference Committee Statement (Nov. 2, 2021)

View more letters and testimony from ESA here.

Federal Register Opportunities

• BLM – Public Meetings for the Southeast Oregon Resource Advisory Council (Jan. 19-20)
• BLM – Public Meetings of the San Juan Islands National Monument Advisory Committee, Washington (Feb. 3)
• BLM – Alaska Resource Advisory Council Meetings (Feb. 8)
• BLM – Public Meetings of the Idaho Resource Advisory Council (Feb. 16)
• DoE – Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board Meet for the Savannah River Site (Jan. 25)
• DoE – Secretary of Energy Advisory Board Meeting (Jan. 25)
• EPA – Clean Air Act Advisory Committee Meeting (Feb. 9)
• EPA – White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Virtual Public Meeting (Jan. 26-27)
• Forest Service – Trinity County Resource Advisory Committee Meeting (Jan. 24)
• Forest Service – Shasta County Resource Advisory Committee Meeting (Feb. 2)
• NOAA – Sanctuary System Business Advisory Council Meeting (Jan. 19)
• NOAA NMFS – Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Research Steering Committee Meeting (Jan. 18)
• NOAA NMFS – Council Coordination Committee Meeting (Jan. 18)
• NOAA NMFS – New England Fishery Management Council Habitat Committee Meeting (Jan. 18)
• NOAA NMFS – North Pacific Fishery Management Council Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Local Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, and Subsistence Taskforce Meeting (Jan. 20)
• NOAA NMFS – Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council Public Meeting (Jan. 24-27)
• NOAA NMFS – North Pacific Management Council Ecosystem Committee Meeting (Jan. 25-26)
• NOAA NMFS – North Pacific Fishery Management Council Public Meeting (Jan. 31 – Feb. 4)
• NOAA NMFS – New England Fishery Management Council Public Meeting (Feb. 1-3)
• NOAA NMFS – Caribbean Fishery Management Council Meeting (Feb. 9)
• NPS – Acadia National Park Advisory Commission Meetings (Feb. 7)
• NSF – Business and Operations Advisory Committee Meeting (Jan. 21)
• NSF – Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering Meeting (Feb. 17-18)
• USFWS & Forest Service – Alaska Subsistence Regional Advisory Council Meetings for 2022 (Feb. 8 – Mar. 24)

Opportunities for Public Comment and Nominations:

• APHIS – Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment for Release of Lophodiplosis indentata for Biological Control of Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae) in the Contiguous United States. The agency will consider all comments received on or before Jan. 18, 2022.
• BLM – Call for Nominations to the Idaho Resource Advisory Council. All nominations must be received no later than Jan. 21, 2022.
• BLM – Notice of Application for Withdrawal Extension and Opportunity for Public Meeting for the Holden Mine Reclamation Project, Washington. Comments and requests for a public meeting must be received by Jan. 25, 2022.
• BLM – Notice of Intent To Amend Land Use Plans Regarding Greater Sage-Grouse Conservation and Prepare Associated Environmental Impact Statements. Comments may be submitted in writing until Feb. 7, 2022.
• BLM – Call for Nominations to the Missouri Basin and Western Montana Resource Advisory Councils. All nominations must be received no later than Feb. 11, 2022.
• EPA and Army Corps of Engineers – Revised Definition of “Waters of the United States”. Comments must be received on or before Feb. 7, 2022.
• EPA – Notice of Request for Nominations of Candidates to the Environmental Financial Advisory Board. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than Jan. 18, 2022.
• Forest Service – Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands in Alaska. Written comments must be received or postmarked by Jan. 24, 2022.
• Forest Service – Secure Rural Schools Resource Advisory Committees. Written nominations must be received by Jan. 28, 2022.
• NOAA – Draft Revised Management Plan for the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve. Comments must be received at the appropriate address on or before Jan. 18, 2022.
• NOAA – Notice of Intent To Conduct Scoping and To Prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. Comments are due by Jan. 31, 2022 (comment period extended).
• NOAA – Notice of Availability of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Draft Management Plan and Draft Environmental Assessment. Comments on the draft management plan and environmental assessment are due by Jan. 21, 2022. NOAA will hold a virtual public meeting on Jan. 22.
• NOAA  -Notice of Intent To Conduct Scoping and To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Designation of a National Marine Sanctuary Within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Comments must be received by NOAA on or before Jan. 31, 2022.
• NOAA – Request for Public Comment on the Alaska Coastal Mapping Strategy Implementation Plan. Comments must be received via email by 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 31, 2022.
• NOAA – Nominations for the National Sea Grant Advisory Board.There is no due date for nominations, however the program intends to begin reviewing applications to fill upcoming vacancies by Jan. 31, 2022.
• NOAA NMFS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife; 90-Day Finding on a Petition To List the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin as Threatened or Endangered Under the Endangered Species Act. Scientific and commercial information pertinent to the petitioned action must be received by Jan. 31, 2022.
• NPS – Request for Nominations for the National Park System Advisory Board. Nominations must be postmarked by Jan. 24, 2022.
• NOAA and USFWS – Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument Management Plan. USFWS and NOAA must receive comments by Jan. 20, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of the Okaloosa Darter From the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. USFWS will accept comments received or postmarked on or before Jan. 18, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding for Pascagoula Map Turtle; Threatened Species Status With Section 4(d) Rule for Pearl River Map Turtle; and Threatened Species Status for Alabama Map Turtle, Barbour’s Map Turtle, Escambia Map Turtle, and Pascagoula Map Turtle Due to Similarity of Appearance With a Section 4(d) Rule. USFWS will accept comments received or postmarked on or before Jan. 24, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Revision to the Nonessential Experimental Population of the Mexican Wolf. USFWS will accept public comments received or postmarked on or before Jan. 27, 2022.
• USFWS – Receipt of Incidental Take Permit Application and Proposed Habitat Conservation Plan for the Indiana Crossroads Wind Farm, White County, Indiana; Categorical Exclusion. USFWS will accept comments received or postmarked on or before Jan. 27, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removal of 23 Extinct Species From the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. USFWS will accept comments on the ivory-billed woodpecker proposed delisting that are received or postmarked on or before Feb. 10, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for Canelo Hills Ladies-Tresses. USFWS must receive any comments on or before Feb. 14, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for Parachute Beardtongue. USFWS must receive any comments on the draft recovery plan on or before Feb. 14, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Draft Recovery Plan for Meltwater Lednian Stonefly (Lednia tumana) and Western Glacier Stonefly (Zapada glacier). USFWS must receive any comments on the draft recovery plan on or before Feb. 14, 2022.
• USFWS – Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Incidental Take Permit Application; Proposed Low-Effect Habitat Conservation Plan and Associated Documents; County of San Diego, California. USFWS will accept comments received or postmarked on or before Feb. 14, 2022.

Visit this page on ESA’s website for updates on opportunities from the Federal Register, including upcoming meetings and regulations open for public comment.

ESA’s policy activities work to infuse ecological knowledge into national policy decisions through activities such as policy statements, Capitol Hill briefings, Congressional Visits Days, and coalition involvement. Policy News Updates are bi-monthly summaries of major environmental and science policy news. They are produced by the Public Affairs Office of the Ecological Society of America.

Send questions or comments to Alison Mize, director of public affairs, Alison@nullesa.org or Nicole Zimmerman, public affairs manager, Nicole@nullesa.org

Visit the ESA website to learn more about our activities and membership