{"id":14539,"date":"2018-12-04T11:42:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=14539"},"modified":"2018-12-04T11:42:24","modified_gmt":"2018-12-04T16:42:24","slug":"policy-news-december-3-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2018\/12\/04\/policy-news-december-3-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy News: December 3, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Katherine S. McCarter<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Graduate Student Policy Award<\/strong><\/h1>\n

ESA is now accepting applications for its 2019 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award. Offered each year, this award gives graduate students an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC for science policy training with opportunities to meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

Visit the\u00a0ESA website<\/a>\u00a0for more information and details on application requirements.\u00a0The deadline to apply is\u00a0Jan. 13, 2019.<\/p>\n

ESA Policy News<\/strong><\/h1>\n

In This Issue:<\/h1>\n

Federal Government Releases National Climate Assessment, Warns of Dire Ongoing Impacts of Climate Change\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>
\nReport synthesizes the latest scientific knowledge on the current and projected impacts of climate change on the U.S..<\/p>\n

Congress<\/a>
\n<\/strong>House and Senate leaders reach agreement on the 2018 Farm Bills; lawmakers introduce carbon fee legislation.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/a><\/strong>
\nBLM moves toward opening parts of the National Petroleum Reserve to drilling; USGS releases report on carbon emissions from public lands.<\/p>\n

Courts<\/a><\/strong>
\nSupreme Court returns dusky gopher frog case to lower court.<\/p>\n

States and Cities<\/a><\/strong>
\nDC City Council passes ambitious renewable energy bill.<\/p>\n

International<\/a><\/strong>
\nUN says the world is not on track to meet climate targets; European agencies release more details on \u2018Plan S\u2019 for scientific publishing.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/a><\/strong>
\nOrganizations release report on protecting scientific integrity in the federal government.<\/p>\n

Federal Register Opportunities<\/a><\/strong>
\nUpcoming meetings and other opportunities for public involvement.<\/p>\n

ESA In the News<\/a><\/strong>
\nView an up-to-date list of ESA\u2019s media coverage<\/p>\n

Federal Government Releases National Climate Assessment, Warns of Dire Ongoing Impacts of Climate Change<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nOn the Friday after Thanksgiving, the federal government released its\u00a0fourth National Climate Assessment<\/a>.\u00a0Altogether, the report is a grim warning of the on-going and anticipated impacts of climate change in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The full report is over 1,600 pages long and includes chapters on the sectoral impacts of climate change \u2013\u00a0i.e.,\u00a0impacts to agriculture, coasts and oceans and forests \u2013 and the impacts in each region of the U.S. Around 1,000 scientists from across the federal government, state governments, academia\u00a0and\u00a0industry contributed to the report.<\/p>\n

Some of the overarching findings show the impacts of climate change are already\u00a0being felt\u00a0across the country, and these impacts threaten\u00a0quality\u00a0of life and exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities. Without significant mitigation and adaption efforts, climate change could cause the U.S. economy to shrink by 10 percent by 2100. Extreme weather associated with climate change could cause thousands of deaths a\u00a0year,\u00a0and\u00a0climate change will facilitate the spread of pests and insect-borne diseases. Regionally, climate change will bring increased flooding in coastal areas, stronger hurricanes to the eastern states, and drought and larger wildfires to the western U.S.<\/p>\n

The report chapter on ecosystems, ecosystem services,\u00a0and\u00a0biodiversity notes that climate change is \u201creconfiguring ecosystems in unprecedented ways,\u201d allowing invasive species to spread and forcing species to adapt to new\u00a0conditions\u00a0or go extinct if they cannot.<\/p>\n

The 2018 report contains much of the same information as the\u00a0last National Climate Assessment<\/a>, released in May 2014, with a few significant differences. Many of the impacts predicted in previous climate assessments are now a\u00a0reality. The 2018 report features a chapter on the interconnected impacts of climate change on multiple sectors and systems. For example, the report points to Hurricane Harvey as an example of a situation where an extreme weather event caused cascading impacts on infrastructure and public health.\u00a0Furthermore,\u00a0development patterns in the Houston area worsened the flooding impacts of Hurricane Harvey.\u00a0The report also notes that the implementation of climate adaption measures have increased but are not yet \u201ccommonplace.\u201d One such adaption project is the Department of Housing and Urban Development\u2019s Rebuild by Design Program, which awarded\u00a0$930 million\u00a0to green infrastructure projects that addressed vulnerabilities exposed by Hurricane Sandy.<\/p>\n

Federal agencies initially scheduled the report\u2019s release for early December. Critics\u00a0suggested<\/a>\u00a0that the Trump administration released the report on Black Friday to \u2018bury\u2019 its findings. This strategy was largely unsuccessful \u2013 national newspapers, including\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The New York Times<\/a><\/em>,featured stories about the report on their front pages Saturday\u00a0and\u00a0many local papers wrote articles about the regional impacts of climate change described in the report.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump renounced the report. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the report is \u201cnot based on facts.\u201d Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler\u00a0accused<\/a>\u00a0the Obama administration of directing the report\u2019s authors to focus on \u201cthe worst case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of the administration, some Republican senators said that the report highlighted the need for \u2018innovation,\u2019 and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) took to Twitter to endorse a \u201cmarket-driven strategy to combat the impacts of climate change.\u201d House Democrats said that the report reinforces the need for a revived select committee on climate change.<\/p>\n

The National Climate Assessment\u00a0is mandated\u00a0by law \u2013 the Global Change Research Act of 1990 requires the federal government to submit a report to Congress and the White House on the current state of climate science, the impacts of climate change, trends in climate change and projected trends for the next 25-100 years. The National Climate Assessment is intended for a\u00a0non-scientific\u00a0audience\u00a0and\u00a0does not recommend specific policy changes. The intent is that policymakers can use the information in the National Climate Assessment in decision-making.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nFarm Bill:\u00a0<\/strong>The chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0Nov. 29 that they have reached an \u201cagreement in principle\u201d on the 2018 Farm Bill and that they are still working to finalize \u201clegal and report language.\u201d Both the House and Senate passed versions of the farm bill this past summer, and negotiators from both houses have been working to resolve differences between the House and Senate bills since then. Most recently, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue pressed lawmakers to include\u00a0National Environmental Policy Act exemptions for some forest management projects in the final farm bill. Senate Agriculture Chair Pat Roberts (R-KS) told reporters that the final bill\u00a0would\u00a0not include these provisions.<\/p>\n

USDA Confirmation Hearing:<\/strong>\u00a0The Senate Agriculture Committee\u00a0held<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0confirmation hearing<\/a>\u00a0for Scott Hutchins, President Trump\u2019s nominee for undersecretary for research, economics, and education and chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture. This position oversees the Agricultural Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Hutchins is an entomologist who recently retired from the agricultural section of DowDuPont Inc. When asked about climate change and the National Climate Assessment, Hutchins told Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) that he accepts the report\u2019s findings and believes that agriculture can play a role in sequestering carbon. He also told senators that he supports the goals of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue\u2019s plan to move the NIFA headquarters away from Washington, DC but does not want the move to impact scientific work. Fourteen organizations and scientific societies, including ESA, sent a\u00a0letter of support<\/a>\u00a0for Hutchins\u2019 nomination to Senate leaders in October.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure Hearing:\u00a0<\/strong>Democratic members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee pushed for legislation that incorporates climate concerns during a\u00a0committee hearing on surface transportation<\/a>. Citing the 2018 National Climate Assessment, Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-DE)\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that lawmakers should take projected climate risks into account to ensure that infrastructure projects are useful and resilient in the long-term. Rising sea levels, severe storms, and extreme temperatures have already put bridges, airports, tunnels, and roads at risk. Republican committee members largely focused on how to finance an infrastructure package.<\/p>\n

Carbon Fee Legislation:<\/strong>\u00a0A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation (H.R. 7173<\/a>) that would impose a $15 per ton carbon fee on the oil, gas, and coal industries. The bill would then redistribute the revenue from this fee to households. The fee would increase $10 a year until the country reduces its emissions by 90 percent of 2015 levels. Supporters of the bill say that the bill is intended to be a starting point for climate policy in the 116th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nBLM:\u00a0<\/strong>The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is\u00a0working<\/a>\u00a0toward abandoning its current management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to allow oil and gas leases in areas that are off-limits. The plan, developed during the Obama administration, prohibits drilling in 11 million acres of the reserve, including areas of important habitat for migratory birds, caribou, bears,\u00a0and\u00a0wolves. The agency has posted a notice of intent to prepare a new plan in the\u00a0Federal Register<\/a>\u00a0and is accepting preliminary, scoping comments through Jan. 7, 2019.<\/p>\n

USFWS:<\/strong>\u00a0The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)\u00a0listed<\/a>\u00a0the candy darter (Etheostoma\u00a0osburni<\/em>), a brightly colored freshwater fish, as an endangered species. The candy darter\u00a0is found\u00a0in three watersheds in West Virginia and Virginia. In the final rule, USFWS writes that the primary threat to the species is hybridization \u2013 or cross-breeding \u2013 with the variegate darter, a non-native species. USFWS has also proposed designating 370 miles of streams as critical habitat for the species. That\u00a0rule<\/a>\u00a0is open for comment on the Federal Register through Jan. 22, 2019.<\/p>\n

USGS<\/strong>: Another report released on Black Friday concludes that about one-quarter of U.S. carbon emissions come from oil, gas,\u00a0and\u00a0coal extraction on public lands and waters. The Obama administration asked the U.S. Geological Survey to create the\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0and a\u00a0publicly available database<\/a>\u00a0of greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuel production on public lands in January 2016.<\/p>\n

Courts<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nDusky Gopher Frog:<\/strong>\u00a0The Supreme Court\u00a0ruled<\/a>\u00a0unanimously to return a case about habitat protections for the endangered dusky gopher frog to the 5th<\/sup>Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. In this case, timber company Weyhauser and other landowners sued after USFWS after designated 1,500 acres of their land as \u2018critical habitat\u2019 for the dusky gopher frog under the Endangered Species Act in 2012. Dusky gopher frogs do not currently live in this area, but USFWS determined that the area would be essential if the species\u00a0recovers. Plaintiffs argued that the land does not qualify as habitat because it would need modifications to support a population of frogs. In the\u00a0ruling<\/a>, Chief Justice John Roberts writes that the Endangered Species Act defines the term \u2018critical,\u2019 but does not provide a \u2018baseline definition\u2019 of habitat. Roberts directs the 5th<\/sup>\u00a0Circuit Court of Appeals to consider the definition of habitat.<\/p>\n

States and Cities<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nDistrict of Columbia:<\/strong>\u00a0The City Council unanimously\u00a0approved<\/a>\u00a0to advance legislation that would require the city to receive 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2032. If this bill passes a second vote in late December and is signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), it would put the District on the nation\u2019s fastest timeline for adopting fully renewable energy.<\/p>\n

New York City:\u00a0<\/strong>City Councilman Costa\u00a0Constaninides\u00a0(D-Queens)\u00a0introduced<\/a> a bill that would require large buildings in the city to reduce their carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The legislation also creates an Office of Building Energy Performance and an advisory board to recommend further carbon emissions. Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) and Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) support the legislation.<\/p>\n

International<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nEurope:\u00a0<\/strong>Officials from science funding agencies\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0more details on their open access initiative for scientific publishing, called \u2018Plan S.\u2019 A\u00a0guidance document<\/a>\u00a0from the funders, known as cOAlition S, says researchers funded by their organizations will be in compliance if they 1) publish their work in an open access journal, 2) upload their papers to an open access repository, or 3) publish in journals working towards becoming open access. Authors may publish their work in hybrid journals \u2013 that is, journals that contain a blend of open access and non-open access articles \u2014 but the cOAlition S organizations will not cover the cost of publishing these articles. The group is soliciting feedback on the plan through Feb. 1, 2019 via its\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iran:<\/strong>\u00a0Over 300 scientists and conservationists, including Jane\u00a0Goodall, sent a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to the country\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemning the arrests of nine individuals employed by the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation and calling for a fair and transparent trial for the conservationists. The Iranian government accused the group of using camera traps, intended to monitor the country\u2019s wildlife, as a\u00a0pretext\u00a0to spy on military activities.<\/p>\n

U.N. Environment Program:<\/strong>\u00a0The United Nations released its\u00a02018 Emissions Gap Report<\/a>. The report finds that global carbon emissions increased in 2017, after staying flat for three years between 2014 and 2016. Only 57 countries are on track to reduce their carbon emissions by 2030. It is unlikely that the world be able to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement if countries do not close the \u2019emissions gap\u2019 by 2030. The U.N. defines the emissions gap as the gap between \u201cwhere we are likely to be and where we need to be\u201d in order to limit emissions to 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, one of the overarching goals of the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n

Separately, the United Nations\u2019 environment chief, Erik Solheim,\u00a0resigned<\/a> after an internal audit found that he had spent $500,000 of U.N. money on travel and hotels over 22 months. Several donor counties, including the Netherlands, Denmark,\u00a0and\u00a0Sweden halted their funding for UNEP until Solheim\u2019s ethics issues could\u00a0be resolved.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\n\u2018Protecting Science at Federal Agencies\u2019:\u00a0<\/strong>A coalition of 16 organizations, including the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Environmental Protection Network, have released a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0entitled \u201cProtecting Science at Federal Agencies.\u201d The report details how Congress can protect scientific integrity in the federal government and ensure that agencies meet their legal responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Federal Register Opportunities<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nPublic Meetings, many of which are live-streamed:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n