Congress<\/strong><\/a> Executive Branch<\/strong><\/a> Courts<\/strong><\/a> Scientific Community<\/strong><\/a> ESA In the News<\/strong><\/a> Opportunities to Get Involved<\/strong><\/a> <\/a> House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),\u00a0introduced<\/a>\u00a0a package of bills that they are branding as the Republican response to climate change.<\/strong>\u00a0The package includes Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR)\u2019s Trillion Trees Act (H.R. 5859<\/a>). Rep. Westerman\u2019s bill requires the USDA to set a target for total domestic wood growth and modifies existing U.S. Forest Service state and private forestry programs to encourage carbon sequestration. It also requires the EPA, the USDA and the Interior Department to establish policies reflecting \u201ccarbon neutrality of forest bioenergy.\u201d This bill follows a commitment from President Trump at the World Economic Forum and during his State of the Union to join the International Trillion Trees Initiative. The package also includes three bills to encourage and support carbon sequestration through tax incentives and a carbon sequestration research program at the Department of Energy. The House Natural Resources Committee plans a\u00a0hearing<\/a>\u00a0to consider Rep. Westerman\u2019s bill Feb. 26. Fellow House Republicans criticized the bills and the bills most likely will stagnant.<\/p>\n Science Committee:\u00a0Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)\u00a0sent<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler criticizing a draft memorandum from Wheeler that would limit the ability of the Science Advisory Board (SAB) to review proposed EPA regulations.<\/strong>\u00a0Under the process outlined in the draft proposal, the SAB chair would have to determine within three business days \u201cwhether there are scientific aspects of the proposed rule that may merit SAB review.\u201d Individual SAB members would not be able to request a review of proposed EPA regulations. Chairwoman Johnson states that Wheeler\u2019s guidance \u201cruns counter to the provision in the Environmental Research, Development and Demonstration Act, which established the SAB.\u201d<\/p>\n Legislative updates:<\/strong><\/p>\n See ESA\u2019s\u00a0Legislative Tracker<\/a>\u00a0for more updates on legislation relevant to the ecological community.<\/p>\n <\/a> White House:<\/strong>\u00a0The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)\u00a0issued<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0request for information<\/a>\u00a0asking for \u201crecommendations on approaches for ensuring broad public access to the peer-reviewed scholarly publications, data, and code that result from federally funded scientific research.\u201d<\/p>\n Another\u00a0request for information\u00a0<\/a>from OSTP and the National Science Foundation asks for \u201cinput from all interested parties on opportunities for and constraints on building and sustaining partnerships in ocean science and technology\u201d to inform OSTP recommendations. This RFI follows a 2018 OSTP report \u201cScience and Technology for America\u2019s Oceans: A Decadal Vision\u201d and a\u00a02019 White House Summit on Partnerships in Ocean Science and Technology<\/a>. Information and comments are due March 19, 2020.<\/p>\n Interior:<\/strong>\u00a0President Trump\u00a0signed<\/a>\u00a0a presidential memorandum, finalizing a water management plan permitting farmers in California\u2019s Central Valley to use 600,000 additional acre-feet of water<\/strong>, potentially allowing farming on 240,000 additional acres of land. California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said that they intend to challenge the plan in court to protect the threatened and endangered fish species it would harm.<\/p>\n EPA:<\/strong>\u00a0A draft inventory of greenhouse gases finds that greenhouse gases in the U.S. increased 3.1% between 2017 and 2018.<\/strong>\u00a0Transportation accounts for the most substantial percentage of greenhouse gas emissions (29%), followed by electricity (28%) and industry (22%). The EPA is seeking recommendations for improving the draft inventory before the agency submits the report to the U.N. as part of the Framework Convention on Climate Change.\u00a0Comments<\/a>\u00a0on the draft inventory are due March 13, 2020.<\/p>\n USDA:<\/strong>\u00a0Secretary Sonny Perdue\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0new department goals to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture by 50%<\/strong> and reduce farm runoff by 30% by 2050, while still increasing agricultural productivity. Perdue also told stakeholders that the department will aim to reduce food waste by 50% and encourage farming practices that limit carbon emissions. The agency has not set a specific, numeric goal for carbon emissions. During a question and answer session after the announcement, Perdue\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that \u201clegitimate, measurable carbon trading\u201d could motivate farmers to sequester carbon.<\/p>\n This announcement follows the release of the USDA\u2019s\u00a0Science Blueprint<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month. The Science Blueprint determines research priorities for 2020 through 2025. Research themes identified include sustainable agricultural intensification (i.e., meeting growing consumer demands for food and forest products in a sustainable matter) and climate adaptation. Cross-cutting \u201cmacro movements in science\u201d highlighted as relevant to agriculture are open data, big data, gene editing, the science of the microbiome, artificial intelligence, technology, automation and remote sensing and the public\u2019s perception of science.<\/p>\n <\/a> EPA:<\/strong>\u00a0A federal judge in New York overturned an EPA policy that prohibited agency grantees from serving on its advisory boards<\/strong>. In 2017, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt used this policy to remove several scientists from advisory committees. The Natural Resources Defense Council and others, including former advisory committee members, have challenged the policy in the courts. This lawsuit is one of many cases challenging this EPA policy.<\/p>\n NEPA:\u00a0The Southern Environmental Law Center\u00a0asked<\/a>\u00a0a federal court to stop the White House Council on Environmental Quality from further advancing its proposal to change the rules implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.<\/strong>\u00a0Attorneys from the Southern Environmental Law Center say that the agency never provided documents related to the proposal requested under the Freedom of Information Act in 2018. The organization is asking the courts to keep the public comment period open until the public can review the requested documents. The current public comment period for the proposed rule is open through March 10. ESA and 13 other scientific societies\u00a0asked<\/a>\u00a0the Council on Environmental Quality to extend the public comment period to allow for at least a 120-day comment period.<\/p>\n A new\u00a0podcast episode<\/a>\u00a0from the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) explains the Council on Environmental Quality\u2019s proposed changes to the National Environmental Policy Act regulations. ELI has also published a\u00a0Practitioners Guide to the Proposed NEPA Regulations<\/a>\u00a0to help potential commentators understand the proposal.<\/p>\n <\/a> Education:\u00a0The Council of Graduate School\u2019s\u00a0International Graduate Admission Survey<\/a>\u00a0found that the number of international graduate students enrolled in institutions in the U.S. increased 4% in 2019<\/strong>, after experiencing declines in 2017 and 2018. International student enrollments in the biological and agricultural sciences increased 10% between fall 2018 and fall 2019 and enrollments in the physical and earth sciences increased 6%.<\/p>\n Philanthropy: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced<\/a> that he plans to start a $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund that will fund scientists, activists, non-governmental organizations<\/strong>\u00a0and \u201cany effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world.\u201d It is not yet clear how the funds will be distributed, but Bezos said that the fund will begin issuing grants in summer 2020. In the meantime, The Verge\u00a0asked<\/a>\u00a0scientists and activists how they would like to see the funds used.<\/p>\n NSF:<\/strong>\u00a0The Biological Sciences Advisory Committee will hold its\u00a0spring meeting<\/a>\u00a0April 29-30.<\/p>\n NASEM:<\/strong>\u00a0The National Academy of Sciences, the Kavli Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation are sponsoring a\u00a0symposium<\/a>\u00a0reflecting on the legacy of Vannevar Bush\u2019s report\u00a0Science \u2013 The Endless Frontier<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0exploring new approaches for addressing the challenges and opportunities of the next 75 years in science Feb 26. The event will be live-streamed for remote attendees, registration is available\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/a> View more letters and testimony from ESA\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> Opportunities for Public Comment and Nominations:<\/strong><\/p>\n Visit this page on ESA\u2019s website for updates on opportunities from the Federal Register<\/a>,\u00a0including upcoming meetings and regulations open for public comment.<\/p>\n Have you applied to join an advisory committee, submitted a public comment, contacted your lawmakers or taken another action as a result of reading about an issue or opportunity in Policy News?<\/p>\n If so, ESA\u2019s Public Affairs Office would like to know. Please fill out\u00a0this form<\/a>\u00a0so that we can better understand the impact of Policy News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n ESA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Send questions or comments to\u00a0 Alison Mize, director of public affairs,\u00a0Alison@esa.org<\/a>\u00a0or Nicole Zimmerman, public affairs manager,\u00a0Nicole@esa.org<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFull House of Representatives passes wilderness bills.<\/p>\n
\nWhite House Office of Science and Technology Policy requests information about oceans sciences partnerships, public access to peer-reviewed publications.<\/p>\n
\nGroups challenge WOTUS rule, NEPA regulations in the courts.<\/p>\n
\nCouncil of Graduate Schools finds that the number of international graduate students enrolled in institutions in the U.S. increased by 4% in 2019.<\/p>\n
\nView an up-to-date list of ESA\u2019s media coverage.<\/p>\n
\nFederal Register opportunities.<\/p>\nCongress<\/h2>\n
\nHouse:\u00a0The full House\u00a0passed<\/a>\u00a0a package of bills (H.R. 2546<\/a>) extending federal wilderness protections to nearly 1.4 million acres of public lands<\/strong>\u00a0in Colorado, California and Washington state and designating 1,000 river miles as wild and scenic rivers. The final legislation includes measures creating a California Public Lands Remediation Partnership to clean up public lands damaged by illegal marijuana farming and allowing the Interior and Agriculture Departments to manage fire, insects and diseases in the wilderness areas included in the bill.<\/p>\n\n
Executive Branch<\/h2>\n
\nNominations:<\/strong>\u00a0President Trump nominated Mark Menezes to serve as the deputy secretary of the Department of Energy and Douglas Benevento to serve as deputy EPA administrator.<\/strong>\u00a0Both of these positions are the second most senior positions in their respective agencies. Before joining the Energy Department in 2017, Menezes was a lobbyist for Berkshire Hathaway Energy and a staffer for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Benevento has worked for the EPA since 2017. Before that, he was an executive at the utility Xcel Energy.<\/p>\nCourts<\/h2>\n
\nWOTUS:<\/strong>\u00a0The Center for Biological Diversity, the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Center for Food Safety\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that they plan to challenge the administration\u2019s \u201cNavigable Waters Protection Rule<\/a>\u201d in the courts<\/strong>. The groups challenge that the new Waters of the U.S. rule will harm federally protected species and therefore, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers should have consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before finalizing the rule. The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers released a final rule in January 2020 (see\u00a0ESA Policy News, Jan. 27, 2020<\/a>). The final rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register, a requirement of the federal rulemaking process.<\/p>\nScientific Community<\/h2>\n
\nIPBES:<\/strong>\u00a0A new article, \u201cThe IPBES Global Assessment: Pathways to Action<\/a>\u201d discusses how to disseminate and apply the findings of the\u00a02019 IPBES Global Assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\nWhat We\u2019re Reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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ESA In the News<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nESA regularly issues press releases to the media about journal articles and other Society news. Press coverage is kept up-to-date on our \u201cIn the News\u201d page.\u00a0Check out news stories here<\/a>.<\/p>\nESA Correspondence to Policymakers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Opportunities to get involved\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nPublic Meetings, many of which are live-streamed:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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Help Us Understand the Impact of Policy News<\/strong><\/h2>\n