{"id":17156,"date":"2020-10-13T14:21:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T18:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=17156"},"modified":"2020-10-13T14:21:32","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T18:21:32","slug":"policy-news-october-13-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2020\/10\/13\/policy-news-october-13-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy News: October 13, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

In This Issue:<\/strong><\/h1>\n

ESA Condemns the Recent White House Directives to End DEI Training Sessions<\/strong><\/a>
\nScientific societies urge the administration to rescind this order.<\/p>\n

New ESA DEIJ Survey Requests Member Input for Recommendations<\/strong><\/a>
\nTask Force Requests Feedback from Members by Oct. 19.<\/p>\n

House and Congress Keeps Government Open, Fate of Coronavirus Relief Bill Uncertain<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe House of Representatives passes bill including $2.9 billion in research relief for the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/strong><\/a>
\nHouse of Representatives passes conservation bill.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe Department of Homeland Security proposes four-year terms for student visas.<\/p>\n

States<\/strong><\/a>
\nGovernor Gavin Newsom (D) commits California to conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/strong><\/a>
\nSurvey finds widespread, bipartisan support for scientific research in the United States.<\/p>\n

Register to Vote and Request an Absentee Ballot<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe general election is happening in November. Visit Vote.org for information about requesting an absentee ballot.<\/p>\n

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

Opportunities to Get Involved<\/strong><\/a>
\nFederal Register opportunities.<\/p>\n

ESA Condemns the Recent White House Directives to end DEI Training Sessions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nAn executive\u00a0order<\/a>\u00a0issued Sept. 22\u00a0from President Donald Trump forbids federal agencies and contractors from holding diversity trainings featuring \u2018divisive concepts\u2019 or \u2018stereotyping\u2019 or \u2018scapegoating\u2019 based on race or sex.\u00a0OPM<\/a>\u00a0issued a memo Sept. 22 that outlines how the government intends to implement the directives for federal agency workers. Earlier in the month, on Sept. 4,\u00a0OMB<\/a>\u00a0released a short memo denouncing the federal workforce diversity trainings calling them \u201cun-American propaganda training session,\u201d and specifically forbids trainings that use the terms \u201cwhite privilege\u201d or \u201ccritical race theory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Office of Personnel Management is now requiring that it sign off on any diversity and inclusion training at federal agencies.<\/p>\n

ESA and over 40 other scientific societies and organizations\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, urging the administration to rescind this order, citing the need for diverse perspectives and talents in the scientific enterprise.<\/p>\n

New ESA DEIJ Survey Requests Member Input for Recommendations<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\n(excerpt from\u00a0blogpost<\/a>\u00a0authored by Pamela Templer and Anjali Boyd)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Task Force on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) formed by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) Governing Board last month hosted a listening session Oct. 7, 2020 to receive feedback from the ESA community.<\/p>\n

The priority of the Task Force is to address barriers that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) face to full participation in the Society and we are charged to bring the first set of recommendations to the ESA Governing Board at its November meeting. To follow up after the listening session and to get broader community input to develop recommendations, the Task Force is requesting feedback from all members to\u00a0have your voices heard by completing this form<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0to ensure that your ideas are considered in time for the Governing Board meeting, please submit your feedback by\u00a0Oct. 19, 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Congress Keeps Government Open, Fate of Coronavirus Relief Bill Uncertain<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nThe full Senate passed a stopgap measure to avert a federal government shutdown after the federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30. This measure keeps the government open through Dec. 11. The continuing resolution keeps the agencies funded at fiscal year 2020 levels, but agencies are generally cautious about spending and distributing funds without knowing what their full year budget will be.<\/p>\n

The full House passed two set of spending bills covering most agencies in July 2020. The Senate has not released their own funding proposals for FY 2020. For more details about the House bill, see\u00a0the ESA Federal Budget Tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives approved a new version of the Heroes Act (H.R. 6800<\/a>). The bill is a narrower version of the $3.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill that the House passed in May 2020. The bill includes $2.9 billion for the National Science Foundation, with $2.6 billion going to the agency\u2019s research and related activities account, which funds most research grants. Lawmakers also include $300 million to NSF\u2019s Education and Human Resources Directorate for extensions of existing research grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, fellowships, and apprenticeships.<\/p>\n

The new version of the bill does not include the Wildlife-Borne Disease Prevention Act. This provision in the May version of the Heroes Act amended the Lacey Act to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list species that pose a biohazard risk to human health as \u201cinjurious species\u201d (see ESA Policy News, May 18, 2020<\/a>). However, the bill does include $15 million for wildlife trafficking programs.<\/p>\n

The Environmental Protection Agency receives $50 million for grants to investigate links between pollution exposure and the transmission and health outcomes of coronavirus in environmental justice communities.<\/p>\n

The overall status of a relief package remains unclear with the White House and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi unable to agree on an overall price tag for a bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that it is unlikely that the Senate will pass a coronavirus relief bill before the election.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nHouse:<\/strong>\u00a0The full chamber\u00a0passed<\/a>\u00a0the America\u2019s Conservation Enhancement Act (ACE Act,\u00a0S. 3051<\/a>), a package of conservation measures. The bill reauthorizes the Chesapeake Bay Program, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation through 2025. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act provides matching grants to wetlands conservation projects across North American which increase wetland habitats. The ACE Act also creates a Theodore Roosevelt Genus Prize for the development of new non-lethal technologies to reduce human-predator conflicts.<\/p>\n

The ACE Act initially passed the Senate in January 2020. The bill now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature. Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) and Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-DE) are the original sponsors of the ACE Act.<\/p>\n

See ESA\u2019s\u00a0Legislative Tracker<\/a>\u00a0for more updates on legislation relevant to the ecological community.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nClimate:<\/strong>\u00a0Donald Wuebbles, a University of Illinois climate scientist and an author of the 2018 National Climate Assessment, reports that the federal government is slow walking the production of the next National Climate Assessment. Wuebbles told\u00a0E&E News<\/em>\u00a0that the administration has delayed issuing a call for scientific contributors to the assessments.<\/p>\n

The federal government issued the most\u00a0recent National Climate Assessment<\/a>\u00a0in late 2018. At the last minute, the administration moved the release of the report to the day after Thanksgiving in order to bury the report. The Global Change Research Act requires the government to issue an assessment every four years. The next report is due in 2022.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Global Change Research Program released the\u00a0proposed themes and framework<\/a>\u00a0for the next national climate assessment in July 2020.<\/p>\n

Immigration:<\/strong>\u00a0A new proposed rule from the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0establishes<\/a>\u00a0fixed terms of four years for student visas. Under current rules, student visas are issued for the duration of a student\u2019s degree program. If this proposed rule is finalized, students would have to re-apply for a visa after four years \u2013 even if, for example, they have not completed their Ph.D.<\/p>\n

House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Subcommittee Chair Bill Foster (D-IL) condemned the proposed rule, stating that the proposed rule \u201cis not a genuine strategy for enhancing either academic security or national security.\u201d Reps. Johnson and Foster also urged the Department of Homeland Security to extend the comment period for the proposed current. Currently, the\u00a0comment period<\/a>\u00a0ends Oct. 26.<\/p>\n

Interior:<\/strong>\u00a0A\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0report found that that U.S. Geological Survey Director James Reilly delayed the publication of a study finding that oil and gas and drilling in the Arctic will harm denning habitats for female polar bears.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Land Management\u00a0proposed<\/a>\u00a0opening millions of acres of Alaska\u2019s National Petroleum Reserve to drilling in late 2019. Before federal officials can formally approve drilling in the area, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required to determine that oil and gas exploration will not cause too much harm to the area\u2019s polar bears. USFWS must cite the USGS study about the impact of drilling on polar bears in this determination. Polar bears are protected species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. After the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0report about the polar bear study, the USGS published the study\u00a0online.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Interior Department is also moving forward with drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.\u00a0Politico<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that the Bureau of Land Management is fast-tracking an application to conduct seismic surveys in the area as soon as December.<\/p>\n

USFWS:<\/strong>\u00a0The agency finalized rules listing a\u00a0population of Pacific marten<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Eastern black rail<\/a>\u00a0as threated species under the Endangered Species Act. The Pacific marten is a small forest carnivore. The new threatened species status applies to a genetically distinct population (distinct population segment) found on the California and Oregon coast. The Eastern black rail is a bird that is found in saltwater, brackish and freshwater marshes, mostly along the east coast and the gulf coast. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) notes in the rule that the species is threatened by sea-level rise.<\/p>\n

USFWS also issued a proposed rule reclassifying the Red-cockaded woodpecker as a threatened species. This bird has been listed as an endangered species since 1970. The agency estimates that the number of \u2018clusters\u2019 of woodpeckers, which includes breeding pairs and off-spring, has increased from between 1,500 and 3,500 clusters in 1970 to 7,800 clusters today. The public comment period on this\u00a0proposed rule<\/a>\u00a0is open through Dec. 7, 2020.<\/p>\n

EPA:<\/strong>\u00a0The agency released\u00a0new proposed regulations<\/a>\u00a0for ballast water discharges in the Great Lakes. Among other changes, the proposed rule removes a current requirement for vessels to minimize or avoid taking in ballast water in areas with known problems such as toxic algae blooms or sewage outfalls. These proposed new rules come after the 2018 Coast Guard authorization bill required the EPA to develop pollution standards vessel discharges and tasked the Coast Guard with enforcing these regulations. That 2018 bill also revoked Great Lakes states\u2019 ability to set their own standards for ballast water discharges.<\/p>\n

NSF:<\/strong>\u00a0A request for information from the National Science Foundation and the National Science and Technology Council asks for community input related to the implementation of the\u00a0Federal STEM Education Strategic Plan<\/a>. Responses are due Oct. 19, 2020.<\/p>\n

NSF\u2019s Biological Sciences Advisory Committee will\u00a0meet<\/a>\u00a0virtually Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. The committee will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the research community, the Directorate for Biological Science\u2019s (BIO) integration institutes initiative, strategies for broadening participation and BIO\u2019s investments in collections.<\/p>\n

The Advisory Committee for Education and Human Resources will also\u00a0meet<\/a>\u00a0Oct. 28 and 29.\u00a0 Agenda items for the meeting include enhancing broadening participation and preparing the future STEM workforce.<\/p>\n

States<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nCalifornia:<\/strong>\u00a0Governor Gavin Newsom (D)\u00a0signed<\/a>\u00a0an executive order committing the state to conserving 30% of its lands and waters by 2030 to mitigate biodiversity loss and climate change. The order directs California\u2019s Natural Resources Agency to create a \u201cCalifornia Biodiversity Collaborative\u201d to develop strategies to meet this target. Newsom\u2019s order follows similar pledges made by 38 countries as part of an effort led by the Wyss Campaign for Nature and the National Geographic Society. California is the first state in the United States to join this pledge.<\/p>\n

Last year, Sens. Tom Udall (D-NM) and Michael Bennett (D-CO) introduced a resolution (S.Res 372<\/a>) to the Senate, setting a national goal of conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030. Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) introduced a companion resolution (H.Res 835<\/a>) in the House of Representatives in February 2020. Neither resolution has received a vote or a hearing.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma:<\/strong>\u00a0The EPA\u00a0granted<\/a>\u00a0a request from Governor Kevin Stitt (R) to give the state government oversight of environmental regulations on tribal lands. Stitt requested this authority days after a July 2020 Supreme Court determined that millions of acres in eastern Oklahoma are still a part of the Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole nations\u2019 reservations. A provision of a 2005 transportation law, sponsored by Sen. Jim Infofe (R-OK), allows the EPA to grant this authority to the state of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nCivic Engagement:\u00a0<\/strong>Research!America is\u00a0offering<\/a>\u00a0microgrants for graduate students and postdoc-led science policy groups for the 2020-2021 calendar year. This year\u2019s request for proposals provides funding to student groups for virtual activities that focus on civic engagement and spark dialogue with public officials, local community leaders, and the public around science and health research. These activities include virtual events, podcasts and start up funding for new science policy groups.<\/p>\n

Popular Opinion:\u00a0<\/strong>A survey commissioned by Research!America\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that science funding has wide, bipartisan support. Most survey respondents said that they believe that research benefits them personally (88%) and that the U.S. should maintain its global leadership in science (89%). These findings were largely consistent across racial and ethnic groups. However, Research!America notes that the survey results show that adults ages 18-29 appear to see science as less consequential to the nation\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Issues in Ecology:<\/strong>\u00a0ESA is surveying the attitudes, interests, and habits of those interested in up-to-date ecological and environmental trends, innovations, science, and information. This survey should take 10-15 minutes. Responses are anonymous and are being used to help ESA determine programmatic goals and priorities. If you complete the\u00a0survey<\/a>, you will be entered for a chance to win one of five $100 Visa Gift Cards.<\/p>\n

NASEM:<\/strong>\u00a0The National Academies\u2019 Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate is seeking community input for a\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0about expanding systems approaches for Earth science research at the National Science Foundation. The goal of this study is to develop a vision for a systems approach to studying the earth and identifying facilities, infrastructure, coordinating mechanisms, computing, and workforce development needed to support that vision. The\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0is open through the end of December 2020, although the Board is requesting responses as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

The Board on Earth Sciences and Resource\u2019s fall meeting will explore the challenges and opportunities for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the Earth science community,\u00a0register here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Register to Vote and Request and Absentee Ballot<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nThe 2020 elections are happening this November. On a national level, the presidency, all seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the seats in the Senate will be contested. Several state governorships and many other state and local elections will also be contested. Be sure you are registered to vote in time to participate!\u00a0\u00a0Learn more about voting policies and rights in your state and register to vote at Rock the Vote<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit dedicated to engaging young people in politics.<\/p>\n

Voting procedures and requirements for requesting an absentee ballot during the coronavirus pandemic vary by state. Visit your state board of elections website or Vote.org<\/a>\u00a0for deadlines and to request a ballot.<\/p>\n

What We\u2019re Reading<\/strong><\/h2>\n