{"id":17315,"date":"2020-11-23T11:42:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=17315"},"modified":"2020-12-17T14:56:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T14:56:07","slug":"policy-news-november-23-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2020\/11\/23\/policy-news-november-23-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy News: November 23, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

President-elect Biden Announces Transition Team<\/strong><\/a>
\nAgency review teams include many Obama administration alumni.<\/p>\n

Inform Science Policy Recommendation for President-elect Biden\u2019s Administration<\/strong><\/a>
\nESA asks for your assistance in creating a list of federal science-related priorities.<\/p>\n

ESA Webinar \u2014 Science in President-elect Biden\u2019s Administration<\/strong><\/a>
\nThe webinar recording in now available.<\/p>\n

Memos Outline Climate Policy for the New Administration<\/strong><\/a>
\nBiden and former Obama advisors lay out plans for how the incoming administration can address climate change quickly.<\/p>\n

Senate Appropriators Release Spending Bills for Fiscal Year 2021<\/strong><\/a>
\nBills include a 2.7% increase for the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

Trump Administration Appoints Climate Skeptics to Lead the National Climate Assessment<\/strong><\/a>
\nTwo recent political appointees will work to select authors for the fifth National Climate Assessment.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/strong><\/a>
\nHouse and Senate pass coastal bills. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) takes top Republican spot on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/strong><\/a>
\nAdministration works to offer oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in January.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/strong><\/a>
\nGolden Goose Awards will honor COVID-19 research.<\/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

President-Elect Biden Announces Transition Team\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nPresident-elect Joe Biden released a\u00a0list<\/a>\u00a0of individuals who are serving on agency review teams. These transition teams are tasked with learning how the executive agencies operate and how they could implement Biden\u2019s agenda after the inauguration. These teams mostly include former Obama political appointees. For example, former National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration Administrator, Kathryn Sullivan, is on the Department of Commerce team and former U.S. Department of Agriculture Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Bonnie, is leading the USDA team. Former White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Chief of Staff, Cristin Dorgelo, is leading the OSTP transition team.<\/p>\n

The transition team for the National Science Foundation is grouped within the \u201cArts and Humanities\u201d team. This team includes former Obama OSTP staffers Kei Koizumi and Mahlet Mesfin.<\/p>\n

President-elect Biden is expected to start releasing his picks for cabinet agencies in the coming weeks. Already, Biden named Ron Klain as the White House Chief of Staff. Klain served as Biden\u2019s chief of staff when Biden was vice president and led the Obama\u2019s administration\u2019s response to Ebola. NSF Director Sethuraman \u201cPanch\u201d Panchanathan started a six-year term earlier this year and is not expected to leave government. However, the other Senate-confirmed position at NSF, the deputy director position, has been vacant since 2014.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has refused to recognize Biden as the president-elect, blocking the transition team\u2019s access to some funds, office space and government information.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s transition website includes climate change as of one the incoming administration\u2019s priorities, along with COVID-19, economic recovery and racial equality. The transition team\u00a0vows<\/a>\u00a0to put the country on a \u2018irreversible\u2019 path to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n

Inform Science Policy Recommendations for President-elect Biden\u2019s Administration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nESA asks for your assistance in creating a list of federal science-related priorities that require attention to restore science to its proper place in President-elect Biden\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

Over the past four years, many federal science reports, programs, regulations or data sets have been diminished, discounted, underfunded or discontinued. Complete the form below and tell us what needs to be restored under a Biden administration and what you envision as high priority policies. ESA will share the information with President-elect Biden\u2019s Office of Science Technology and Policy Transition Team.<\/p>\n

View and Complete the Science Policy Recommendation form.<\/a><\/p>\n

Be as specific as possible.<\/p>\n

Many thanks,<\/p>\n

ESA Public Affairs Office<\/p>\n

ESA Webinar \u2013 Science Policy in President-elect Biden\u2019s Administration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nESA held a webinar Nov. 9 to discuss the 2020 election results and implications for scientific and environmental policy. See the webinar slides\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and the webinar recording\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Public Affairs Office is also continuously updating the\u00a0federal agency transition tracker<\/a>\u00a0as President-elect Biden announces his nominees for Senate confirmed positions of interest.<\/p>\n

Memos Outline Climate Policy for the New Administration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Members of Biden\u2019s agency review teams, Obama administration alumni and others released a set of\u00a0memos<\/a>\u00a0outlining how the Biden administration can \u201chit the ground running\u201d to address climate change. The memos are not official documents from the incoming Biden administration. The documents cover the office of the president, the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency and six cabinet-level agencies. Another\u00a0memo<\/a>\u00a0covers attracting and hiring climate change talent.<\/p>\n

Recommendations in the climate memos include returning the Bureau of Land Management headquarters and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to the Washington, DC area. The Trump administration moved headquarters staff for these agencies to Kansas City, MO and Grand Junction, CO.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0USDA memo<\/a>\u00a0recommends expanding the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority, which was authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill, and increasing funding for the USDA Climate Hubs and research programs in the U.S. Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department\u00a0memo<\/a>\u00a0tasks the U.S. Geological Survey with tracking the Department\u2019s carbon emissions and sinks, researching biological carbon sequestration and expanding its climate education efforts.<\/p>\n

Senate Appropriators Release Funding Bills for Fiscal Year 2020<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nThe Senate Appropriations Committee\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a012 bills funding the federal government for fiscal year (FY) 2020 Nov. 10. These bills represent the Senate\u2019s spending proposals, as Congress hopes to approve spending bills and avoid a government shutdown before current funding expires Dec. 11. As in previous years, these bills largely reject the Trump administration\u2019s proposals for steep cuts for scientific and environmental programs.<\/p>\n

The House released and passed most spending bills this past summer. Congress approved a stop-gap measure that keeps the government funded through Dec. 11 last September.<\/p>\n

The Senate bill retains a long-standing policy rider prohibiting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from listing the greater sage-grouse as an endangered species. Senators also indicate their support for the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s plan to permanently remove 20,000 wild horses a year from federal lands permanently.<\/p>\n

A report accompanying the Interior and Environmental spending bills concurs with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers\u2019 August 2020 statement that the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine project in Alaska, as proposed, cannot be permitted under the Clean Water Act. The report encourages the relevant permitting agencies to deny a permit to the project. The mining company, the Pebble Partnership, and the Army Corps of Engineers announced that Pebble has submitted a new mitigation plan to address these concerns, but they have not released the plan to the public. Separately, leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee sent\u00a0letters<\/a>\u00a0to Pebble executives and the Army Corps of Engineers requesting records and expressing concerns that Pebble has misled federal agencies, Congress and the public about the scope of the project.<\/p>\n

The Senate bills largely keep funding flat for agencies of interest to the ecological community. See the full details of these bills on\u00a0ESA\u2019s federal budget tracker.<\/a><\/p>\n