{"id":17875,"date":"2021-02-08T19:41:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=17875"},"modified":"2021-02-08T19:41:57","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T19:41:57","slug":"special-policy-news-2-the-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2021\/02\/08\/special-policy-news-2-the-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Policy News 2: The Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Special Policy News 2: The Transition<\/h1>\n

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

Biden Cabinet Nominees Advance Through the Senate<\/strong><\/a>
\nSenate Environment and Public Works Committee holds confirmation hearing for EPA administrator nominee.<\/p>\n

Biden Administration Tackles Climate Change, Issues Scientific Integrity Memorandum, Pledges to Conserve 30% of Lands and Waters by 2030 and more<\/strong><\/a>
\nOrders create the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and a National Climate Task Force, pauses new drilling on public lands, reconstitute the President\u2019s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and more.<\/div>\n

Congress<\/a><\/strong>
\nCongressional leaders shuffle committee assignments for the House Science Committee, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and more.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/a><\/strong>
\nReport finds that 87% of Bureau of Land Management employees left the agency after the Trump administration moved the headquarters from DC to Colorado.<\/p>\n

Courts<\/a><\/strong>
\nJudge overturns Trump EPA\u2019s \u2018transparency in science\u2019 regulation.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/a><\/strong>
\nNSF releases 2019 Merit Review Process Digest.<\/p>\n

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

ESA Correspondence to Policymakers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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

Biden Cabinet Nominees Advance Through the Senate<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nSenate Committees voted to advance the nominations of former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) to be Department of Energy secretary, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (D) to be the Department of Commerce secretary and Tom Vilsack as Department of Agriculture secretary. All of three nominations received bipartisan support. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY) joined three other committee Republicans to oppose Granholm\u2019s nomination in protest of President Biden\u2019s executive orders canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and halting new oil and gas leasing on federal lands.<\/p>\n

Vilsack\u00a0pledged<\/a>\u00a0to use the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Commodity Credit Corporation to provide funds to farmers for capture carbon and to work with Congress to create carbon markets.<\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Michael Regan, faced the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Feb. 3 in the nomination hearing. Regan repeatedly vowed to \u201cfollow the science\u201d if confirmed as the EPA director. He also promised to request robust funding for the EPA\u2019s geographic programs, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, to create an environmental justice advisor position within the EPA and to strengthen the EPA\u2019s Office of Civil Rights. Regan told Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) that he will hire a \u2018Chesapeake Bay czar\u2019 to oversee Chesapeake restoration efforts. He took a middle ground when asked about the Waters of the U.S. Rule \u2013 Regan criticized the Trump administration\u2019s Navigable Waters Protections Rule and said that the EPA under his leadership would convene all stakeholders to find common ground on Clean Water Act regulations. The Trump Navigable Water Protection Rule replaced the Obama\u2019s administration\u2019s Clean Water Rule. ESA and other scientific societies have supported the Clean Water Rule and criticized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule.<\/p>\n

Regan is the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and a former EPA career staffer. If confirmed, he would be the first Black man to lead the EPA.<\/p>\n

It is not yet clear when the full Senate will vote on the nominations due to the Trump impeachment trial. For more information as President Biden names new nominees and the Senate schedules more confirmation hearings, see ESA\u2019s transition tracker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Biden Names Political Appointees to Scientific and Environmental Posts<\/em><\/p>\n

The Biden administration named Chris Frey to be a top political appointee overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Office of Research and Development. Frey is a former environmental engineering professor at North Carolina State University and a former chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC). He also served on a CASAC panel charged with reviewing particulate matter pollution standards which was abruptly disbanded in October 2018.<\/p>\n

NASA created a new senior climate advisor position tasked with providing agency leadership with \u201ccritical insights and recommendations for the agency\u2019s full spectrum of science, technology, and infrastructure programs related to climate\u201d as part as the new administration\u2019s climate goals. Longtime NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt will serve as the acting senior climate advisor until a permanent appointment is made.<\/p>\n

Amanda Lefton, a former environmental aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), will serve as director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. This agency manages offshore oil and gas leasing, offshore wind energy and more in federal waters. Lefton worked on clean energy issues for Cuomo and previously worked for the Nature Conservancy. She is likely to promote offshore wind. This position is not Senate-confirmed.<\/p>\n

Alex Barron will be a senior advisor in the White House Office of Management and Budget\u2019s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. This office reviews all regulations from federal agencies and it is rare for this office to hire environmental scientists. Barron has a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and worked for the EPA during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n

Biden Administration Tackles Climate Change, Issues Scientific Integrity Memorandom, Pledges to Conserve 30% of Lands and Waters by 2030 and more<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nFollowing his day-one actions committing the U.S. to rejoining the Paris Agreement, cancelling the KeystoneXL pipeline and more (see\u00a0ESA Policy News, Jan. 25, 2021<\/a>), President Joe Biden signed another\u00a0executive order<\/a>\u00a0\u201ctackling the climate crisis at home and abroad\u201d Jan. 27, as part of a series of \u2018Climate Day\u2019 announcements. The order creates the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and a National Climate Task Force, pauses new drilling on public lands, schedules an Earth Day summit with world leaders about global emissions reductions and more. The White House pledged to update the U.S. emission reduction pledges under the Paris Agreement before the Earth Day summit.<\/p>\n

See the full post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

117th\u00a0Congress<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Research Relief:\u00a0<\/strong>Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Diana Degette (D-CO) reintroduced the\u00a0Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act (H.R. 869<\/a>). This bill provides $25 billion to science agencies, including the National Foundation and the Departments of Energy and Agriculture. The bill instructs agencies to distribute these funds to research institutions to cover research disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

The Senate bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Susan Collins (R-ME). The House bill has 77 co-sponsors, including House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernie Johnson (D-TX).<\/p>\n

Senate:<\/strong>\u00a0Democrats shuffled committee assignments to incorporate new members and a power-sharing agreement between Republicans and Democrats. New western Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) joined the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Sen. Debbie Stabenow moved from the Energy Natural Resource Committee to the Environment and Public Works Committee. Sen. Kelly and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), who was appointed to replace Vice President Kamala Harris in the Senate, also joined the Environment and Public Works Committee. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee oversees the Department of Energy and public lands issues, while the Environment and Public Works Committee oversees the EPA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among other topics.<\/p>\n

Sens. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM), Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Hickenlooper joined the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation that oversees the National Science Foundation, NOAA and NASA, among other responsibilities.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) will join the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will join the Environment and Public Works Committee.<\/p>\n

House Science Committee:<\/strong>\u00a0The House Republican Steering Committee named nine new members to the committee for the 117th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress \u2014 Reps. Carlos Gim\u00e9nez (R-FL), Daniel Webster (R-FL), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Stephanie Bice (R-TX), Young Kim (R-CA), Jay Obernolte (R-CA), Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Jake LaTurner (R-KS) and Peter Meijer (R-MI). All these members, except Webster and Sessions, are freshman lawmakers. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) will remain the Science Committee\u2019s ranking member. Republicans have not yet announced their subcommittee ranking members.<\/p>\n

House Natural Resources Committee:<\/strong>\u00a0Democratic leadership announced that Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) will join the committee for the 117th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress. Rep. Tonko is also a leader on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. McCollum is the former chair of the House Appropriations Interior and Environmental Subcommittee. Freshman legislator Rep. Teresa Legar Fernandez (D-NM) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) already joined the committee earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Endangered Species:<\/strong>\u00a0Eight western congressional Democrats challenged a last-minute Trump administration decision to shrink critical habitat for the northern spotted owl. The lawmakers asked Interior Department Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt to review this decision and suggested that former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt disregarded the objection of agency officials when making this determination.<\/p>\n

Appropriations:<\/strong>\u00a0House Appropriations Chairwomen Rosa Delauro (D-CT) announced the chairs of the appropriations subcommittees for the 117th<\/sup>\u00a0Congress. The chairs are essential in determining spending levels for federal agencies.<\/p>\n