{"id":18073,"date":"2021-05-06T20:40:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T20:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=18073"},"modified":"2021-05-06T20:41:15","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T20:41:15","slug":"policy-news-may-6-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2021\/05\/06\/policy-news-may-6-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Policy News: May 6, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this issue:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Biden administration unveils 10-year plan to conserve one-third of U.S. land<\/a><\/strong>
\nPlan follows up on Biden\u2019s commitment to conserve 30% of lands and waters by 2030.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Senate holds confirmation hearing for OSTP nominee, House Science Committee holds NSF hearing.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/a>
\n<\/strong>President Biden announces NOAA, BLM and DOE science nominees.<\/p>\n

States<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

International<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/a>
\n<\/strong>NSF releases 2021 Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering report.<\/p>\n

Federal Register opportunities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Biden administration unveils 10-year plan to conserve one-third of U.S. land<\/h2>\n

by Ben Lefebvre, PoliticoPro<\/em>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

The Biden administration unveiled a report Thursday outlining steps it could take in an ambitious 10-year push to place one-third of the country\u2019s land and water under conservation, including offering financial incentives to encourage voluntary participation, but Republicans cast doubt about the administration\u2019s pursuit of and ability to meet the goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature in America is in trouble,\u201d Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory said during a call with reporters Thursday. \u201cClimate change is reshaping our lands and our oceans and our coasts. We are witnessing staggering declines in wildlife population habitats that are being fragmented into smaller and smaller parcels as ranches, forests and other working lands are being converted into parking lots and subdivisions. We need a collective, all-hands-on-deck national effort to conserve the land and waters upon which we all depend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Details: <\/strong>The report offers some details<\/a> on how Biden could move on the so-called 30\u00d730 initiative, an idea that progressives have gotten behind as a way to protect the country from the worst effects of climate change and bolster local economies but Republicans have criticized as vague at best and a federal land grab at worst.<\/p>\n

The goal is to more than double the 12 percent of land currently under conservation in the country, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress. More than 20 percent of federal offshore acres are under conservation, according to the Center\u2019s analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot confront climate change without doing a far better job to protect our forests, our oceans, our wetlands and our grasslands,\u201d Gina McCarthy, the White House national climate adviser, said during the call.<\/p>\n

The government could explore two broad options for putting more land under conservation: either expanding protections for land and water already under federal oversight or offering monetary incentives and guidance to private entities and local governments to voluntarily conserve their land, according to the report.<\/p>\n

This would play out, the report notes in some examples, by encouraging the creation of more public parks in communities that have historically lacked them; expanding state and local coastal restoration projects; and creating more marine sanctuaries in federal waters or the Great Lakes. The Interior Department would spend $150 million to build parks in underserved communities and would expand hunting and fishing at 90 wildlife refuges, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said during the call.<\/p>\n

The report also stresses working with Native American tribes to identify and help coordinate conservation and restoration programs on their land.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the country works to recover and rebuild from the coronavirus pandemic and fully address the climate crisis, now is the time to develop and pursue a locally led, nationally scaled effort to conserve, connect, and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which we all depend,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced the expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, nearly tripling the size of the sanctuary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. should seek to build upon the myriad examples where collaboration and consensus-building have led to significant conservation outcomes,\u201d continues the report, alluding to the Great American Outdoors Act, the largest conservation legislation in decades that passed Congress last year with broad bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

The report points to the 2023 Farm Bill and existing programs at the Interior Department\u2019s Fish and Wildlife Service as prime vehicles for expanding incentives for private property owners to voluntarily conserve their land. But it stopped short of specifics in many cases, including how much money should be spent on incentives, whether new policy measures were being considered to convince land owners to participate or what activity would be allowed on conserved lands.<\/p>\n

Administration officials declined to say how much money they thought it would take to bring a third of the country under conversation. \u201cWe\u2019re not prepared to put a total figure on this,\u201d McCarthy told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will take more resources than we\u2019ve had in the past,\u201d Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack added.<\/p>\n

The lack of hard numbers from the administration may indicate that it\u2019s still consulting with local groups and governments to determine what exactly they would need to offer up acres for the conservation, said Sharon Buccino, senior lands director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that advocates for conservation programs. Inducements would almost certainly have to include grants and tax incentives, Buccino added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this administration needs to do, and I think they are doing, is give counties and cities a chance to opt in rather than just shove something down their throats,\u201d Buccino said. \u201cThey know they have to work with people to develop those\u201d incentives.<\/p>\n

Many liberal advocacy groups praised the report. National Wildlife Federation CEO Collin O\u2019Mara said it \u201crightly focuses on collaboration and restoration to achieve the goal of 30\u00d730, rather than regulation and designations. It\u2019s a thoughtful blueprint for how we can work together to save one-third wildlife species at heightened risk of extinction, revitalize rural and urban communities, strengthen the outdoor economy, and bolster resilience to escalating climate-fueled megafires, floods, and hurricanes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong>: The plan was previously championed by former New Mexico Democratic Sen. Tom Udall and Haaland during her time in the House of Representatives before it became a staple of the Biden campaign promise in 2020.<\/p>\n

However, Republicans are wary about the initiative \u2014 particularly lawmakers in Western states who have argued that the federal government already oversees most of their acreage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, the administration has failed to develop its policy beyond a catchy tagline,\u201d House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) said earlier in the week at a forum to discuss the Biden proposal. \u201cThey have not defined a baseline of current conservation practices, established metrics for measuring progress, or even provided a clear understanding of how they define the word \u2018conservation.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Some, including Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) have also taken up talking points from far-right groups <\/a>who have alleged the plan amounts to the federal government seizing private property.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration\u2019s report pushes back against that argument. \u201cEfforts to conserve and restore America\u2019s lands and waters must respect the rights of private property owners,\u201d the report states. \u201cSuch efforts must also build trust among all communities and stakeholders, including by recognizing and rewarding the voluntary conservation efforts of private landowners and the science-based approaches of fishery managers.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next:<\/strong> The administration will talk with members of Congress about possible funding sources, Vilsack said.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/h2>\n

<\/a>
\nSenate OSTP Hearing: <\/strong>The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a confirmation hearing<\/a> for White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) director nominee Eric Lander. Questions from Democratic and Republican senators ranged from his interactions with notorious deceased criminal Jeffery Epstein to slighting women researchers. Lander denied any interaction with Epstein except for briefly meeting him twice during events. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) also brought up a 2016 essay penned by Lander that downplayed the work of competitors Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier in developing the CRISPR gene-editing technique. \u201cI made a mistake,\u201d Lander responded, adding, \u201cI have enormous respect for Drs. Doudna and Charpentier and the important work they\u2019ve done throughout their careers.\u201d Lander testified that he would \u201cmake full inclusion and equitable outcomes a high priority\u201d for OSTP.\u201d He cited plans to increase OSTP staff diversity and emphasized a plan to increase the numbers of women and underrepresented people in STEM careers by 50%. Although Lander faced harsh questioning, there appears to be no real objection to advancing his nomination.<\/p>\n

House NSF Hearing:<\/strong> The House Science Committee held a National Science Foundation hearing \u201cAdvancing Research for the Future of U.S. Innovation.\u201d<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0NSF Director Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan<\/a>, and National Science Board Chair Dr. Ellen Ochoa<\/a>, appeared before the Committee. The hearing primarily highlighted and advanced the authorizing bill, NSF for the Future Act, that aims to increase annual funding for NSF and create a new Science, Engineering and Solutions Directorate.<\/p>\n

House Climate Hearing:<\/strong> The House Science Committee discussed<\/a> the value of forming a \u201cclimate service\u201d across the federal government to facilitate easily sharing climate-related information.<\/p>\n

Nominations:<\/strong> The full Senate unanimously voted to confirm former Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) as NASA administrator. Nelson is a former astronaut who served three terms in the Senate before losing re-election in 2018.<\/p>\n

The full Senate narrowly voted to confirm Janet McCabe as the deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined almost all Senate Democrats to confirm McCabe. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) opposed this nomination. McCabe worked for the EPA during the Obama administration, leading the EPA\u2019s air office. She also served as the air director for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.<\/p>\n

Climate: <\/strong>The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the Growing Climate Solutions Act (S. 1251<\/a>) which creates USDA programs to increase farmers access to voluntary carbon markets and help farmers adopt \u201cclimate-smart practices.\u201d Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member John Boozman (R-KS) and committee member Mike Braun (R-IN) are the bill\u2019s lead sponsors. The bill has 40 sponsors and co-sponsors total, including 17 Republicans.<\/p>\n

Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and Don Bacon (R-NE) plan to introduce a companion bill in the House.<\/p>\n

Harassment<\/strong>: House Science Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) reintroduced the Combatting Harassment in Science Act (H.R. 2695<\/a>). This bill creates an inter-agency working group to coordinate federal science agency efforts to reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment involving grant personnel and creates a competitive grant program at NSF for research about harassment and the development and assessment of policies, procedures, trainings and interventions intended to address and reduce harassment. Johnson has introduced similar legislation in previous sessions of Congress. This bill passed the full House in 2019 but did not advance in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Sens. Tina Smith (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) reintroduced the Senate version of this bill (S. 1379<\/a>). Vice President Kamala Harris was the lead sponsor for the Senate version of this bill during the previous session of Congress.<\/p>\n

STEM Workforce:<\/strong> Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Cornyn (D-TX) and Maggie Hasan (D-NH) reintroduced the Rural STEM Education Act (S. 1374<\/a>). This bill directs the National Science Foundation to fund STEM education research focused on rural areas and efforts to increase rural students\u2019 participation in STEM. It also directs the Commerce Department to establish a prize competition to encourage innovative ideas to deploy broadband connectivity to rural communities.<\/p>\n

House Science Committee Chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-TX) introduced the House version of this bill in January 2021 (H.R. 210<\/a>). A version of this bill passed the U.S. House in September 2020. The U.S. Senate did not consider this bill.<\/p>\n

Conservation:<\/strong> Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) reintroduced the Recovering America\u2019s Wildlife Act (H.R. 2773<\/a>). The Recovering America\u2019s Wildlife Act would provide an additional $1.4 billion in\u00a0combined, dedicated funding to state and tribal fish and wildlife agencies to implement state wildlife action plans and conserve at-risk species. A new provision in the bill allocates more funding to states with more federally listed threatened and endangered species. Members of Congress have introduced similar legislation during every Congress since 2016.<\/p>\n

The legislation is supported by the\u00a0Alliance for America\u2019s Fish and Wildlife<\/a>, which includes the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and a host of scientific and conservation groups and businesses. ESA has joined Alliance members in sending\u00a0letters of support<\/a>\u00a0for previous versions of the Recovering America\u2019s Wildlife Act.<\/p>\n

Legislative updates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senate<\/em><\/p>\n