{"id":19324,"date":"2023-02-06T17:45:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T17:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=19324"},"modified":"2023-02-06T17:51:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T17:51:32","slug":"esa-policy-news-february-6-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2023\/02\/06\/esa-policy-news-february-6-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA Policy News: February 6, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Congressional Leadership Releases Committee Rosters<\/a><\/strong>
\nHouse Science Committee, House Natural Resources and other committees fill out leadership rosters and add freshmen members for the 118th Congress.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/a>
\n<\/strong>Bipartisan members of Congress ask White House to provide $425 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in 2024 President\u2019s Budget Request.<\/p>\n

Executive Branch<\/strong><\/a>
\nBiden administration finalizes rule reinstating roadless protections for the Tongass National Forest.<\/p>\n

Courts<\/a><\/strong>
\nRepublican-led state sue to block environmental, social and governance retirement investing rule.<\/p>\n

States<\/strong><\/a>
\nNew Mexico lawmakers advance climate legislation.<\/p>\n

International<\/strong><\/a>
\nNigerian National Assembly advances bill to increase penalties for illegal wildlife trade.<\/p>\n

Scientific Community<\/a><\/strong>
\nNational Academies of Science releases provisional committee for Research at Multiple Scales: A Vision for Continental Scale Biology.<\/p>\n

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

<\/a>Congressional Leadership Releases Committee Rosters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

House and Senate Republican and Democratic leadership continue to announce the members of key natural resources and science committees for the 118th<\/sup> Congress, which began in January.<\/p>\n

House Appropriations Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) will be the ranking member of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. The subcommittee funds the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service. Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) will be ranking member of the House Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee, which funds the National Science Foundation, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among other agencies.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) will serve on the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. Zinke formerly served as the Secretary of the Interior during the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Senate Appropriations Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Republican Senators Katie Britt (R-AL) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) will join the Senate Appropriations Committee. Britt was elected to succeed longtime Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL), who retired at the end of the 117th<\/sup> Congress. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is the top Republican on the committee in the 118th<\/sup> Congress.<\/p>\n

House Natural Resources Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) announced the committee leadership. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) will chair the Subcommittee on Energy and Natural Resources, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) will chair the Subcommittee on Federal Lands and Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR) will chair the Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries. Freshman Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) will chance the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) will chair the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Gosar was previously removed from the House Natural Resources Committee by Democrats after he posted a video depicting violence against Democratic members of Congress.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), Kevin McMullin (D-CA), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) and Seth Magaziner (D-RI) joined the House Natural Resources Committee. Ocasio Cortez will serve as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and Kamlager-Dove will be the vice ranking member of the full committee. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) will also join the committee leadership as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.<\/p>\n

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will be the top Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which drafts policy for National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic Administration and more. Former Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-MS) is now the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Cruz previously served as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness during the 115th<\/sup> session of Congress.<\/p>\n

New Sens. Tedd Budd (R-NC) and J.D. Vance (R-OH) will join also join the committee.<\/p>\n

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freshman Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) will join the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) will take on a new role as the chair of the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, freshman Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE) will join the committee.<\/p>\n

House Science Committee<\/strong><\/p>\n

Committee Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) released the Democratic roster for the House Science Committee. New members include freshman Reps. Summer Lee (D-PA), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Yadira Caraveo (D-CO), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Eric Sorenson (D-IL), Valerie Foushee (D-NC), Kevin Mullin (D-CA) and Jeff Jackson (D-NC). Notably, the committee roster does not include longtime committee members Reps. Bill Foster (D-IL), Don Beyer (D-VA), Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Sean Casten (D-IL). Foster is one of few Ph.D. scientists in Congress. There are still two Democratic vacancies on the committee.<\/p>\n

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) recused himself from serving on the House Science Committee amid on-going investigations into his campaign finance irregularities and other issues. Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) previously announced that Santos would join the committee.<\/p>\n

Congress<\/h2>\n

Great Lakes: <\/strong>Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Mary Kaptur (D-OH), Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and David Joyce (R-OH) sent a letter<\/a> to the White House Office of Management and Budget requesting that the administration include $425 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative its fiscal year 2024 president\u2019s budget request. The $425 million amount would represent a $57 million increase over FY 2023 levels. These members of Congress are the bipartisan co-chairs of the House Great Lakes Taskforce and Kaptur and Joyce are both members of the House Appropriations Committee. Last year, the Biden administration released its president\u2019s budget request in late March.<\/p>\n

Conservative Climate Caucus: <\/strong>Chair John Curtis (R-UT) announced that Rep. Marianne Miller-Meeks (R-IA) will serve as the Conservative Climate Caucus\u2019 vice-chair during the 118th<\/sup> Congress. This caucus is a group of Republican lawmakers who are interested in climate solutions. The group is primarily focused on educating House Republicans on climate and energy issues through briefings and trips.<\/p>\n

House Science Committee:<\/strong> Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) sent a letter to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar requesting information about how the White House has responded to a scientific integrity scandal involving OSTP Deputy Director for Climate and Environment Jane Lubchenco. In this scandal, the National Academies of Science found that Lubchenco violated its code of conduct by accepting an article into the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science that relied on outdated data and failing to recuse herself from reviewing the article because of the authors is her brother-in-law. Lubchenco is ban from participating in National Academies activities and publications for five years, starting in August 2022. Lucas notes in the letter that the House Science Committee will continue its oversight of the matter under his leadership. This is the third letter that Lucas has sent to the White House about Lubchenco\u2019s scientific misconduct.<\/p>\n

Climate:<\/strong> Twenty-seven Democratic members of Congress wrote<\/a> to US Climate Envoy John Kerry asking him to push the United Arab Emirates to remove Sultan Al Jaber as the head of this year\u2019s U.N. climate talks. The United Arab Emirates is set to host the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Conference of Parties 28 (COP 28) in November 2023. Al Jaber is the head of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Kerry has previously made remarks supportive of Al Jaber\u2019s role in the climate talks. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), who is a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee, led the letter.<\/p>\n

For the past three COPs, ESA has received official observer status at the international climate talks and badged ESA members to attend the conference. ESA member Morgan Rogers recently submitted a blog post<\/a> to ESA about her experience at COP27 in Egypt. ESA will announce the process for badging ESA member for COP28 in the coming months.<\/p>\n

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