Special Policy News 2: The Transition

Posted by on February 8, 2021

Special Policy News 2: The Transition

In This Issue:

Biden Cabinet Nominees Advance Through the Senate
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds confirmation hearing for EPA administrator nominee.

Biden Administration Tackles Climate Change, Issues Scientific Integrity Memorandum, Pledges to Conserve 30% of Lands and Waters by 2030 and more
Orders create the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and a National Climate Task Force, pauses new drilling on public lands, reconstitute the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and more.

Congress
Congressional leaders shuffle committee assignments for the House Science Committee, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and more.

Executive Branch
Report finds that 87% of Bureau of Land Management employees left the agency after the Trump administration moved the headquarters from DC to Colorado.

Courts
Judge overturns Trump EPA’s ‘transparency in science’ regulation.

Scientific Community
NSF releases 2019 Merit Review Process Digest.

ESA In the News
View an up-to-date list of ESA’s media coverage.

ESA Correspondence to Policymakers

Opportunities to Get Involved
Federal Register opportunities.

Biden Cabinet Nominees Advance Through the Senate


Senate 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’s nomination in protest of President Biden’s executive orders canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and halting new oil and gas leasing on federal lands.

Vilsack pledged to use the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation to provide funds to farmers for capture carbon and to work with Congress to create carbon markets.

Biden’s 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 “follow the science” if confirmed as the EPA director. He also promised to request robust funding for the EPA’s geographic programs, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, to create an environmental justice advisor position within the EPA and to strengthen the EPA’s Office of Civil Rights. Regan told Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) that he will hire a ‘Chesapeake Bay czar’ to oversee Chesapeake restoration efforts. He took a middle ground when asked about the Waters of the U.S. Rule – Regan criticized the Trump administration’s 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’s administration’s Clean Water Rule. ESA and other scientific societies have supported the Clean Water Rule and criticized the Navigable Waters Protection Rule.

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.

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’s transition tracker.

Biden Names Political Appointees to Scientific and Environmental Posts

The Biden administration named Chris Frey to be a top political appointee overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency’s 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.

NASA created a new senior climate advisor position tasked with providing agency leadership with “critical insights and recommendations for the agency’s full spectrum of science, technology, and infrastructure programs related to climate” as part as the new administration’s climate goals. Longtime NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt will serve as the acting senior climate advisor until a permanent appointment is made.

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.

Alex Barron will be a senior advisor in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s 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.

Biden Administration Tackles Climate Change, Issues Scientific Integrity Memorandom, Pledges to Conserve 30% of Lands and Waters by 2030 and more


Following his day-one actions committing the U.S. to rejoining the Paris Agreement, cancelling the KeystoneXL pipeline and more (see ESA Policy News, Jan. 25, 2021), President Joe Biden signed another executive order “tackling the climate crisis at home and abroad” Jan. 27, as part of a series of ‘Climate Day’ 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.

See the full post here.

117th Congress

Research Relief: Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Diana Degette (D-CO) reintroduced the Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act (H.R. 869). 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.

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).

Senate: Democrats 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.

Sens. Ben Ray Luján (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.

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.

House Science Committee: The House Republican Steering Committee named nine new members to the committee for the 117th Congress — Reps. Carlos Giménez (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’s ranking member. Republicans have not yet announced their subcommittee ranking members.

House Natural Resources Committee: Democratic 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 Congress. 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.

Endangered Species: Eight 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.

Appropriations: House Appropriations Chairwomen Rosa Delauro (D-CT) announced the chairs of the appropriations subcommittees for the 117th Congress. The chairs are essential in determining spending levels for federal agencies.

  • Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) will be the chair of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee. This subcommittee determines spending for the National Science Foundation, NOAA and NASA, among other agencies. Former Chairman Jose Serrano (D-NY) retired at the end of the 116th Congress.
  • Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) will be the chair of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the EPA, the Interior Department and the US Forest Service. Former Chairwoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) moved to chair the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Rep. Pingree pledged to restore the EPA and the Interior Department after the Trump administration.
  • Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) will retain his position as the Chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) will continue to lead the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee.

Legislative updates:

  • Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act (S. 46). This bill authorizes five years of federal funding and assistance to states for coral reef restoration and management. It encourages Coral Reef Stewardship Partnerships among resource management agencies, research centers and stakeholders. The legislation also codifies the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, which was established by executive order during the Clinton administration. Rubio’s bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Rick Scott (R-FL). Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) is sponsoring a companion bill (H.R. 160) in the U.S. House of Representatives. An identical bill passed the Senate in December 2020.
  • Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) reintroduced a bill that establishes a $50 million grant program to support the restoration of the San Francisco Bay and creates a San Francisco Bay Program Office within the EPA. A draft version of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 created a San Francisco Bay Restoration Program and authorized $25 million for this program. This provision was not included in the version of the Water Resources Development that passed Congress in late December 2020.
  • Reps. Joe Neguse (D-CO), Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) reintroduced a resolution (H.R. 610) calling on the federal government to create a national biodiversity strategy. The resolution directs that the national biodiversity strategy should include establishing climate corridors for species and establishing regular monitoring, reporting, research and development and adequate funding for conservation efforts and other key elements. Reps. Neguse, Lowenthal and Huffman are all members of the House Natural Resources Committee.
  • Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) introduced a bill (H.R. 591) prohibiting the federal government from providing funding to the EcoHealth Alliance. In April 2020, the National Institutes of Health suspended a research grant investigating the risk of bat coronavirus emergence awarded to the EcoHealth Alliance amid conspiracy theories that a lab in Wuhan, China allowed the novel coronavirus to emerge. A EcoHealth Alliance spokesperson says that around ten percent of the grant went to the Wuhan lab for their on-the-ground work analyzing and collecting virus samples. NIH reinstated this grant in July 2020, amid widespread push back from the scientific community.
  • Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reintroduced the Bolstering Long-Term Understanding and Exploration of the Great Lakes, Oceans, Bays, and Estuaries (BLUE GLOBE) Act. This legislation establishes an Interagency Ocean Exploration Committee, based at the White House, to promote exploration and monitoring of the oceans. It also tasks the National Academies of Sciences to study the potential of an Advanced Research Projects Agency – Oceans (ARPA-O).
  • Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) introduced the Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act (H.R. 516 and S. 101) that would create an interagency committee tasked with identifying and mapping environmental justice communities. This bill is intended to compliment President Biden’s environmental justice initiatives and Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Don McEachin (D-VA)’s omnibus environmental justice bill entitled the Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 5986).
  • Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) (H.R. 815) reintroduced a bill to repeal the provision of the 2017 tax reform bill that allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A January 2021 auction for oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Widllfie Refuge attracted limited attention. President Biden signed an order halting drilling in the Arctic on his first day in office. The full U.S. House passed this bill in Sept. 2019.
  • Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Scientific Integrity Act (H.R. 849). This bill standardizes scientific integrity policies across federal agencies and aims prevent political influence in scientific data and reports.

See ESA’s Legislative Tracker for more updates on legislation relevant to the ecological community.

117th Congress


Research Relief: Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Diana Degette (D-CO) reintroduced the Research Investment to Spark the Economy (RISE) Act (H.R. 869). 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.

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).

Senate: Democrats 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.

Sens. Ben Ray Luján (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.

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.

House Science Committee: The House Republican Steering Committee named nine new members to the committee for the 117th Congress — Reps. Carlos Giménez (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’s ranking member. Republicans have not yet announced their subcommittee ranking members.

House Natural Resources Committee: Democratic 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 Congress. 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.

Endangered Species: Eight 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.

Appropriations: House Appropriations Chairwomen Rosa Delauro (D-CT) announced the chairs of the appropriations subcommittees for the 117th Congress. The chairs are essential in determining spending levels for federal agencies.

  • Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) will be the chair of the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee. This subcommittee determines spending for the National Science Foundation, NOAA and NASA, among other agencies. Former Chairman Jose Serrano (D-NY) retired at the end of the 116th Congress.
  • Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) will be the chair of the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the EPA, the Interior Department and the US Forest Service. Former Chairwoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) moved to chair the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Rep. Pingree pledged to restore the EPA and the Interior Department after the Trump administration.
  • Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA) will retain his position as the Chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) will continue to lead the Energy and Water Appropriations Committee.

Legislative updates:

  • Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced the Restoring Resilient Reefs Act (S. 46). This bill authorizes five years of federal funding and assistance to states for coral reef restoration and management. It encourages Coral Reef Stewardship Partnerships among resource management agencies, research centers and stakeholders. The legislation also codifies the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, which was established by executive order during the Clinton administration. Rubio’s bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Rick Scott (R-FL). Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL) is sponsoring a companion bill (H.R. 160) in the U.S. House of Representatives. An identical bill passed the Senate in December 2020.
  • Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) reintroduced a bill that establishes a $50 million grant program to support the restoration of the San Francisco Bay and creates a San Francisco Bay Program Office within the EPA. A draft version of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 created a San Francisco Bay Restoration Program and authorized $25 million for this program. This provision was not included in the version of the Water Resources Development that passed Congress in late December 2020.
  • Reps. Joe Neguse (D-CO), Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Alan Lowenthal (D-CA) reintroduced a resolution (H.R. 610) calling on the federal government to create a national biodiversity strategy. The resolution directs that the national biodiversity strategy should include establishing climate corridors for species and establishing regular monitoring, reporting, research and development and adequate funding for conservation efforts and other key elements. Reps. Neguse, Lowenthal and Huffman are all members of the House Natural Resources Committee.
  • Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) introduced a bill (H.R. 591) prohibiting the federal government from providing funding to the EcoHealth Alliance. In April 2020, the National Institutes of Health suspended a research grant investigating the risk of bat coronavirus emergence awarded to the EcoHealth Alliance amid conspiracy theories that a lab in Wuhan, China allowed the novel coronavirus to emerge. A EcoHealth Alliance spokesperson says that around ten percent of the grant went to the Wuhan lab for their on-the-ground work analyzing and collecting virus samples. NIH reinstated this grant in July 2020, amid widespread push back from the scientific community.
  • Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reintroduced the Bolstering Long-Term Understanding and Exploration of the Great Lakes, Oceans, Bays, and Estuaries (BLUE GLOBE) Act. This legislation establishes an Interagency Ocean Exploration Committee, based at the White House, to promote exploration and monitoring of the oceans. It also tasks the National Academies of Sciences to study the potential of an Advanced Research Projects Agency – Oceans (ARPA-O).
  • Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) introduced the Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act (H.R. 516 and S. 101) that would create an interagency committee tasked with identifying and mapping environmental justice communities. This bill is intended to compliment President Biden’s environmental justice initiatives and Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Don McEachin (D-VA)’s omnibus environmental justice bill entitled the Environmental Justice for All Act (H.R. 5986).
  • Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) (H.R. 815) reintroduced a bill to repeal the provision of the 2017 tax reform bill that allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A January 2021 auction for oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Widllfie Refuge attracted limited attention. President Biden signed an order halting drilling in the Arctic on his first day in office. The full U.S. House passed this bill in Sept. 2019.
  • Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) introduced the Scientific Integrity Act (H.R. 849). This bill standardizes scientific integrity policies across federal agencies and aims prevent political influence in scientific data and reports.

See ESA’s Legislative Tracker for more updates on legislation relevant to the ecological community.

Executive Branch


BLM: The overwhelming majority DC-based headquarters employees chose to either retire or find new employment instead of moving to Colorado or other parts of the west after the Trump administration chose to move the agency’s headquarters from Washington, DC. The data conflicts prior statements from Trump administration officials — former BLM Acting Director William Perry Pendley said that 66% of employees chose to move. The numbers show that 87% of DC employees declined relocation. In July 2019, the Interior Department announced that they were moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Colorado so that employees could be closer to the land that they manage. The vast majority of agency employees were already located in the western U.S. The Biden administration has floated the idea of moving the Bureau of Land Management headquarters back to DC.

USGS: Senior career officials filed a complaint challenging a memorandum issued by former U.S. Geological Survey Director James Reilly in late December 2020 limiting how agency scientists use climate change models and data. Reilly has suggested that researchers should focus on short term climate projections – i.e. within the 20 to 30 years – and not make longer-term predictions.

Forest Service: USDA Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Energy and Natural Resources Chris French directed the U.S. Forest Service to pause all decisions about roadless areas in National Forest Systems lands and elevate these decisions to the USDA department level to ensure consistency with recent Biden executive orders. The Forest Service’s 2001 roadless rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests and other extractive activities on 58.5 million acres of National Forest System land. Late in the Trump administration, the Forest Service exempted 9 million of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest from the roadless rule. ESA submitted comments opposing this change in 2019.

French’s memorandum to Forest Service Chief Victoria Christiansen also directs the agency to elevate any decisions about activities in areas designated as wilderness under federal law, in new mineral leasing decisions that involve more than 500 acres of land and in new land management plans.

USFWS: The Interior Department delayed the implementation of a rule interpreting that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act does not apply to the “incidental take” or accidental killing of birds. This rule formalizes a 2017 Interior Department legal opinion, which ‘clarified’ that the law only applies to the intentional killing of birds. The Trump administration finalized this rule in January 2021. The US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to re-open the rule for public comment for another 20 days.

Courts

EPA: A federal judge in Montana threw out the EPA’s “transparency in science” rule. This rule, finalized by the Trump administration in January 2021, limits the EPA’s use of science where the underlying data is not publicly available. The scientific community, including ESA, opposed the rule well as its as legislative predecessors the HONEST Act and the Secret Science Act. Scientific and public health groups said that it will limit the wide swaths of research and data that the EPA could use to make informed policy decisions and fulfill their mission to protect public health and the environment. The EPA’s Scientific Advisory has also criticized the rule, writing in a 2020 draft commentary that the rule does not fully identify what problem the rule addresses and “may not add transparency, and even may make some kinds of research more difficult.” 

The court found that the EPA did not have the authority to finalize the rule. The rule never took effect after the court moved the rule’s effective date to Feb. 5. The Biden administration asked the court to send the rule back to the EPA for further consideration. This decision saves the Biden administration from undergoing the lengthy rulemaking process to reverse the rule.

Scientific Community


NSF: The 2019 Merit Review Process Digest from the National Science Foundation and the National Science Board provides an overview of the agency’s merit review activities. The report notes that 2019 was an ‘artypical’ year for the agency – the number of full grant proposals submitted declined by 15% from 2018 level, leading the agency’s funding rate to increase. This decline is attributed to the pause in merit review panels during the 2019 federal government shutdown and the shift to no-deadlines for core programs for the Biological Sciences (BIO) and Engineering Directorate. The funding rate for the BIO directorate increased from 25 to 34 percent. Other finding in the report is that the funding rate for white principal investigators (PI) was 29% while the funding rates for Hispanic or Latino PIs, Black/African American PIs and Asian PIs was 27%, 23% and 21% respectively.

NSF Webinar: On Feb. 23, 2021 at 3:00 PM EST there will be a one hour webinar to provide information concerning the competition for a Center for Advancement & Synthesis of Open Environmental Data & Sciences (NSF 21-549). The webinar is hosted by the NSF Divisions of Biological Infrastructure (DBI), Environmental Biology (DEB) and the Office for Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC). Following a brief presentation, program directors will be available to answer questions from participants.

Open biological and other environmental data are produced by NSF investments in research and infrastructure such as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network and the Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio), as well as by many other public and private initiatives in the U.S. and worldwide. These efforts afford opportunities for collaborative investigations that will advance our predictive understanding of life on Earth; publicly available data are burgeoning. Access to and creative use of these data can democratize science and diversify the STEM workforce as never before by making the same data available to and usable by everyone, from collaborative teams of experts to individual students, researchers, educators and policy makers. In response, NSF seeks to establish a Center fueled by open and freely available biological and other environmental data to catalyze novel scientific questions in environmental biology through the use of data-intensive approaches, team science and research networks, and training in the accession, management, analysis, visualization, and synthesis of large data sets. The Center will provide vision for speeding discovery through the increased use of large, publicly accessible datasets to address biological research questions through collaborations with scientists in other related disciplines.

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://nsf.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_YvILcBaDRSWB6fCtbR6cAg

Climate: A new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine provides a technical blueprint and policy road map for the United States to reach net-zero carbon emission. The authors lay out short-term goals to transition to net-zero emissions over the next ten years, including doubling the share of electricity by non-carbon emitting sources to at least 75 percent and increasing overall electrical transmission capacity by 40 percent to better distribute wind and solar energy.

Environmental Justice: The Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic will hold three panels exploring how technical assistance providers such as researchers, lawyers, academics and students can support community-led movements for environmental justice on Feb. 27, March 6 and March 13. Register here.

What We’re Reading

ESA In the News

ESA regularly issues press releases to the media about journal articles and other Society news. Press coverage is kept up-to-date on our “In the News” page. Check out news stories here.


ESA Correspondence to Policymakers

Opportunities to get involved 


Virtual public meetings and conference calls:

Opportunities for Public Comment and Nominations:

Visit this page on ESA’s website for updates on opportunities from the Federal Register, including upcoming meetings and regulations open for public comment. 

ESA’s policy activities work to infuse ecological knowledge into national policy decisions through activities such as policy statements, Capitol Hill briefings, Congressional Visits Days, and coalition involvement. Policy News Updates are bi-monthly summaries of major environmental and science policy news. They are produced by the Public Affairs Office of the Ecological Society of America.

Send questions or comments to Alison Mize, director of public affairs, Alison@nullesa.org or Nicole Zimmerman, public affairs manager, Nicole@nullesa.org

Visit the ESA website to learn more about our activities and membership.

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