Special Policy News 5: The Transition

Posted by Nicole Zimmerman on March 22, 2021

In this issue:

Biden Picks Ecologist to Lead Climate Science Work, Senate Confirmed EPA administrator and Interior Secretary
Former NOAA administrator and ESA president Jane Lubchenco joins the Biden administration.

National Academies: U.S. climate research must target urgent risks, consequences
Report calls on the U.S. government to shift the focus of climate change research from long-term natural consequences to how interconnected systems will affect society.

Former NSF Directors Endorse the Endless Frontiers Act
Legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would create a new technology directorate and rename the National Science Foundation.

Article Claims that Trump Rule Endangers up to 40,000 Waterways
The Navigable Waters Protection Rule replaced the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule.

Congress
House Science Committee approves bill creating a $250 million NSF fellowship program to keep research impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the STEM pipeline.

Executive Branch
National Labor Relations Board withdraws proposed rule that determined that graduate students are not employees.

Courts
Biden administration asks court to pause lawsuit challenge Trump administration revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act as the new White House reviews this rule.

International
Costa Rica withdraws its offer to host the 19th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Scientific Community
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine report finds that women in academic STEM fields are in peril of losing progress made in the recent past due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What We’re Reading

Opportunities to Get Involved
Federal Register opportunities.

Biden Picks Ecologist to Lead Climate Science Work, Senate Confirms EPA administrator and Interior Secretary

Former NOAA Administrator and ESA President Jane Lubchenco will join Biden’s White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) as the deputy director for climate and the environment. Lubchenco will lead OSTP’s climate science work, working closely with White House Domestic Climate Czar Gina McCarthy and Biden’s nominee to lead OSTP, Eric Lander. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Lubchenco led NOAA from 2009 to 2013. She served as the first U.S. science envoy for the ocean in the State Department from 2014 to 2016. After her time at NOAA, Lubchenco returned to Oregon State University in 2013, where she is a University Distinguished Professor, the Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology and Marine Studies Advisor to the Provost and President.

The full Senate voted to confirm The Hon. Debra Haaland to be Secretary of the Interior and Michael Regan as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, is the first Native American to lead a cabinet department. The Interior Department includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs and manages 20% of the country’s land. Haaland was one of the first Native American women to be elected to Congress in 2018 and served as the House Natural Resources Committee’s vice-chair during the 116^th Congress.

Regan is the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and a former EPA career staffer. He is the first Black man to lead the EPA. 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.

President Biden also nominated former Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) to be NASA administrator. Nelson is a former astronaut who served three terms in Senate before losing re-election in 2018. Biden has pledged to strengthen NASA’s earth sciences division and climate science at NASA. Biden named Todd Kim as his nominee to be assistant attorney general for the environment and natural resources. The division that Kim would lead is responsible for criminal and civil cases to enforce environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Kim is the former solicitor-general for the District of Columbia and previously worked for seven years as an appellate attorney for the Environment and Natural Resources Division. This is a Senate-confirmed position.

National Academies: U.S. climate research must target urgent risks, consequences

By Eric Wolff, PoliticoPro

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is calling on the U.S. government to shift the focus of climate change research from long-term natural consequences to how interconnected systems will effect society, prioritizing research on managing urgent climate threats through mitigation and adaptation.

The details: In a report released March 16, the National Academies said policy makers need better information to devise systems with greater resilience to extreme weather events, flooding and other effects of climate change.

The report is being offered as advice to the U. S. Global Change Research Program, a coordinating body for federally funded climate research that also produces the National Climate Assessments, and which will release its 10-year strategic plan next year.

The Academies report argues that the effects of climate change have already arrived, and government at all levels needs better information to avoid its worst scenarios. Climate research should be less narrowly focused on the physics driving climate change and be more cross-cutting, including adding social science research, to accommodate the need for adaptation.

The program should identify research priorities for the next 10 years that could help avoid the worst potential consequences of urgent climate risks, according to the report. Research priorities for managing climate risk should include reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and lowering their atmospheric concentrations; increasing resilience to current and anticipated climate-related security risks; and expanding research on incentives for and the synergies and trade-offs between these risk management approaches, according to the recommendations.

“The time has come to urgently increase our country’s investment in global change research to produce knowledge that is more useful for decision-makers leading the response to the climate crisis,” Jerry Melillo, distinguished scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the chair of the committee that wrote the report, said in a statement. “Today’s decisions require research that considers the global, intricate relationship between society and the natural world, as well as the effects of our response to climate change.”

The recommendations specifically call for expanding research in five crosscutting areas: extremes, thresholds, and tipping points; regional- and local-scale climate projections; scenario-based approaches; equity and social justice; and advanced data and analysis frameworks. The report calls for a greater focus on environmental justice considerations, including research highlighting how extreme events and tipping points are and will be experienced differently across social groups; how mitigation and adaptation strategies have differential effects and might alleviate or exacerbate inequities; and how such considerations can increase the effectiveness of integrated risk management.

Former NSF Directors Endorse the Endless Frontiers Act

All seven living former National Science Foundation directors and seven former National Science Board directors sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) supporting most of the Endless Frontier Act.

This bill, initially introduced by Schumer and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) in May 2020, recommended a budget of up to $100 billion spread over five years to create a new technology-focused directorate and rename NSF as the National Science and Technology Foundation.

Schumer plans to reintroduce a revised version of this bill in the 117^th Congress this spring as part of an effort to increase U.S. international competitiveness in science and technology. Senate Democrats will likely include the Endless Frontiers Act will in a larger package of bills.

The bill prohibits lawmakers from funding the technology directorate if funding other directorates is decreased. The bill sponsors hope that this provision will prevent the legislation from taking funding from other directorates.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the main entity working with Schumer’s office on the bill, which took many in the scientific community by surprise when it was introduced. Changes to the original bill are being made before it is reintroduced in the current Congress.

Meanwhile, a group of prominent individuals in the scientific community, led by former Kavli Foundation CEO published an essay analyzing the Endless Frontiers Act. The group, which includes former National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus, warns that a rapid budget increase could lead to the “fiscal instability and erosion” that occurred when lawmakers doubled the National Institutes of Health’s budget between 1998 and 2003. They also caution against renaming NSF, praising NSF’s acclaimed history and its well-recognized name and oppose creating a Senate-confirmed director position for the proposed Technology Directorate. The authors note none of the current NSF directorates have Senate-confirmed leaders.

It is not clear what the House will propose in response to the Endless Frontier Act and Senate proposals to increase U.S. competitiveness in science and technology. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) introduced the House version of the Endless Frontiers Act in June 2020 (H.R. 6978). Republicans on the House Science Committee also introduced legislation (H.R. 5685) that would have doubled funding for basic science, including NSF, in January 2020.

See: Democrats Refining Strategy for Potential R&D Blitz

Article Claims that Trump Rule Endangers up to 40,000 Waterways

E&E News is reporting that it exclusively obtained Army Corp of Engineers data that shows 70 percent of U.S. waterways are in peril of being damaged under a controversial Trump-era regulation, the Navigable Waters Protection Rule. The Obama administration had issued a Waters of the US Rule (WOTUS) that afforded greater protection of waterways and wetlands that was repealed and replaced by Trump’s EPA. The Navigable Waters Protection Rule limited federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act to waters that flow year-round or intermittently, and to wetlands adjacent to such waters and excluded ephemeral streams.

Related to the Clean Water Act and agency rules, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a court brief citing an EPA database that shows 91% of waters the EPA reviewed do not qualify for federal protection under the Trump Navigable Waters Protection Rule.

As reported by E&E News, “We understand that the corps has internal data suggesting that 72% of waters were found to lack protection, but that data is likely skewed to the extent it includes Rivers and Harbors Act determinations,” said Kelly Moser, a senior attorney at the center and a leader of the group’s Clean Water Defense Initiative.

“Under either data set, the blow to streams, wetlands, and other waterways is striking,” said Moser. “We encourage the corps to publicly disclose its data so the full scope of devastation caused by this rule is clear, and urge EPA to promptly restore Clean Water Act protections given the harm underway.”

President Biden issued an executive order his first day in office that named the Navigable Waters Protection Rule for review and possible rescission. ESA opposed the Trump Rule and fully supported WOTUS and the science that was used in writing the rule.

Congress

House Science Committee: The full Committee approved the Supporting Early-Career Researchers Act (H.R. 144). This bill authorizes $250 million to the National Science Foundation to award two-year postdoctoral fellowships to keep researchers whose employment opportunities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the STEM pipeline. Lawmakers approved amendments from Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Donald Norcross (D-NJ) requiring NSF to collect data about the demographics of fellowship awardees and conduct outreach to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges and universities.

The Science Committee’s majority staff released a report, “Brain Drain: Rebuilding the Federal Scientific Workforce.” The report finds that the combined civil service workforces of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declined by 4,874 employees between 2009 and 2020. The EPA’s Office of Research and Development’s workforce declined by 7.6% during the Trump administration and 17.2% between 2012 and 2019. Similarly, the number of fish biologists employed by NOAA declined by 8.1% between 2009 and 2020 and the number of wildlife biologists working at NOAA decreased by over 30% in that period.

The House Science Committee also held its first climate-related hearing of the 117^th Congress, titled “The Science Behind Impacts of the Climate Crisis.” The hearing featured testimony from four scientists: Drs. Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, Zeke Haufeather from the Breakthrough Institute, Noah S. Diffenbaugh of Stanford University and Paula S. Bontempi, the dean of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Science Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) used his opening statement at the committee hearing to promote the Energy Act (H.R. 4447), which endorses an “all of the above” energy strategy and promotes basic and early-stage energy research and development investments.

Infrastructure: The Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act (LIFT America Act). This bill includes nearly $70 billion for clean energy and energy efficiency, $51.6 billion for drinking water infrastructure and $2.7 billion for brownfields restoration, alongside provisions funding broadband infrastructure improvements and health infrastructure. The bill accompanies the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s bill to reach net-zero emission by 2050 (H.R, 1512, see ESA Policy News, March 8, 2021). It represents the committee’s opening bid in an anticipated infrastructure package. This infrastructure package could have an up to $2 trillion price tag.

Environmental Justice: House Naural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), reintroduced the Environmental Justice for All Act. Provisions in this legislation, which was first introduced in March 2020, require federal agencies to consider cumulative health impacts under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act while making permitting decisions. The legislation creates a fund to assist communities and workers as they transition away from “greenhouse gas-dependent economies.” The bill also provides $75 million annually to research and development to reduce health disparities and improve public health in environmental justice communities.

The bill’s sponsors hope that the legislation will see increased interest in the new administration. Vice President Kamala Harris was the lead Senate sponsor of this bill and Interior Secretary Debra Haaland was an original co-sponsor of the House bill.

Climate: Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced their legislative package to compete with Democrats’ climate bill. The package includes bills prohibiting a ban on fracking on public lands and authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline. It also contains measures promoting carbon capture, utilization, and storage to reduce methane emissions from flaring and venting natural gas.

Executive Branch

White House: The National Climate Task Force held its second meeting March 18. According to the readout: during the virtual meeting, Cabinet leaders and senior Administration officials discussed their respective plans to integrate addressing climate change throughout their agencies. National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy convened the meeting and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry attended the meeting along with other agency leaders. The Climate Task Force is chaired by the National Climate Advisor and includes Cabinet-level leaders from 21 federal agencies and senior White House officials

Following the task force meeting, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service announced it will invest more than $218 million to leverage the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Environmental Protection Agency announced it is taking the first step to relaunch its climate change website to provide the public with information on emissions data, climate change impacts, scientific reports, and more.

USFWS: The agency listed the Missouri district population segment of eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) as an endangered species. Missouri hellbenders’ population has declined more than 75% since the 1970s. Hellbender salamanders live in fast-flowing, cool and highly oxygenated streams. USFWS states that water quality degradation, habitat loss, and disturbance and disease contribute to hellbender declines in Missouri. The Ozark Hellbender distinct population segment, which is found in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, has been listed as an endangered species since 2011.

Interior: An order from acting Interior Secretary Scott de la Vega formally named Nada Culver as the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management through the end of May 2021. Culver is an attorney who most recently worked for The National Audubon Society and previously worked for The Wilderness Society. The Trump administration never filled the Senate-confirmed BLM director position.

The same order keeps David Applegate as the acting U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director. Applegate is the agency’s associate director for natural hazards and has been serving as the agency’s USGS acting director since Biden’s inauguration.

NLRB: The Biden administration withdrew a proposed rule that determined that undergraduate and graduate students are not employees and therefore ineligible to form unions under the National Labor Relations Act. The Trump administration proposed this rule in 2019. The National Labor Relations Board ruled in 2016 that graduate students at Columbia University could unionize, paving the way for graduate students at 12 universities to vote to unionize. The National Labor Relations Review Board’s decision to withdraw the proposed rule leaves the 2016 ruling in place. Universities are split on the issue with some supporting unions and others not. The rule and policy seem to change with presidential administrations, so the majority Republican board appointed under the former president was not expected to withdraw the rule.

The rule only applied to private universities — graduate students at public universities in states with collective bargaining for state employees are generally allowed to unionize.

USDA: The agency is accepting comments through the end of April about how the USDA should adopt climate-smart agriculture and forestry policies, as part of President Biden’s goal to reach carbon neutrality for agriculture.

Department of Defense: Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin established a Department of Defense climate working group focused on implementing President Biden’s climate change executive orders and tracking the implementation of climate and energy-related actions and progress against future goals.

The rule only applied to private universities — graduate students at public universities in states with collective bargaining for state employees are generally allowed to unionize.

Courts

Climate: Twelve states, led by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, are challenging President Biden’s order directing federal agencies to establish a social cost of greenhouse gases to be used while crafting regulations. The lawsuit alleges that this action falls into the purview of Congress, not the executive branch.

NEPA: The Biden administration asked a federal court to pause a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s revision to the National Environmental Policy Act regulations. Lawyers for the Justice Department noted that the White House Council on Environmental Quality is currently reviewing whether to amend or repeal the NEPA rules. If the court accepts the administration’s request, the Trump administration NEPA rules will remain in place while the Biden administration reconsiders the regulations. The environmental groups who initiated the lawsuit are still asking the court to overturn the regulation.

International

CITES: Costa Rica withdrew its offer to host the 19^th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), citing the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CITES Secretariat will need to select another city host for the 19^th COP.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is still soliciting recommendations for amending Appendices I and II of CITES at CoP19 as well as recommendations for resolutions, decisions, and agenda items for discussion at CoP19. The comment period for this request will close May 3, 2021.

Scientific Community

NASEM: A new report from National Academies, “Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Eighth Biennial Review,” concludes that the multibillion-dollar Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan will benefit from stronger scientific support as it pivots from planning and construction of individual projects toward an expanding emphasis on operations and management of multiple project components.” Read the report.

Study chair Charley Driscoll, Syracuse University, will present the study during a presentation Thursday, March 25 at 1 pm EDT followed by Q&A. Register for the webinar.

Another new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine finds that women in academic STEM fields are in peril of losing progress made in the recent past due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the report, Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology announced a provisional committee for a new consensus study, Anticipatory Research for EPA’s Research and Development Enterprise to Inform Future Environmental Protection: the Road Ahead. This study will provide advice on scientific and technological capabilities that could aid the EPA in meeting environmental challenges for the coming decades.

The National Academies Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate will hold a public briefing on an upcoming report that examines strategies to reduce global temperatures by reflecting sunlight back into space, known as solar geoengineering. The report will be released March 25.

NSF: The Directorate for Biological Sciences is recruiting for a permanent program director in the Systematics and Biodiversity Science Program. This opening is a full-time position within the federal government. The application closes April 9.

The Nobel Prize Summit: “OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE” is a free, online event scheduled for April 26-28, 2021. Prominent scientists will focus on three key areas: Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss, Reducing Inequality, and Technologies with the Power to Transform the Way We Live and Work. The Nobel Foundation, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research/Stockholm Resilience Centre are hosting the event. Register to attend.

George Mason: A new, updated report by the Center for Climate Communication was released on Climate Activism: A Six Americas Analysis building on its previous research that grouped opinions into six groups based on their beliefs and attitudes about climate change.

Oceans: A new report, ‘Ocean Solutions that Benefit People, Nature and the Economy’, sets out a new ocean story and action plan for a sustainable ocean economy. The report was sponsored by a High-Level panel composed of 14 serving world leaders co-chaired by Norway and Palau. The Hon. Jane Lubchenco, former ESA president who was recently appointed to serve in Biden’s science team was a lead author of the report.

AFWA: The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies will hold a webinar March 31 reviewing the new report “Advancing the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy into a New Decade.” Report contributors will discuss how climate science and the practice of adaptation changed since the Strategy was first published, how natural resource plans been influenced by strategy goals and what’s next for the strategy. Register for the webinar here.

Biodiversity: On March 24, The Hill will convene policymakers and national security experts for an in-depth discussion, titled “The Loss of Nature: A Global Threat”, on the intersection of our national security priorities and the global loss of nature. RSVP for the event here.

What We’re Reading

Opportunities to Get Involved

Upcoming Public Meetings:

Army Corps of Engineers – Water Resources Development Act of 2020 Comment Period and Stakeholder Sessions (March 23 & 30, April 6 & 13)
Army Corps of Engineers – Mississippi River Commission Meeting (April 13)
BLM – Bears Ears National Monument Advisory Committee Meeting (March 31)
BLM – San Rafael Swell Recreation Area Advisory Council, Utah Meeting (April 7 & 8)
BLM – Public Meetings of the Idaho Resource Advisory Council (April 14)
DOE – Environmental Management Advisory Board Meeting (March 24)
EPA – National Environmental Justice Advisory Council Virtual Public Meetings (March 24)
EPA – White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council Virtual Public Meeting (March 30)
EPA – Public Meeting for Great Lakes Advisory Board (March 30 & 31)
EPA – Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Sustainable and Health Communities Subcommittee Meeting-March 2021 (March 30 & 31, April 1 & 16)
EPA – Revisions to the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5) for Public Water Systems and Announcement of Public Meeting (April 6 & 7)
EPA – Environmental Financial Advisory Board Meeting (April 20 & 21)
Forest Service – El Dorado County Resource Advisory Committee (April 7)
Forest Service – Ketchikan Resource Advisory Committee (April 15)
Forest Service – Black Hills Resource Advisory Committee (April 15)
Forest Service – North Central Idaho Resource Advisory Committee (April 19)
Marine Mammal Commission – Sunshine Act Notice (March 23)
NIH – National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Meeting (March 29 & 30)
NOAA – Ocean Exploration Advisory Board Meeting (April 7 & 8)
NOAA – National Sea Grant Advisory Board Meeting (April 13-15)
NOAA NMFS – Western Pacific Fishery Management Council Public Meetings (March 25)
NOAA NMFS – New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting (March 25)
NOAA NMFS – New England Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting (March 26)
NOAA NMFS – North Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meeting (April 5-17)
NOAA NMFS – Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Public Meetings (April 6-8)
NOAA NMFS – Pacific Fishery Management Council; Public Meetings (April 6-9 & 12-15)
NOAA NMFS – Evaluation of State Coastal Management Program; Public Meeting; Request for Comments (April 7, comments due April 16)
N SF – Advisory Committee for Geosciences Meeting (April 14 & 15)
NSF – Advisory Committee for Biological Sciences Meeting (April 15 & 16)

Opportunities for Public Comment and Nominations:

BLM – Notice of Availability of the Draft Desert Plan Amendment and Draft Environmental Impact Statement, California. To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive written comments on by April 14, 2021.
DOI – Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf-Revisions to the Requirements for Exploratory Drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf; Reopening of Comment Period. BSEE and BOEM are reopening the comment period for the proposed rule until April 9, 2021.
EPA – Notification of Request for Nominations to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
EPA – Receipt of a Pesticide Petition Filed for Residues of Pesticide Chemicals in or on Various Commodities (February 2021). Comments must be received on or before March 29, 2021.
EPA – Approval and Promulgation of State Plans for Designated Facilities; New York; Section 111(d) State Plan for MSW Landfills. Written comments must be received on or before March 29, 2021.
EPA – Local Government Advisory Committee and Small Communities Advisory Subcommittee: Request for Nominations. To be considered for 2021 appointments, nominations should be submitted by April 16, 2021.
EPA – Draft Human Health and/or Ecological Risk Assessments for Chlorpyrifos; Notice of Availability. The Agency will consider all comments received during the public comment period and make changes, as appropriate, to a draft human health and/or ecological risk assessment.
Forest Service – Notice of Intent To Amend the California Desert Conservation Area Plan and Prepare an Associated Environmental Assessment for the Oberon Solar Project, Riverside County, CA. Comments on issues may be submitted in writing until April 19, 2021.
Justice Dept. – Notice of Filing of Proposed Settlement Agreement Regarding Environmental Claims In Connection With the Madison County Mines Superfund Site. All comments must be submitted by March 28, 2021.
Justice Dept. – Notice of Lodging of Proposed Consent Decree Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CLERCA). All comments must be submitted by April 4, 2021.
Justice Dept. – Notice of Lodging of Proposed Amended Consent Decree Under the Clean Air Act. All comments must be submitted by April 4, 2021.
Justice Dept. – Notice of Lodging of Proposed Consent Decree Under the Clean Water Act. All comments must be submitted no later than April 9, 2021.
Justice Dept. – Notice of Lodging of Proposed Consent Decree Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. The publication of this notice opens a period for public comment due April 17, 2021.
NOAA – Proposed Boundary Expansion for the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Comments must be received on or before April 14, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Endangered and Threatened Species; Designation of Critical Habitat for the Arctic Subspecies of the Ringed Seal. Comments must be received by April 8, 2021 (comment period extended).
NOAA NMFS – Endangered and Threatened Species; Designation of Critical Habitat for the Beringia Distinct Population Segment of the Bearded Seal. Comments must be received by April 8, 2021 (comment period extended).
NOAA NMFS – Endangered and Threatened Species; Initiation of a 5-Year Review for the Arctic, Okhotsk, Baltic, and Ladoga Subspecies of the Ringed Seal. To allow them adequate time to conduct this review, they must receive information no later than March 26, 2021. However, they will continue to accept new information about any listed species at any time.
NOAA NMFS – Endangered and Threatened Species; Critical Habitat for the Threatened Indo-Pacific Corals, Extension of Public Comment Period. The end of the public comment period is extended again from February 25, 2021 to March 27, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Removing the Processing Restriction on Incidentally Caught Squids and Sculpins in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Groundfish Fisheries. Submit comments on or before March 29, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery Off the Atlantic States; Amendment 12. Written comments must be received on or before March 30, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery off the Atlantic States; Amendment 12. Written comments must be received on or before April 1, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and South Atlantic; Reef Fish Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; Framework Action. Written comments on the proposed rule must be received by April 1, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Recommendations for More Resilient Fisheries and Protected Resources Due to Climate Change. Responses must be received by April 2, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Fisheries Off West Coast States; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 20 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan. Comments on Amendment 20 must be received by April 12, 2021.
NOAA NMFS – Fisheries Off West Coast States; Coastal Pelagic Species Fisheries; Amendment 18 to the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan. Comments on the associated Environmental Assessment must be received by April 15, 2021.
NRCS – Proposed Revisions to the National Handbook of Conservation Practices for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They will consider comments that we receive by April 8, 2021
NSF – Request for Information: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics at the Poles. Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before April 7, 2021.
USFWS – Migratory Bird Hunting; Proposed 2021-22 Frameworks, and Special Procedures for Issuance of Annual Hunting Regulations. You must submit comments on the proposed migratory bird hunting frameworks and special procedures for the issuance of annual hunting regulations by March 24, 2021.
USWFS – Endangered and Threatened Species; Initiation of a 5-Year Review for the Beringia and Okhotsk Distinct Population Segments of the Bearded Seal. They must receive your information no later than March 26, 2021. However, they will continue to accept new information about any listed species at any time.
USFWS – Migratory Bird Subsistence Harvest in Alaska; Harvest Regulations for Migratory Birds in Alaska During the 2021 Season. They will accept comments received or postmarked on or before March 29, 2021.

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

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