Public Lands
Public Lands Watch: Omnibus Appropriations
No significant new policy riders in the Omnibus Appropriations bill
Late last night, a bipartisan agreement was reached for funding the federal government through the rest of Fiscal Year 2017. These omnibus appropriations bills often are a tool for inserting riders that impose significant restrictions on how agencies manage the public lands. However, this year there are no new significant policy riders inserted in the …
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CONTINUE READINGNational Monuments: Presidents Can Create Them, But Only Congress Can Undo Them
Authored by Nicholas Bryner, Eric Biber, Mark Squillace, and Sean B. Hecht
Bears Ears National Monument, Utah. Bob Wick, BLM/Flickr, CC BY This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. On April 26 President Trump issued an executive order calling for a review of national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act. This law authorizes presidents to set aside federal lands in order to …
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CONTINUE READINGThis Wolf Came as Dressed as a Wolf
Trump’s views on energy & environment were clear before the election. He’s doing what he said.
In terms of energy and environmental issues, Trump has turned out to be as advertised. Last June, I did a post contrasting Clinton and Trump’s views about the environment. Below, I revisit the June post in order to compare what Trump said before Election Day and what he’s done since. In case you’ve forgotten, Clinton’s position …
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CONTINUE READINGNational Monuments Under Trump
Does the Antiquities Act give the President the authority to revoke national monument designations?
Debate on the Antiquities Act continues in the early months of the Trump Administration. Opponents of Obama’s recently-proclaimed Bears Ears National Monument (see earlier post) have pushed for Trump to revoke or significantly alter the designation, fueling debate as to whether a president has the authority under the Antiquities Act to do so. By way …
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CONTINUE READINGCan California keep its federal lands public?
SB 50, introduced in State Senate, seeks to retain public ownership of federal lands in the state
There’s been a fair amount of national debate lately about whether federal public lands in the West should be transferred to state or private ownership. Rep. Chaffetz (R) from Utah had introduced a bill to transfer millions of acres of federal land in a range of Western states to private or state ownership – he …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: House Joint Resolution 69
House passes resolution to nullify regulation restricting hunting on Alaska National Wildlife Refuges
Additional update: The President signed SJR 69. Update: The Senate just passed S.J.R. 69. The House voted last week to pass House Joint Resolution 69. The resolution disapproves of the Fish & Wildlife Service rule, “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska,” which was finalized on …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: HJR 44
Resolution would eliminate updates to planning process for BLM lands
Final Update: The President signed the resolution. Update #2: It just passed the Senate 51-48. Update: This is currently being considered in the Senate as Senate Joint Resolution 15. House Joint Resolution 44 – A proposal to overturn the BLM’s Planning 2.0 rule for preparing and amending resource management plans. Today the House passed HJR …
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CONTINUE READINGHow States Can Defend Themselves Against Trump
States have a number of tools for protecting their own environments from the Feds.
Suppose the Trump Administration launches environmentally harmful projects in a state or wants to allow more pollution there than the state wants. Does the state have any possible recourse? The answer is yes, although states’s defenses have their limitations. There are a number of mechanisms states can use to defend their own environments, if not the …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: House Joint Resolution 36
A proposal to revoke an Obama Administration rule on methane flaring on public lands
Additional Update: It is being considered in the Senate as Senate Joint Resolution 36. Update: The resolution passed the House on the morning of Saturday, Feb 4. It will next go to the Senate. House Joint Resolution 36 (now being considered as part of House Resolution 74) “Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: HR 5 and Land-Use Planning
Bill passed by house would increase burden on agency for land-use planning
HR 5 The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) Passed House 1/11 Received in the Senate 1/12 Referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs This post was co-authored by law student Emma Hamilton. On January 11th, the House passed HR 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, which includes a provision mandating new …
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