| We know it has been an extraordinarily difficult year for everyone, so we are incredibly grateful for your continued support of our work. While this year was marked by unprecedented public health and economic challenges and one of the most contentious elections in history, real progress was made on conservation issues. Republicans’ longstanding commitment to sound environmental stewardship and conservation reached new heights in 2020, the first full year of the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus. We are proud to have helped foster those discussions among conservatives. The year began on a promising note with the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act unanimously passing out of the Senate. Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, a member of the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus, introduced the measure with Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, building on the Save Our Seas Act of 2018. The new bill authorizes grant funding to states to address plastic waste in the ocean. The consensus-based legislation provides a good demonstration of how Congress can advance real solutions to environmental challenges even in these polarized times. Its success shows what's achievable when you let the legislative process work. The bill went through seven congressional committees and picked up 19 cosponsors in the Senate before the final amended version was approved by the House and signed into law by President Trump on December 18. In the spring, our focus shifted to modernizing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA is among our nation's foundational environmental laws, but it has not been updated in a substantive way since it was passed in 1970. Parts of the law had not kept up with the times and had become an impediment to timely decisions on crucial infrastructure projects. In March, ConservAmerica submitted written comments on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed revisions to NEPA, and we followed up with a policy paper and webinar discussion on the modernization efforts. ConservAmerica's encouraged CEQ to ensure that environmental reviews and authorizations involving multiple federal agencies be made in a manner that reduces unnecessary burdens and delays, including improving coordination between agencies to simplify and accelerate the review process. CEQ finalized its revisions to the law in July and included many of the ideas ConservAmerica championed. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, ConservAmerica moved much of its advocacy efforts online. In particular, we launched a series of online webinars on conservation and climate change. The webinar series has so far included installments on rural attitudes, climate policy, mining, natural solutions, energy research and development, the history of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the incoming Biden administration. Look for our webinar series to continue and grow in 2021. We weighed in on several conservation issues being considered by Congress in 2020, including protecting wildlife through the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, updating the Endangered Species Act, the signing of America’s Conservation Enhancement Act, as well as efforts to improve management of our forests, conservation easements, and natural solutions to lessen the impact of climate change. However, the major achievement for 2020 was the signing into law of the Great American Outdoors Act. Widely considered the most significant conservation bill in decades, the Great American Outdoors Act fully and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and addresses the nearly $20 billion maintenance backlog at our national parks and on other federal lands. During the final push to pass the legislation, ConservAmerica published several op-eds supporting the bill and hosted a webinar with its prime sponsors, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), to educate lawmakers on its content. In December, ConservAmerica released a review of the various policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. The resulting report, Slow Down: The Case for Technology Neutral Transportation Policy, encourages policymakers to consider the full emissions lifecycle of the available technologies, including electrification and various alternative fuels. ConservAmerica believes the best approach is a technology-neutral one that encourages competition and innovation in a rapidly developing market. As the year wraps up, we are especially excited about the inclusion of the Energy Act of 2020 in the year-end omnibus appropriations package. As the first major energy in 13 years and the first major effort to address climate change, the energy package includes more than 50 individual energy provisions sponsored or cosponsored by over 60 senators. Significant provisions focus on advanced nuclear power, renewable energy research, and development, carbon capture and storage, domestic energy supply chains. We’re confident this act will reduce carbon emissions while encouraging economic growth. The ultimate success of the energy package is a testament to what Congress can accomplish when it stays true to the legislative process and works collaboratively with all interested stakeholders. The package also represents the capstone accomplishment of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Once again, thank you for your continued support. We’ve found great relief during this pandemic in outdoor activities like hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing, and bird watching. What a treasure our land is — we want to make sure our children and grandchildren have the same opportunities, and that’s why we are ConservAmerica. See you all in 2021.
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