** Biden moves to reverse Trump's environmental rollbacks
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Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Bears Ears National Monument | Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
Soon after taking office today, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to sign more than a dozen ([link removed]) executive orders aimed at undoing the Trump administration's harmful environmental legacy. The orders will direct multiple government agencies to review more than 100 policies, including 31 within the Interior Department ([link removed]) , for possible reversal.
As a part of the effort, the Interior Department will review ([link removed]) the boundaries of and protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, both of which had been dramatically reduced by the Trump administration. Similarly, a policy allowing oil companies to inadvertently kill birds without penalties under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act could be reversed ([link removed]) , and rules designed to increase the safety and transparency of fracking on public lands could be reinstated.
President-elect Biden is also expected to announce a moratorium on new oil and gas leasing within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Yesterday, the Trump administration quietly signed and issued nine drilling leases that had been purchased in its highly controversial Arctic Refuge lease sale. However, a Biden transition aide noted ([link removed]) , "The outgoing administration cut numerous corners to rush through this lease sale. Under the moratorium that the President-elect is putting in place on Day 1, the Interior Department will fully evaluate the situation, and determine whether the leases signed are valid or not and whether decisions and processes that led up to the lease sale were conducted in conformance with the law."
Quick hits
** In final act, Secretary Bernhardt awards grazing permits to outlaw ranchers who sparked armed Malheur occupation
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Oregonian ([link removed])
** Trump administration formally issues drilling leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
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Associated Press ([link removed])
** Climate change is hitting the Colorado River "incredibly fast and incredibly hard"
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Arizona Republic ([link removed])
** Biden moves quickly to restore environmental safeguards rolled back by Trump
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Washington Post ([link removed]) | Roll Call ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** Court strikes down Trump climate rollback, citing "tortured series of misreadings" of the law
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New York Times ([link removed])
** Flouting Congress, Bernhardt guts wildly popular parks program
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Opinion: Montana lawmakers should support public lands funding
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Flathead Beacon ([link removed])
** Opinion: The radical possibility of Deb Haaland at the Interior Department
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Gizmodo ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Climate change is drying out the headwaters. And everybody in the Colorado River Basin needs to be concerned.”
—Andy Mueller ([link removed]) , Colorado River Water Conservation District
Picture this
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado
Photo by Bob Wick | Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
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