Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Understaffed federal agencies are a challenge for new climate law
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Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters. Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])
President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate agenda ([link removed]) may be difficult to implement in part due to a chronic shortage of federal workers and threats to cut spending.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently signed onto a plan to try to roll back discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels, which would mean a cut of about $130 billion from current spending levels. The threat of a funding cut, in addition to the existing staff shortage, will make it challenging for federal agencies to implement the new climate laws that passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. While these attempts to defund the IRA are unlikely to succeed ([link removed]) , the attempted undermining could impede the short-staffed agencies that are tasked with enforcing the new laws.
While both the IRA and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included funding for more federal workers, hiring is stalled at some agencies. “The American people think there’s an environmental cop on the beat, and there isn’t," said Judith Enck ([link removed]) , a former EPA regional administrator. In the Interior Department, the staff number has been flat since 2021. While the EPA's staff has grown about 3 percent under the Biden administration, it still has 18 percent fewer employees than it had in 1999 ([link removed]) .
If spending were rolled back to 2022 levels, then “obviously the [climate] law will not be able to be carried out,” said Jacqueline Simon ([link removed]) , policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, “It’s just dollars and cents.”
** Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, Joshua Tree National Park sign co-stewardship agreement
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A signing ceremony was held this week ([link removed]) to formalize the collaboration between Joshua Tree National Park and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. This agreement will enable the park and the tribe to collaborate on interpretive and educational services, natural and cultural history training, search and rescue and wildland fire operations, and other projects in the park. They will also work together to build a new trail connection between the park and the nearby reservation.
"I think this agreement is a first step at rebuilding some of the trust that friends and neighbors should have. We have a long and tremendous way to go. But we have a shared mission with the tribe, we believe in these spaces, we believe these cultural resources are all important, and we believe in the landscape of the California desert," said Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David A. Smith ([link removed]) .
Quick hits
** How dark money groups led Ohio to redefine gas as ‘green energy’
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Opinion: Follow Biden’s lead and protect Oregon’s old-growth on national public lands
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Oregonian ([link removed])
** A risk to Biden's climate law: Depleted agencies
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Major prairie dog die-off had consequences for other wildlife
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Colorado community warns federal, state officials they are ready to fight plans for a state park
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** New Mexico wildfires prompt bill to ban spring burns
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E&E News ([link removed])
** To make wildlife crossings work, design for specific species
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KTLA ([link removed])
** New Mexico environmental, industry groups debate federal oil and gas reforms
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” What the emails reveal is just how closely Ohio lawmakers coordinated with a natural gas industry group on the new law that misleadingly defines methane gas as green energy, as the first step of a plan to introduce similar legislation in multiple states.”
—Dave Anderson ([link removed]) , policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute
Picture this
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** @BLMca ([link removed])
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🌻🎉 Happy 22nd Anniversary to the beautiful Carrizo Plain National Monument! This NM is one of the best-kept secrets in CA. Go visit one of #yourpubliclands ([link removed]) and see it for yourself. 🏞️
More info - [link removed] ([link removed])
#newyearnewadventure ([link removed]) #outdoorsforall ([link removed])
📸 Bob Wick, BLM
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