COVID19 is inundating the national news cycle—and it should be. During this global pandemic, people want the latest information about the virus and how to best protect themselves and those around them. It can be hard to consider attacks on the environment when many are working at the front lines of the epidemic, have lost jobs or income, or are experiencing the sudden responsibility of caring for family members.

While we adapt to this new “normal”, the government is still chugging along making decisions that affect our public lands and waters. 

Recently, we’ve witnessed some issues that gave us pause for concern. During a time of media overload, government officials are working without the same level of public scrutiny, and some appear to be exploiting this opportunity.

In a time of national crisis, the government should press pause on all non-essential activities, just like the rest of us. But over the past few weeks we’ve observed government officials loosening regulations on polluters, pushing anti-environmental rule makings without sufficient public engagement, making final decisions on land use plans, and even hosting lease sales of oil, gas, and coal on public lands.

All government efforts should be focused on the current crisis and ensuring that every American is supported throughout. 

While many members of Congress have called for a halt to actions such as the proposed changes to the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act, the administration seems to be pushing their “energy dominance” agenda forward. This may have to do with fast approaching deadlines imposed by the Congressional Review Act, a law that could allow the next administration to erase any rule or regulation implemented later this year. 

The American Alpine Club has put our outdoor endeavors on hold temporarily, but we’re still keeping an eye on what’s happening behind the scenes. We want to distill some of what we’ve seen to catch you up to speed.

ISSUES TO HAVE ON YOUR RADAR

Suspect candidates continue being placed in high-ranking land management positions

Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhardt—a former lobbyist for oil, gas, and agricultural industries–is in charge of managing 700 million acres of American public lands. Among his many responsibilities are to oversee public land managers at agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) where in January, he extended the tenure of Director to a person who expressed anti-public lands ideology in the past and was not formally confirmed by the typical process in the Senate. Most recently, Bernhardt appointed Edward Keable, a longtime associate of Bernhardt’s, to oversee Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) as Superintendent. Keable’s lack of formal experience within the National Park Service (NPS) is concerning at a time when the GCNP faces continued threats of uranium mining and a controversial development project on the Park’s iconic South Rim—a project that Bernhardt’s old lobbying firm strongly supports. Not only does this appointment take the opportunity away from qualified NPS career employees, but it yet again demonstrates the current administration's lack of commitment to protecting public lands by undermining leadership positions at land management agencies.

National Park Fees were waived before more than half of Parks close their gates

While many National Parks and other public lands have since decided to shut their gates in order to maintain social distancing orders, protect their staff, and reduce crowding—a responsible move that should be commended—Secretary Bernhardt’s initial response to the COVID pandemic was to waive all national parks fees and leave the parks open. Similar to the government shutdown of 2019, National Parks were inundated with visitors ready to explore the nation’s public lands. Typically, these visitation numbers and new visitor groups would be celebrated. However, risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus amongst park employees and gateway communities led many towns and counties to request the closure of their nearby public lands. At this point more than half of the 62 National Parks have closed their gates to the public.

The EPA is loosening its hold on critical environmental standards

The EPA decided to suspend enforcement on various environmental laws allowing companies to not satisfy important health and environmental standards during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the policy change is temporary, and the “EPA will assess the continued need for and scope of this temporary policy on a regular basis”, there is no end date in sight as the pandemic presses on. Vague language encouraging entities to “make every effort to comply with environmental compliance obligations” amounts essentially to a massive hall pass for dirty corporations who are no longer required by the EPA to monitor their pollution. Without clear understanding on when the COVID pandemic will end, it is highly irresponsible for the EPA to allow industry to utilize the pandemic as a free pass.

Agency rulemaking charges forward amidst calls from Congress to stop

New research from the Center for Western Priorities found that the Interior Department executed 57 separate policy actions unrelated to COVID-19, occurring after President Trump signed the first emergency Coronavirus bill on March 6th. Many of these decisions resulted in the expansion of oil and gas leases, removal of protections for wildlife, or increased mining operations across the country. Despite numerous requests from members of Congress and State officials for Secretary Bernhardt to suspend rulemakings during the pandemic, it appears the Interior has opted to push through policy with limited public input. Americans should not be required to find and comment on rulemakings when they are experiencing such upheaval in their daily lives. 

CEQ and USFS continue to chip away at NEPA

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), widely regarded as the “Magna Carta” of environmental law, has been under relentless attack over the past year. You may recall this past summer the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) was considering sweeping changes to how it implements NEPA that would drastically limit engagement on up to 93% of USFS projects. More recently, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is attempting to rewrite the rules that implement NEPA. The proposed rule would drastically restrict public engagement in future environmental analysis, limit the scope of environmental reviews, and cut out important tools for combating climate change. Both the USFS and CEQ are working through their revisions now, and the AAC and our partners are keeping a close eye on their progress. It’s important to stay vigilant at times when the Federal government seems to be limiting important checks and balances.

SOME GOOD NEWS

Okay, that was heavy and we get there’s no absence of stress inducing news right now. So, to leave things on a high-note, here are a couple golden nuggets to celebrate.

The Great American Outdoors Act gets a look

You may recall back in early March (what feels like a lifetime ago) when the President called on Congress to fund public lands, kicking off a bi-partisan package called The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). The bill includes all sorts of good things that we, and out partners at the Outdoor Alliance, have been advocating for. Things like permanent funding for the LWCF and addressing maintenance backlogs on public lands through the Restore our Parks Act. Congress is rightly focused on addressing the coronavirus response but at some point in the future, they’ll turn their attention to infrastructure bills like GAOA to help the country rebuild. In the meantime, you can learn more about GAOA and write your lawmakers in support of the package. Expect to hear more from us on this package soon.

The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day is around the corner

While the typical celebrations and rallies for Earth Day won't be happening in person this year, many organizations are bringing their efforts online. Check out the Digital Earth Day events happening all over the globe! The first earth day in 1970 was propagated due to poor air and water quality across the country (not to mention that some rivers were literally on fire!). Due to the incredible advocacy of people at all levels of government, our nation has made incredible strides in environmental conservation. Take a moment to celebrate our progress as environmental advocates on April 22.