7 Environmental Key Areas To Watch As Shitstain's Misadminstration Stumbles Into 2019
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The Land and Water Conservation Fund
There has traditionally been longstanding bipartisan support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). But this year has seen a political fight over re-funding it — and that’s likely to continue into the new year. The fund takes royalties from offshore fossil fuel drilling and uses them to pay for national conservation and related efforts, including parks and playgrounds. But the fund expired in September and congressional fighting has prevented its renewal, much to the consternation of advocacy groups, along with many lawmakers.
End-of-year funding didn’t bring any relief, either, with Republicans failing this week to include the LWCF in their final 2018 legislation after Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) torpedoed efforts to save the fund.
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Offshore drilling
Oil and gas exploration and drilling has been among the most controversial of the Trump administration’s goals. Under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who will resign at the end of the year, the government has pushed to open up virtually all federal waters to drilling. That move has seen virtually unanimous bipartisan opposition. It was initially opposed by all but one East Coast governor, Maine’s Paul LePage (R), but he has now been replaced by an offshore drilling opponent. All West Coast governors are in opposition to drilling as well. The outcry resulted in Florida being granted a mysterious exception by Zinke, something other states have angrily pointed to in asking for their own exemptions. New Jersey has sought documents from the Interior Department over that move and said Thursday that the information is now being turned over.
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National parks and monuments
In a move resoundingly condemned by conservation advocates, the Trump administration used the Antiquities Act to enact the largest reduction of public lands in U.S. history in 2017, shrinking both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. That decision will be a central point of focus next year when Grijalva takes the reigns of the Natural Resources Committee. The Arizona Democrat told ThinkProgress in November that he plans to look closely at the Trump administration’s decision to shrink the Utah areas. Scrutiny will likely fall on stakeholders who stood to benefit from the decision, including fossil fuel companies and one Utah Republican with ties to Trump.
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Bailing out failing coal plants
U.S. coal consumption is at its lowest rate in 40 years, but that hasn’t deterred the White House’s efforts to revive the dying industry — even though its own calculations show no new coal plants are being planned. In June, Trump instructed the Department of Energy (DOE) to look into bailing out both coal and nuclear plants at risk of retirement, despite no indicator of a looming electrical grid emergency. Opposition to that proposal has run deep, but next year could change that. Bernard McNamee, the newest member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), has historically supported fossil fuels and worked on Trump’s bailout proposal. FERC denied DOE’s proposal in January, but with McNamee on the commission opponents are concerned the bailout could be approved.
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https://thinkprogress.org/trump-climate-environment-policies-rollback-2019-cc172d4817e7/