The Rundown
- Federal agencies remove web sites for environmental justice, USAID water work.
House passes a ban on presidential fracking bans. - House committees will hold hearings on Clean Water Act permitting, Rio Grande water, and USAID.
Southwestern states see little snow this winter.
And lastly, a federal district judge rules that the Council on Environmental Quality does not have authority to issue regulations.
“The truth is that for the past forty years all three branches of government operated under the erroneous assumption that CEQ had authority. But now everyone knows the state of the emperor’s clothing and it is something we cannot unsee.” – Daniel Traynor, a U.S. district judge in North Dakota, who ruled that the Council on Environmental Quality doesn’t have the statutory authority to issue regulations on environmental reviews, unless Congress grants it, Reuters reports. CEQ operates under the executive branch and traditionally oversees environmental reviews, which were required of major federal projects by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
By the Numbers
20 Percent: Share of the EPA Region 5 staff that the Trump administration is looking to cut, according to the Chicago Tribune. Region 5 covers the Great Lakes states, including Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
News Briefs
Websites Down
Federal agencies continue to remove websites related to climate, water, and environment.
As part of its attempt to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Trump administration has taken down globalwaters.org, which hosted USAID’s water and sanitation work.
President Trump, in executive orders and agency action, has also targeted programs related to environmental justice – the idea that pollution is unequal and frequently is highest in poor and marginalized areas.
Federal agencies have taken down environmental justice monitoring tools. EJ Screen, an EPA tool for identifying communities with high pollution burdens, is not working. Neither are the CDC’s Environmental Justice Index and Social Vulnerability Index. These incorporated measures of health and environmental justice.
In context: USAID Shutdown Causes Global Alarm in International Water and Climate Programs
Fracking Bill
The House passed a bill that would prohibit the president from declaring a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing. It was one of several bills put on the fast track for the new Congress.
Studies and Reports
Snow Drought in the Southwest
Snow levels in Arizona and New Mexico are abysmal, according to measurements from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Snowpack statewide in Arizona is 12 percent of median; in New Mexico, 28 percent.
Circumstances are better farther north, but especially in southern Oregon and northern California. The Klamath basin is 168 percent of median.
On the Radar
House Hearings
On February 11, a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee will hold a hearing on Clean Water Act permitting as it relates to infrastructure development.
On February 12, the House Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing to learn about Rio Grande water supply and the treaty that governs Mexico’s water deliveries from the basin. Witnesses are three agents from Texas farm organizations and Rep. Monica Da La Cruz, who represents a district in southern Texas.
On February 13, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on USAID – on what the committee is calling the agency’s “betrayal.”
Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.