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Public lands pick Stone-Manning fends off objections from Senate Republicans
Republicans on the U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Tuesday grilled public lands nominee Tracy Stone-Manning of Montana about her past opposition to an “energy dominance” agenda, as well as her 2020 support for the Democratic challenger to a GOP senator from her home state who sits on the committee. The sometimes rancorous hearing previewed a […]
Montana’s Stone-Manning wins backing of environmental groups before hearing
Environmental groups are lining up behind President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management prior to her Tuesday confirmation hearing. More than 100 organizations wrote to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, Monday asking that the Senate confirm Tracy Stone-Manning, a Montanan who led conservation and […]
National parks struggling with maintenance would get a boost under Biden budget request
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to correctly reflect a quotation by John Garder which was not properly transcribed. Basic needs at the largest U.S. national parks top the Biden administration’s first proposed lists of projects to receive funding through public lands trust funds, showing how much maintenance is needed even as parks […]
Coming soon to a national park near you: The biggest tourist season ever
Leaders of a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday extolled national parks for providing a respite during the COVID-19 pandemic, but cautioned that enthusiasm for outdoors recreation will create its own problems in this summer’s tourism wave. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent and the chairman of a subcommittee that oversees the U.S. National Park Service, […]
Biden restores provisions of Migratory Bird Treaty
The Interior Department plans to officially revoke a Trump-era rule that loosened enforcement of a longstanding law to protect migratory birds, the department said Thursday. The rule put in place by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt barred government authorities from holding companies liable for environmental violations leading to the deaths of birds protected under the […]
Biden unveils ’30 by ’30’ plan and suggests collaboration with private landowners
The Biden administration plans to broadly define conservation and encourage private landowners to adopt sustainable practices to meet a goal of protecting 30 percent of the land and water in the U.S. by 2030, according to a multi-agency report published Thursday. The recommendations are short of the most aggressive federal directives congressional Republicans feared would be […]
Republicans slam Biden conservation plan as a ‘land grab’
Republicans on the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday previewed their objections to the Biden administration’s still-unreleased plan to conserve 30% of U.S. land and water by 2030. President Joe Biden created what is commonly called the “30 by 30 plan” in a Jan. 27 executive order, but the administration hasn’t released details about how […]
Senate Republicans rip into Biden’s plan on oil and gas leasing
Republicans on the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee excoriated the Biden administration’s pause of new oil and gas leasing at a hearing Tuesday, illustrating the political pressure the administration faces as it reviews federal energy development policy. Under intense questioning from Republicans about the revenue impacts, legality and duration of the leasing pause, […]
Biden officially taps Stone-Manning as public lands chief
The White House said Thursday that President Joe Biden will nominate National Wildlife Federation executive Tracy Stone-Manning of Missoula, Mont., to lead the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Stone-Manning became the senior adviser for conservation policy at the NWF after three years as associate vice president for public lands at the group. She’s also worked […]
Haaland asks for funding to fight climate change, aid Native Americans
In her first congressional hearing as the leader of the Interior Department, Secretary Deb Haaland fielded questions from members of a U.S. House spending panel Tuesday on the major conservation and energy initiatives that President Joe Biden has outlined. She was noncommittal about some contentious and high-profile items of deep interest to Western states, like […]
Congressional panel splits on orphaned gas and oil wells
Members of a U.S. House Natural Resources panel agreed Thursday on the need to clean up and cap abandoned oil and gas wells, but disagreed along party lines about the extent of the federal government’s role in well regulation. The Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee hearing was held to consider a bill introduced by Rep. Teresa […]
Montana’s Stone-Manning tapped to lead BLM
President Joe Biden intends to nominate National Wildlife Federation senior adviser and veteran Montana Democrat Tracy Stone-Manning to direct the Bureau of Land Management, an individual familiar with the process confirmed to States Newsroom Wednesday. Stone-Manning joined the NWF as associate vice president for public lands in 2017 and was promoted to senior adviser for […]