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Read Between the Lines

Jun 6

Posted by admin in Agenda 30/30, Government Overreach, Green Agenda | No Comments

Read between the lines. Government double-speak is a malarkey-mix of give and take, take and take. They tax productive American businesses $2.5 billion dollars, hire 20,000 new government employees and brag about the $2.5 going back into the economy as they purchase more private land to “protect” it. Every day there is a new move toward the 50×50 program for the government to own 50% of the US land mass by 2050. Obviously this is easy to understand as simple old “hard line communism.” The government wants control of all food producing land.

Ag and Interior Departments Invest $2.8 Billion to Protect Public Lands, Support Conservation Efforts

Historic investments from Great American Outdoors Act will support more than 20,000 jobs and contribute more than $2.5 billion to the economy

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U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Public domain)

“The Great American Outdoors Act has enabled the Forest Service to begin to address our $8.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog, and we’re motivated by the impact these funded projects are having across urban and rural communities near our national forests and grasslands,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These investments in Forest Service infrastructure – including wildland firefighter and employee housing, recreation facilities, roads and trails – demonstrate the agency’s commitment to caring for the land and serving people.” (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Public domain)

WASHINGTON — The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior announced a proposed investment of $2.8 billion in fiscal year 2025 through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) to protect and sustain our public lands and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools. Proposed projects will occur in all 50 U.S. states, Washington D.C., and multiple U.S. territories.

In August 2020, GAOA established the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF), authorizing up to $1.9 billion per year from fiscal year 2021 through 2025. GAOA LRF funding addresses overdue maintenance needs for critical facilities and infrastructure in our national parks and forests, national wildlife refuges, recreation areas, and BIE-funded schools. GAOA also provides permanent, full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) at $900 million annually to secure public access and improve recreation opportunities on public lands, protect watersheds and wildlife, and preserve ecosystem benefits for local communities.

Investments from GAOA work in concert with President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to strengthen our nation’s infrastructure and prepare it to meet future needs. These investments are an important part of enabling equitable access to the outdoors and meeting the commitments outlined in the America the Beautiful initiative, which is supporting locally led efforts to restore and conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

“The Great American Outdoors Act has enabled the Forest Service to begin to address our $8.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog, and we’re motivated by the impact these funded projects are having across urban and rural communities near our national forests and grasslands,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “These investments in Forest Service infrastructure – including wildland firefighter and employee housing, recreation facilities, roads and trails – demonstrate the agency’s commitment to caring for the land and serving people.”

“Addressing the long-delayed maintenance needs of the nation’s aging infrastructure allows safe and equitable access to our outdoor spaces, creates new jobs, and preserves our natural heritage. I was a proud champion of this proposal when I served in Congress, and it has been my honor to see the value it has created through the law’s implementation,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “Working together with state, local and Tribal governments, we are committed to ensuring that every child, family and community has access to nature and its benefits.”

National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF)

For fiscal year 2025, the Department of the Interior has proposed 83 GAOA LRF projects and the Department of Agriculture has proposed 89 bundled GAOA LRF projects across all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories to improve recreation facilities, water and utility infrastructure, BIE-funded schools, historic structures and other essential infrastructure. For the first time, the Interior Department will invest in all 50 states in a single funding year, helping ensure that the impact of GAOA LRF is felt across the country.

In total, these projects will support more than 20,000 jobs and contribute more than $2.5 billion to the economy. Economic contributions from GAOA LRF are far-reaching, as projects take place in urban, suburban, and rural areas across the U.S. and its territories.

GAOA LRF continues to serve as a critical funding source to make major investments that are normally out of reach with annual funding. GAOA’s LRF funding sunsets after fiscal year 2025 and would need to be reauthorized by Congress to continue the efforts underway to address significant infrastructure needs across public lands and BIE-funded schools.

Interior’s GAOA project page and Agriculture’s GAOA story map demonstrate the difference these projects are having on local communities by improving access and outdoor recreation opportunities across public lands.

Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)

The fiscal year 2025 budget allocates $900 million for LWCF projects and programs managed by the Departments of the Interior and USDA Forest Service. This includes $437 million for federal land acquisition programs and projects, $455 million for state and local grants, and $8 million for a first-ever Tribal LWCF program.

The Department of the Interior will allocate $681.9 million for its mandatory funded LWCF programs, which includes $313 million for land acquisition. Land acquisition projects acquire critical lands or easements from willing sellers to protect at-risk natural, cultural, or historic resources including critical habitats and migration corridors, and increase access to outdoor recreation. The Interior Department will also invest more than $160 million to fund 48 projects in as many as 30 states across the country, in addition to smaller recreation access projects.

An additional $360.8 million for Interior’s LWCF grant programs will support locally driven state and local conservation and outdoor recreation, including through National Park Service formula grants and Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program (ORLP) grants. The ORLP enables urban communities to create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors in disadvantaged communities.

In 2025, the Interior Department proposes $8 million to establish a new Tribal LWCF Land Acquisition program. The program will enable Tribes to directly participate in the LWCF for the first time to acquire lands for natural and cultural resource conservation and recreation access. The program will award funds for Tribal land acquisition projects consistent with the purposes of the LWCF and other program criteria.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the USDA Forest Service proposes $94.2 million to fund 13 Forest Legacy Program projects and $124 million to fund 16 Land Acquisition Program projects for recreation access and other needs.

These efforts advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by under investment and overburdened by pollution.

–USDA

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Biden Restricts New Oil and Gas Leasing on 13 Million Acres of Alaskan Land

Apr 20

Posted by admin in Agenda 30/30, Government Overreach, Green Agenda | No Comments

‘When you take off access to our resources … this is the energy insecurity that we’re talking about,’ Rep. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said.

Biden Restricts New Oil and Gas Leasing on 13 Million Acres of Alaskan Land

Fish Creek through the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, managed by the Bureau of Land Management on Alaska’s North Slope, on July 8, 2004. (David W. Houseknecht/United States Geological Survey via AP)

The Biden administration took action on Friday to restrict new oil and gas drilling on more than 13 million acres of land in the western Arctic region.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced the publication of a final rule on Friday, limiting future oil and gas leasing and industrial development in the Teshekpuk Lake, Utukok Uplands, Colville River, Kasegaluk Lagoon, and Peard Bay Special Areas. Together, these areas cover around 13.3 million acres of land in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (NPR-A).

The Interior Department said these areas of Alaska are known for significant globally significant wildlife habitats, including those of grizzly and polar bears, caribou, and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds.

“Alaska’s majestic and rugged lands and waters are among the most remarkable and healthy landscapes in the world, sustaining a vibrant subsistence economy for Alaska Native communities,” President Joe Biden said Friday. “These natural wonders demand our protection. I am proud that my Administration is taking action to conserve more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic and to honor the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial.”

The new rule doesn’t necessarily change the terms for existing leases in the NPR-A or affect currently authorized operations. Instead, the rule specifies these areas are generally closed to new leasing and infrastructure projects.

The rule provides exceptions, including allowing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to permit new leasing and infrastructure in cases where an existing well may be draining an otherwise restricted Federal or Indian oil or gas resource. Another exception allows BLM to approve new roads, pipelines, and transmission lines if they deem these projects will benefit local communities and include measures that assure maximum resource protection. BLM may also allow for new infrastructure if they deem it “essential for exploration or development activities” and “no practicable alternatives exist” that would have less adverse impacts on the local environment.

Today’s historic actions to protect lands and waters in the western Arctic will ensure continued subsistence use by Alaska Native communities while conserving these special places for future generations,” said John Podesta, the Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy.

With this latest rule announcement, Mr. Podesta credited the Biden administration with extending protections over 41 million acres of lands and waterways across the United States in his presidency, “leaving a huge mark on the history of American conservation.”

New Rule Follows Contentious Willow Project Approval

The new restrictions on oil and gas extraction operations in the NPR-A come just over a year after the Biden administration approved a scaled-back version of a new drilling operation, proposed by ConocoPhillips, dubbed the Willow Project.

ConocoPhillips had acquired the leases for the Willow Project in the 1990s and had sought for years to begin drilling. In their scaled-back approval, the Biden administration allowed three of the five proposed drilling pads to proceed, while ConocoPhillips relinquished 68,000 acres of its NPR-A leases and abandoned infrastructure development plans for the two canceled drilling pads that would have included 11 miles of roads, 20 miles of pipelines, and 133 acres of gravel.

The decision to approve the scaled-back Willow Project drew criticism from environmental activists.

Abbie Dillen, president of environmental group Earthjustice, said the Willow Project’s approval “hands over one the most fragile, intact ecosystems in the world to ConocoPhillips.”

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass) called the Biden administration’s decision an “environmental injustice” that “leaves an oil stain on the administration’s climate accomplishments and the president’s commitment not to permit new oil and gas drilling on federal land.”

Though this new rule does not reverse the earlier decision to approve the Willow Project, environmental groups applauded the latest move.

“We applaud the Biden Administration for this important step to increase protections for 13 million acres of the Western Arctic to safeguard the irreplaceable ecosystems and wildlife found there,” Ms. Dillen said Friday.

Earthjustice still said more action is needed “to ensure that the oil industry does not cause further damage to the Reserve.” In a Friday press statement, the group noted ongoing litigation challenging the Willow Project’s approval.

“For more than a year, millions of people called on President Biden and his administration to stop the extraction on these lands – extraction that every year drives us closer to climate catastrophe,” Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said of the new rule. “Thankfully, the Biden administration listened.”The new limits on oil and gas leasing in the NPR-A come a week after the Interior Department announced it had raised fees associated with operating oil and gas leases throughout the country.

Alaska Senators Rebuke New Ruling

A group of Republican lawmakers, led by Alaska Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, spoke out on Thursday evening ahead of Friday’s announcement. The lawmakers accused the Biden administration of hindering U.S. energy independence and making the United States more reliant on oil from adversary countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.

“When you take off access to our resources, when you say you cannot drill, you cannot produce, you cannot explore, you cannot move it—this is the energy insecurity that we’re talking about,” Ms. Murskowski said.

Mr. Sullivan called the new decision a “clearly illegal” attack on Alaska’s economic engine. Mr. Sullivan also challenged assertions coming through the Biden administration that the new actions were being taken with Alaskan Native communities in mind.

“Joe Biden is lying. The elected Alaska Native leaders who live in the area vehemently oppose this rule on NPR-A,” Mr. Sullivan said in a Friday social media post.

The American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC), a trade association for the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry, also condemned the new rules.

“AXPC companies support and encourage proper land management and conservation, but this latest rule is inconsistent with and outside the bounds of BLM’s statutory authority, and is part of the Biden administration’s playbook to restrict American energy production,” AXPC CEO Anne Bradbury said Friday.

Ms. Bradbury argued the new rule oversteps the authority given to the BLM under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the Mineral Leasing Act, and said AXPC is evaluating its next possible steps to challenge the rule.

Source: https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/biden-restricts-new-oil-and-gas-leasing-on-13-million-acres-of-alaskan-land-5632967

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