GAO May Weigh in on Zinke’s Temporary Filling of Political Positions
From: Federal News Radio “In February, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility urged Interior’s Office of the Inspector General to look into what it considered “blatant violations” of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. More specifically, PEER took issue with the agency’s ...
Navy’s Hunters Point Retesting Plan Draws on Questionable Cost-Cutting Study
From: San Francisco Chronicle “The U.S. Navy’s latest promise to clean up radioactive soil and buildings at its former San Francisco shipyard relies on an earlier Navy effort to remove less radioactivity in order to cut costs, The Chronicle has learned. The perplexing move has ...
The EPA Can’t Stop Polluters When the Trump Administration Cuts Enforcement Staff
From: Union of Concerned Scientists “n addition to reductions in staff focused on pollution prevention, it also means reductions in staff for those who work on environmental cleanup, such as at Superfund sites. There is also a critically low number of criminal investigators working for ...
Zinke Yields to States on Fish and Wildlife
From: Greenwire “Individual states will wield more clout over fish and wildlife on about 780,000 square miles of Interior Department land nationwide under a new policy outlined by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. In a move that’s welcomed by Western conservatives but worries ...
Court Challenges May Loom for ‘Acting’ Decisions
From: Greenwire “The Government Accountability Office appears to have punted on determining the legality of certain actions taken by temporary Interior Department appointees. So federal judges will now get the ball, with some high-stakes decisions potentially on the line. “The ...
Interior Deferring to States, Reviewing Fish, Wildlife Protections
From: Natural Gas Intel “Zinke’s plans for the review were outlined in a two-page memo posted Tuesday by the nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Although the memo doesn’t specifically mention the greater sage grouse or the lesser prairie ...
