Senators Introduce First-of-its-Kind Legislation To Clean Up Abandoned Hadrock Mines
On July 14, the bipartisan group introduced an amendment to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s infrastructure package that would create a first-of-its-kind $3 billion abandoned hardrock mine reclamation program at the Department of the Interior. If signed into law, the proposal would help modernize the nation’s outdated hardrock mining laws and signal a renewed commitment to accelerate cleanup of contaminated sites across the West.
ConservAmerica welcomes the introduction of the bipartisan grant proposal and hopes its passage will signal a renewed commitment to reclaim lands and water polluted by legacy hardrock mining.
Read More
Administration, Congress should seize opportunity to make smart investments in infrastructure
As the Biden administration steps up its push to advance a sweeping infrastructure plan, members of Congress are considering ways to make the package bipartisan. For Republicans, that means addressing America’s long-neglected infrastructure without hamstringing the economic recovery and leaving future generations burdened with debt.
Read More
Biden should end pause on new oil and gas leases on federal lands
Like every newly elected president, Joe Biden entered office by issuing a flurry of executive orders. In one of them, a Jan. 27 executive order titled, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” Biden instructed the Interior Department to “pause” all new leases on federal lands and waters pending a comprehensive review of the program.
But now that we are past the 100-day mark of his presidency and the pause has been extended without any firm timetable for resolution, it’s time to take a hard look at Biden’s actions.
Read More
ConservAmerica Submits Supreme Court Filing in Government of Guam v. U.S. Case
WASHINGTON, DC – ConservAmerica today submitted a “friend of the court” brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Guam v. United States arguing in favor of the plaintiff’s efforts to get the U.S. government to pay for the $160 million clean up of a landfill that originated as a Navy waste disposal site.
At issue in the case is whether the U.S. government should be held liable for the cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
Read More
Report Highlights Importance of Policy Neutrality in Decarbonizing Transportation Sector
WASHINGTON, DC – A new ConservAmerica review of existing scientific research of the various options available for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector urges policymakers to take into account the full emissions lifecycle of those technologies before setting policy in a rapidly developing market.
The report, Slow Down: The Case for Technology Neutral Transportation Policy, looks at a cross-section of credible studies, including ones from MIT and the International Energy Agency, on the environmental impacts of different low-carbon vehicle technologies over their entire lifecycle a perspective often overlooked by policymakers. While each study is unique, they collectively demonstrate the importance of taking a technology-neutral approach in setting transportation policies to obtain the most efficient reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Read More
Andy Sabin: The conservative case against developing Alaska's Pebble Mine
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers this week warned that the proposed Pebble project — a vast gold and copper mine near the headwaters of Alaska's Bristol Bay — was impossible to build without causing significant damage to the region's pristine waters and salmon fishery.
The Corps stopped short of halting the mine but found the developer, the Pebble Limited Partnership, was unlikely to meet the level of mitigation that would be required under the Clean Water Act to offset the impact on wetlands.
The Trump administration has now done what the previous administration would not — it gave the proposed Pebble project full consideration under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). While the previous administration pre-judged the project with an unprecedented preemptive veto, the Trump U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and all cooperating agencies have given it a full review.
Read More
No better time to modernize America's energy infrastructure
ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer co-authored an op-ed in The Hill with Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions Executive Director Heather Reams discussing clean energy jobs losses due to COVID-19. They wrote that that legislation including America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act and the American Energy Innovation Act could help spur economic recovery and rebuild the sector’s workforce.
Read More
Applying the Lessons of Crisis Mitigation from Coronavirus to Natural Disasters
At a time when our nation is in the midst of a global pandemic, Americans can’t afford for another disaster to strike. The effects of natural catastrophes are no secret – we’ve seen the impacts of last year’s California wildfires and the intensifying hurricanes that regularly plague the southeast coasts. What we have yet to experience, however, are how to manage disaster relief efforts look like while simultaneously fighting a global health pandemic.
Read More
Brent Fewell: Rural America as Committed to Environmental Issues as Urban Areas
Following a short and disappointing presidential campaign, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s star is fading in the Democrat Party. But his sound bites that resurfaced during the race may leave a lasting impression with general election voters, and one in particular could haunt Democrats in states with large rural populations.
Read More
