In an Executive Order on “Protecting the Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis” issued today, President Biden directed federal entities to (1) immediately review (and where appropriate, take action to address) federal actions taken in the last 4 years that conflict with national objectives surrounding science-based decisions, improving public health and environmental protection, ensuring access to clean air and water, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, bolstering resilience to climate change, restoring and expanding national treasures and monuments, and prioritizing environmental justice and well-paying union jobs; and (2) immediately begin work to “confront the climate crisis.”
Among other things, the Executive Order directs the Interior Secretary to conduct a review of the June 2020 Presidential Proclamation removing the prohibition on commercial fishing within the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in order to determine whether the prohibition should be restored. The Interior Secretary is to submit a report to the President within 60 days of the Executive Order summarizing the review findings and providing recommendations for action.
Additionally, the Executive Order reinstates a December 2016 Presidential Memorandum and Executive Order that will result in the indefinite withdrawal from new oil and gas leasing of the entire Chukchi Sea, nearly the entire Beaufort Sea, and 40,300 square miles offshore Alaska (North Basin Planning Area and certain lease blocks in the St. Matthew-Hall Planning Area), as well as the reinstatement of the 112,300 square mile Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area. The 2016 Presidential Memorandum and Executive Order had respectively been amended and revoked in 2017.
As to the review of actions taken over the last 4 years to determine consistency with new national objectives, agency heads must submit a preliminary list of actions being considered that would be completed by the end of 2021, and within 90 days must submit such a list for any such actions that would be completed by the end of 2025. In carrying out the Executive Order, agency heads are directed to seek input from the public and stakeholders.
A non-exhaustive list of agency actions that will be reviewed includes the following:
- Jan. 2021 NMFS final rule authorizing the unintentional take of marine mammals incidental to oil and gas-related geophysical surveys in federal waters in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico
- Jan. 2021 USFWS final rule defining the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to clarify that the law’s prohibitions on pursuing, hunting, taking, capturing, killing, or attempting to do the same apply only to actions directed at migratory birds, their nests, or their eggs. only applies to conduct intentionally injuring birds
- Dec. 2020 NMFS/USFWS final rule adding a definition of “habitat” to the Endangered Species Act implementing regulations related to critical habitat designations
- Dec. 2020 USFWS final rule amending Endangered Species Act regulations to establish a process for excluding areas of critical habitat
- Aug. 2019 USFWS/NMFS final rule related to the addition and removal of species from Endangered Species Act protections, designation of critical habitat, and consultations with federal agencies
- Aug. 2019 USFWS/NMFS final rule clarifying the Endangered Species Act federal interagency consultation process, codifying alternative consultation mechanisms, and establishing a deadline for informal consultations
- May 2019 BSEE final rule making revisions and additions to the 2016 well control rule
