January 7, 2015
National Water Resources Association
Daily Report
114th Congress Officially Underway
Yesterday at noon both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of
Representatives convened, officially starting the first session of
the 114th Congress. The first day of session is largely
ceremonial and features the swearing in of freshmen, or new,
members of Congress. Thirteen new Senators were sworn in as
well as sixty new Members of the House of
Representatives. Activity in the House of Representatives also
saw the re-election of John Boehner as Speaker of the House.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi will continue to serve as Minority
Leader in the House during the 114th Congress. In the United
States Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will serve as Majority
Leader and Harry Reid of Nevada will serve as Minority Leader.
Coming days will also see additional organizational meetings take
place as congressional and committee leadership meet to firm up
committee assignments and discuss their agendas for the next
two years. Natural resource issues stand to play an important
role in the 114th Congress. The National Water Resources
Association (NWRA) is poised to lead on water related issues and
its members are ready to work with their congressional
representatives to ensure that the voice of water users is heard
in the 114th Congress. NWRA has already begun reaching out to
key committees and newly elected Members of Congress in this
effort.
NWRA
Leadership Forum
Monte Carlo Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
January 13-14, 2015
Upcoming NWRA
Meetings:
Leadership Forum January 13-14, 2015,
Monte Carlo, Las Vegas,
Nevada
Federal Water Issues
Conference - April 13-15,
2015, Washington Court
Hotel, Washington, DC
Western Water Seminar
- August 4-6, 2015, Hyatt
Regency Monterey,
Monterey, California
84th Annual Conference
- November 4-6, 2015,
Westin Denver Hotel,
Denver, Colorado
Upcoming Member
Meetings:
2015
January 6-8, The 40th
Annual Meeting of the
Groundwater
Management District
Association, Scottsdale,
AZ
January 21-22, Idaho
Water Users Association
Annual Convention,
Boise, ID
January 28-30, Colorado
Water Congress Annual
Convention, Denver, CO
February 3-5, Texas
Water Conservation
Association 11th Annual
Texas Water Day,
Washington, DC
Registration NOW OPEN
More information on NWRA website HERE.
In This Issue
PESTICIDES:...EPA used industry model for insecticide risk assessment -- green
groups
SENATE:...EPW Republicans set meeting to discuss priorities
February 19-20, Family
Farm Alliance Annual
Meeting & Conference,
Las Vegas, NV
February 25-26,
Association of California
Water Agencies
Washington Conference,
Washington, DC
March 4-6, Texas Water
Conservation
Association Annual
Convention, Austin, TX
HOUSE:...GOP passes rules package for 114th Congress changing cost analysis
INTERIOR:...Jewell orders unified strategy to combat Great Basin fire
Stay Connected
AGRICULTURE:...Vilsack promotes conservation agenda to mark U.N. soil
initiative
TRANSPORTATION:...White House remains cool to gas tax hike
Join Our Mailing List
FORESTS:...Judges deny enviro bid to stop federal thinning project
KANSAS:...Lawmakers peg water issues as priority in 2015
INVASIVE SPECIES:...Scientists launch app to battle pests
Forward to a Friend
PEOPLE:...Staff shuffles abound across energy, enviro committees
FOREST SERVICE:...Agency retreats from contentious $10M 'branding' initiative
Bill Gates wants to turn poop into drinking water
Drought: California water use down 10%, still short of target
Capitol Hill Californians will push for drought legislation again
2015 Montana State Water Plan released
PESTICIDES:
EPA used industry model for insecticide risk assessment -- green groups
Tiffany Stecker, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Environmental groups that have long sought to ban the insecticide chlorpyrifos say U.S. EPA's updated
assessment of the chemical uses an industry model that underestimates potential effects on children.
The risk assessment released yesterday, an update to a 2011 assessment, uses a pharmacokineticpharmacodynamic (PBPK-PD) model developed by Dow Chemical Co., said advocacy groups Natural Resources
Defense Council and Pesticide Action Network and legal group Earthjustice yesterday. The model, which uses
weight and metabolism to assess health risks to the pesticide, resulted in EPA's lowering of the additional risk
factor for children from a factor of 10 to a factor of 4.
The groups link chlorpyrifos to neurological impairment, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism.
The reliance on weight underestimates the risk to children, said Patti Goldman, managing attorney with
Earthjustice.
"Children aren't just little adults," said Goldman. "It's not just their body size and weight, but the different life stages
they're at ... especially in utero."
Chlorpyrifos, which is distributed by Dow, is used to kill mosquitoes and agricultural pests. In 2000, EPA banned
most household uses of chlorpyrifos and later prevented the use of the chemical on tomatoes and restricted its use
on fruit and nut trees. In 2012, the agency instituted no-spray buffer zones around public spaces. The risk
assessment released yesterday suggests that additional restrictions on the chemical may be instituted as EPA
reviews the registration (E&ENews PM, Jan. 5).
In 2007, NRDC and PAN petitioned EPA to ban the chlorpyrifos. Earthjustice has represented the groups in
litigation.
EPA maintains the tenfold risk factor, which is used by the agency to assess an appropriate limit for pesticide
exposure in cases of high uncertainty, for pregnant women.
Dow AgroSciences, which is owned by Dow Chemical, stood behind the use of its model, as did EPA.
"We consider the PBPK model state-of-the-art, and the animal studies show mode of action and cause and effect
while the epidemiology studies show correlation, at best," said Garry Hamlin, a spokesman for Dow Agrosciences,
in an email.
"EPA reviews information from all kinds of sources -- pesticide companies, other governments, academia and the
published scientific literature," said EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Colaizzi in an email.
Goldman expects a response to the 2007 petition this month.
Reprinted from Greenwire with permission from Environment & Energy
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SENATE:
EPW Republicans set meeting to discuss priorities
Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plan to meet this morning to discuss
priorities for Congress, incoming Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said yesterday.
Inhofe did not give any specifics about what issues the new majority would tackle this year, but suggested that the
usual slate of U.S. EPA regulations would be on the agenda. The Republicans plan to meet at 10:30 a.m. to work
on a plan of action, Inhofe said in a brief interview in the Capitol immediately after the swearing-in of the 114th
Congress.
"You know the things that we're going to be interested in, but what we haven't decided on is the prioritizing of these
things," said Inhofe, who is taking the reins of the committee from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who becomes the
panel's ranking member.
The realm of issues that could be on the agenda include EPA's carbon dioxide regulations for power plants, the
recently proposed ozone standard revision, the agency's first coal ash regulations, the renewable fuel standard and
the administration's inclusion of climate change in National Environmental Policy Act reviews, based on recent
statements by the incoming chairman.
Stakeholders are expecting a full schedule.
"They have a pretty robust list of things they're going through," said Ross Eisenberg, vice president of natural
resources and energy policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.
Inhofe said that he would provide more details once the Republicans members have met.
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HOUSE:
GOP passes rules package for 114th Congress changing cost analysis
Daniel Bush, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2015
House Republicans yesterday adopted a rules package for the 114th Congress that authorizes a controversial
scoring system for budget and tax legislation and an ongoing lawsuit against President Obama, among other
changes.
The package, which passed on a party-line vote of 234-172, requires the Congressional Budget Office and the
Joint Committee on Taxation to use "dynamic scoring" to calculate the economic costs of tax and budget
legislation.
Republicans favor the scoring method because it takes potential economic growth from tax cuts into account when
determining the projected cost of tax and budget bills.
"The inclusion of this realistic analysis provision in the House rules is an important victory in a larger effort to bring
more transparency and accountability to the legislative process on behalf of American families," House Budget
Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) said in a statement.
Democrats, for their part, have long argued that dynamic scoring hides the real costs of tax cuts given to
corporations and the wealthy by assuming future economic growth that often fails to materialize.
"What it means is the Republicans will be able to hide the true costs of tax cuts behind a debunked mantra that tax
cuts pay for themselves," said Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). "This provision will allow [Republicans] to
explode the deficit, as they did the last time they were in charge."
Democrats also criticized other parts of the rules package, including a provision that does not allow delegates -such as Washington, D.C., Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) -- to vote on the House floor.
The measure also authorized the continuation of a lawsuit against Obama's use of executive power that was
approved by the House last year.
In addition, the measure continues the Select Committee on Benghazi, a lightning-rod issue that Republicans have
used to hammer Democrats and the Obama administration on national security issues.
Meanwhile, two Republicans who yesterday voted against House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) keeping his
position had their seats on the House Rules Committee taken away. Florida GOP Reps. Daniel Webster and Rich
Nugent were on the committee last Congress but were removed from the panel's roster for the 114th Congress
approved last night, after both supported Webster to lead the chamber (E&ENews PM, Jan. 6). The committee will
have seven Republicans this session instead of nine like last year.
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INTERIOR:
Jewell orders unified strategy to combat Great Basin fire
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell today released a secretarial order aiming to curb rangeland fire in the Great Basin
and reduce threats to imperiled species including greater sage grouse.
The five-page order prescribes policies for preventing and suppressing rangeland fires and for restoring
landscapes that do burn. It seeks to bolster sage grouse as well as the 350 other species that dwell amid the
sagebrush steppe, including popular game species like elk and pronghorn.
The order comes as invasive species, namely cheatgrass and medusahead rye, have led to larger and more
frequent wildfires in states including Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California.
Sage grouse face a panoply of threats across their 11-state Western range -- including oil and gas development,
transmission lines, roads and even ravens -- but a top threat in these Great Basin states is wildfire and invasive
cheatgrass.
It also threatens ranchers, livestock managers, sportsmen and others who depend on the range.
"Targeted action is urgently needed to conserve habitat for the greater sage-grouse and other wildlife in the Great
Basin, as well as to maintain ranching and recreation economies that depend on sagebrush landscapes," Jewell
said in a statement today. "The secretarial order further demonstrates our strong commitment to work with our
federal, state, tribal and community partners to reduce the likelihood and severity of rangeland fire, stem the spread
of invasive species, and restore the health and resilience of sagebrush ecosystems."
Prior to European settlement of the Great Basin in the 1800s, wildfires burned the sagebrush-dominated
ecosystem once every century to once every few decades. But today, wildfires strike much more frequently,
offering a toehold for the invasion of cheatgrass, which dries out more quickly than other grasses and perpetuates
the risk of more frequent and larger fires.
Since cheatgrass was introduced by Europeans in the late 1800s, it has dominated nearly 10 million acres in
Nevada and Utah alone. Threats to sage grouse are compounded by the sixfold increase in the lands covered by
pinyon and juniper woodlands.
Jewell's order establishes a "Rangeland Fire Task Force" led by Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor that
includes five Interior assistant secretaries. Its mission is to develop a "science-based strategy" to reduce threats of
rangeland fire.
The task force will work with other federal agencies, states, tribes and stakeholders on strategies to increase the
effectiveness of rangeland fire protection associations and volunteer fire departments.
It will also develop "risk-based, landscape-scale approaches" to better prioritize investments in fuel treatments and
wildfire suppression, as well as post-fire rehabilitations. That will involve identifying areas of high ecological value
to sage grouse and other species.
The task force will also explore development of "biocontrols" to curb cheatgrass while also pursuing hardy native
seeds to revegetate degraded lands.
Jewell's order sets a Feb. 1 deadline for an initial report on how the task force will implement the order. Another
report is due March 1 on actions that can be implemented prior to the 2015 wildfire season. A final report is due
May 1 on actions to be taken prior to the 2016 season and beyond.
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AGRICULTURE:
Vilsack promotes conservation agenda to mark U.N. soil initiative
Tiffany Stecker, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack touted U.S. conservation efforts today in a Washington, D.C., event marking a
U.N. initiative to boost soil productivity.
Soil problems are rooted in "short-term thinking" and property owners' disconnection from the land, he said.
"There are a lot of people owning land today in the U.S. that are not necessarily connected to the land," he said. "It
is an investment, it is something they inherited, it is something that a generation or two ago was perhaps directly
connected to a farming operation."
Urban development, the over-tilling of farm fields and other disturbances strip the soil of nutrients, carbon and
important micro-organisms. It increases soil erosion, which can pollute local waterways when washed into streams
during rain events. It also reduces the soil's ability to store carbon, a tool for slowing the rate of global warming.
One of those soil challenges is climate change, which affects soil when it manifests as drought. The Department of
Agriculture's climate hubs -- seven central regional centers across the country that will provide resources to farmers
on how to mitigate and adapt to climate change -- have been established, and experts are assessing the science to
guide the hubs.
Vilsack said USDA will continue to focus on cover cropping and agroforestry, ways to integrate traditional crops
with trees and other plants to help slow the rate of erosion and improve soil water retention. The agency will also
boost its partnerships, in part through the new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), a much-touted
program created in the latest farm bill.
USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service is expected to announced the recipients of RCPP grants this
month. The program has received more than 600 applications requesting about $2.8 billion in USDA grants. The
proposals come with pledges to match those funds with $2.9 billion for a combined $5.7 billion.
Vilsack also said he would ensure that a portion of the department's Conservation Innovation Grants are dedicated
to soil health.
"We're going to continue our campaign, and we are going to expand it," he said.
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TRANSPORTATION:
White House remains cool to gas tax hike
Sean Reilly, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Obama administration is again downplaying the option of raising the federal gasoline tax to generate more
money for road projects and other public works improvements.
"We don't believe that the best way to fund modernizing our infrastructure is to raise the gas tax, but some people
do," Josh Earnest, the White House's top spokesman, said at yesterday's regular press briefing. While the
administration is willing to consider those proposals, Earnest said, "we believe that the best way to do that is to
close [tax] loopholes that only benefit the wealthy and well-connected corporations."
The tax, currently 18.4 cents per gallon, was last increased in 1993. While Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Chris
Murphy (D-Conn.) last June jointly proposed hiking it by 12 cents per gallon over two years, the idea remains a
hard sell despite a recent plunge in gas prices that would buffer the impact of any increase. Earnest's comments
yesterday mirrored his position when asked about the Corker/Murphy proposal in July. The best way to replenish
the Highway Trust Fund, he said then, "is along the lines of the proposal that the president put out that we can
close loopholes that benefit the wealthy and well-connected."
The White House had previously proposed taxing corporate earnings held overseas to help pay for its $302 billion,
four-year road, transit and rail funding bill. That approach went nowhere on Capitol Hill, as did a similar proposal by
then-House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), who broached it as part of a broader tax code
overhaul.
But the trust fund, the main federal conduit for road and transit spending, is again facing a crisis at the end of May
when a stopgap extension approved last summer expires. On Sunday, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the incoming
chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said he did not favor any tax increase
but acknowledged the need to look at all options.
"I don't think we take anything off the table at this point," Thune said on "Fox News Sunday," when asked about the
Corker/Murphy proposal. "I think it's important to recognize that we have a problem, an issue that we need a
solution for, and we need to look at all the possible ways out there in which we can address the challenge and
address the problem," Thune told host Chris Wallace. "But that's one proposal that's out there, and Bob Corker has
... taken a strong stand on that issue."
On the same show, Corker reiterated his support for a gas tax hike but noted that he and Murphy had proposed
offsetting the cost by making some temporary tax breaks permanent.
That latter part, Corker said, "seems to get left out of the conversation most of the time."
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FORESTS:
Judges deny enviro bid to stop federal thinning project
Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
A federal appeals court has rejected a bid by environmentalists to halt a government forest-thinning project in
Idaho.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Clearwater were seeking to block the Forest Service's Little
Slate Project, a nearly 2,600-acre timber-thinning sale within the Nez Perce National Forest.
The groups claimed the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to meet their obligations under the
National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act and other laws. They argued the project would
threaten the habitat of a host of imperiled species, including the pileated woodpecker and bull trout.
A three-judge 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel disagreed.
"We find that the federal agencies satisfied their obligations ... before implementing the Project to improve longterm habitat and the health of the forest," the panel wrote in a short ruling Friday.
They added that they were "satisfied that USFS took the requisite 'hard look' at the Project's potential impacts on
the species."
The government argued that the Little Slate Project will reduce fire risk within a 36,000-acre portion of the forest
and improve stream conditions by decommissioning roads and rehabilitating stream channels.
The timber thinning "will move the Project area towards a more natural and resilient tree composition and reduce
the dangerous buildup of dead trees and easily combustible vegetation," the government's court documents said.
Click here to read the opinion.
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KANSAS:
Lawmakers peg water issues as priority in 2015
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Droughts in southwest Kansas and foreboding news from California have Kansas lawmakers prioritizing water
issues in 2015.
Lawmakers hope to finalize and fund a 50-year plan to protect the state's water supplies by the end of this year.
A second draft of the plan was already released publicly in mid-November. The draft plan proposes multiple
strategies including conservation, water reuse, better management and more drought-resistant crops. It also
suggests that billions of gallons of water could be moved from wet areas to dry ones.
The Army Corps of Engineers is studying the proposal to move water, and is set to release its findings in early
2015.
Fourteen planning teams also have been assembled to assess the water supply in different parts of the state (Dave
Helling, Kansas City Star, Jan. 4). -- AW
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INVASIVE SPECIES:
Scientists launch app to battle pests
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Scientists in Michigan are encouraging people to download a free app that lets them report sightings of invasive
species.
Scientists at Michigan State University's Midwest Invasive Species Information Network set up the app to identify
invasive species early, when removal is easiest and least expensive.
More than 1,700 people have registered as users of the app.
The app has pictures and descriptions of 310 invasive species. Users can report their sightings by sending in a
picture and notes. The app then maps the location of the report.
MISIN notifies the Michigan Department of Natural Resources if it receives a report of a species on the agency's
"early alert list."
One species scientists and wildlife officials are closely monitoring is invasive swine. It's estimated there are
between 1,000 and 3,000 feral pigs in Michigan, and officials are concerned the population could dramatically
increase if it's not controlled (Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press, Jan. 6). -- MH
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PEOPLE:
Staff shuffles abound across energy, enviro committees
Robin Bravender, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Droves of new staffers are moving into top jobs on energy and environmental committees, now that the 114th
Congress is officially underway.
Incoming GOP committee leaders are staffing up in the Senate as they prepare to fight the Obama administration's
energy and environmental agenda, while leadership changes in the House are sparking further staff shakeups
across Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, some former staffers are shifting to work for other lawmakers or leaving the
legislative branch after their former bosses retired or lost their races or committee posts.
It's a familiar shuffle that occurs at the start of each new Congress, and the new hires will be helping to set the tone
on Capitol Hill this year when it comes to energy and environmental issues.
In the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Ryan Jackson will be taking over as staff director under
incoming Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) (E&E Daily, Dec. 16, 2014).
Dimitri Karakitsos will be staying on as EPW Republicans' senior counsel, and Brittany Bolen will remain on staff as
Republican counsel, according to Inhofe spokeswoman Donelle Harder. Karakitsos started on the EPW staff in
2009, when Inhofe was the top Republican, and he stayed on when Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) took over as ranking
member in 2013. Bolen joined the committee in 2013.
Harder -- an Inhofe communications aide since 2012 -- will be the new EPW communications director. Harder said
more staffing announcements will be made after Inhofe is elected chairman.
Major shakeups aren't expected on EPW's Democratic staff, where Bettina Poirier will remain staff director and
chief counsel. Poirier has been a top aide to ranking member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) since 2005.
On the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the new chairwoman, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), has
added several new staffers to her roster. Colin Hayes, a former lobbyist with McBee Strategic Consulting, is the
committee's new deputy staff director. Michael Pawlowski, formerly Alaska's deputy commissioner of revenue, was
recently hired as an energy and natural resources adviser (E&ENews PM, Dec. 3, 2014).
Karen Billups is staying on as GOP staff director for the panel; she's been on the committee's staff since 2003.
Across the aisle, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington is staffing up, now that she's become the top Democrat on the
ENR panel.
Cantwell has hired her former staffer Angela Becker-Dippman to return to Capitol Hill to become her staff director.
Becker-Dippman has been working as a senior policy adviser in the energy and environment unit of the
Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., and previously worked for
McBee Strategic Consulting after a stint on Capitol Hill working on energy policy for Cantwell (E&ENews PM, Dec.
18, 2014).
House hires
Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) is bringing in new staff to the House Energy and Commerce Committee minority office
as he takes over the top Democratic spot from retired California Democrat Henry Waxman.
Many of Waxman's former staffers -- including several longtime aides -- have left their posts, and Pallone has
begun to fill their slots.
Jeffrey Carroll is the new Democratic staff director, and Tiffany Guarascio has been appointed deputy staff director.
Carroll is a longtime Pallone aide who has been chief of staff in the New Jersey Democrat's personal office.
Guarascio has been working as legislative director in Pallone's office.
Timothy Robinson, who's been working as senior policy counsel and legislative director for Rep. Bobby Rush (DIll.), is the new chief counsel for Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats. Ashley Jones has been hired as
director of outreach and member services; she was previously chief of staff to former Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.),
who lost his 2014 re-election bid.
Michael Goo and Jacqueline Cohen have been heading up the panel's energy and environmental work in recent
months, but Democratic staffing for the Energy and Power Subcommittee and the Environment and Economy
Subcommittee is still being worked out. Goo was a longtime congressional staffer before working at U.S. EPA and
DOE during the Obama administration; he returned to the Energy and Commerce Committee in July. Cohen is a
longtime Waxman staffer.
The Energy and Commerce Committee Republican roster working under staff director Gary Andres is expected to
remain largely the same this year. The panel, led by Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), promoted Karen Christian to
become its top lawyer in October and hired former Boeing executive Charles Ingebretson to be the Oversight and
Investigations Subcommittee's chief counsel (Greenwire, Oct. 10, 2014).
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) will remain chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee this
year, but the panel is still seeing some staff changes.
Two new staffers have been hired from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Molly Boyl is the
Science panel's new deputy general counsel and parliamentarian, which was also her role on the oversight
committee under former Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). And Mark Marin, former deputy staff director for oversight
under Issa, is now the Science Committee's staff director for the Energy and Environment subcommittees.
Todd Johnston, who has been Republican staff director for the Environment Subcommittee, is expected to soon
leave the committee. Stephen Sayle, previously staff director for the Energy Subcommittee, has already left the
committee.
The new Oversight and Government Reform chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), announced a new spate of
staffers last month. Former Podesta Group principal Sean McLaughlin is the committee's staff director; former
Chaffetz senior adviser Rachel Weaver is the new deputy staff director. Andrew Dockham is the new general
counsel, joining the panel from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Steve Castor
is the new deputy general counsel for oversight and investigations, and Ryan Little is the committee's operations
director (E&ENews PM, Dec. 2, 2014).
Incoming House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) has also shaken up staffing on the panel that
oversees federal lands, wildlife and fisheries. Bishop announced in late November that he had hired committee
veterans Jason Knox as staff director and Todd Ungerecht as deputy staff director.
Bishop appears to have cleaned house, as at least 11 staffers have departed from the panel. The staffers who
have left include former Chairman Doc Hastings' (R-Wash.) staff director, Todd Young; Tim Charters, who was staff
director for the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee; Amanda Tharpe, who handled onshore energy
development on the EMR Subcommittee; and several others (E&E Daily, Jan. 6).
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FOREST SERVICE:
Agency retreats from contentious $10M 'branding' initiative
Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2015
The Forest Service abandoned a $10 million rebranding effort today after the proposal sparked opposition from
some employees and a government watchdog group.
The agency had announced plans in November to hire an outside firm to help it achieve "strategic organizational
transformation, identity clarification and social purpose branding and branding management, and multicultural
engagement and outreach."
The request for proposals, which closed just before New Year's Day, offered up to $10 million over the next five
years.
Some called it a smart investment that could have boosted employee morale, bolstered public trust and
strengthened support from Congress.
Others called it a waste of money that could have been better spent restoring watersheds, building trails, thinning
unhealthy forests or beefing up staff.
But the agency is putting the effort on the backburner, for now.
"No bids from this proposal were accepted," a Forest Service spokesman said. "The Forest Service will continue to
seek other ways to enhance citizens' access to the nation's forests and grasslands, and increase citizens'
knowledge of the services available to them."
The plan had stirred debate among the agency's 35,000 employees, some of whom took umbrage at hiring an
outside firm to help the Forest Service find its identity.
"Nothing like this has ever been done before," said Andy Stahl, executive director for Forest Service Employees for
Environmental Ethics and a critic of the plan. "There is a substantial level of disagreement in national leadership on
whether this is a good idea."
The agency manages 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands for multiple uses including timber,
grazing, wildlife, research, recreation and conservation. Those often-conflicting mandates from Congress are tough
to articulate in an elevator speech, let alone communicate to the general public.
Its stated mission is "to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet
the needs of present and future generations."
The presumed front-runner for the branding contract was Metropolitan Group, a Portland, Ore.-based "social
change" firm that the Forest Service previously tapped to help its Pacific Northwest region "reflect on its roots and
discover its future."
The firm said it helped the region's 3,000 employees in Oregon and Washington state "rediscover" the mission
outlined by the Forest Service's first chief, Gifford Pinchot: "to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest
amount of people in the long run."
"We clarified the region's core identity using the greatest good as a frame to unify and communicate a complex
array of ideas and work," Metropolitan Group said on its website. "From this foundation we crafted a new
vocabulary, look, and feel that employees are already using to more successfully engage with each other and the
public."
A sample of the firm's work can be found here.
Metropolitan Group has also been contracted by the Forest Service's Intermountain region based in Ogden, Utah,
and the Pacific Northwest Research Station to "foster a more powerful and shared appreciation of agency mission
amongst internal and external stakeholders."
The total value of its contracts is believed to exceed $1 million.
The regional efforts were a "starting point for an agency-wide undertaking to prepare its workforce to engage in a
cultural transformation and identity clarification," according to the Forest Service's November RFP.
Metropolitan Group currently holds a $527,000 contract that runs through next month to help Forest Service
leaders take the regional branding and identity effort nationwide.
The firm recently opened a Washington, D.C., office at 1029 Vermont Ave. NW, saying on its website that "the
White House and other federal sector clients -- including NASA and the U.S. Forest Service -- are just a short walk
from our office."
The $10 million national branding effort for the service was billed as a "follow-on" contract, with Metropolitan Group
as the incumbent contractor.
Stahl, of the forest employees group, questioned its merits.
"Who decided that the Forest Service needs a new brand and identity?" he said. "Is Smokey dead?"
Focus shifts
Stahl said it's unclear where the money would have come from in the Forest Service budget and why current staff
could not perform the tasks in-house, which would save money to maintain trails or decommission roads.
He said few within the agency admitted knowing about the contract and none had been willing to talk about it.
Some employees bristled at the proposal.
"The mission of the Forest Service is what it has always been: protecting the land and serving people," said one
employee, who wished to remain anonymous in order to speak freely. "Why is it necessary to hire a contractor to
figure out that we need more boots on the ground protecting the land? It is that simple."
A fresh brand and better public engagement could help, but it won't fix deteriorating recreational sites and trails and
declining forest health, said another employee.
"A $10 million campaign trying to convince the public we are doing great things without actually doing them will only
further damage the Forest Service image," the employee said.
Said another employee, "It's a shame we have to rely on people outside the Forest Service to tell us what we are."
But others employees said they'd lost sight of the Forest Service's mission, suggesting the need for an agencywide
identity check.
Until the 1980s, the Forest Service was seen primarily as a timber-cutting agency, carrying out a mission defined
by Congress in 1897 to secure "favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber,"
while protecting forests.
But as public attitudes toward clearcutting changed and wildlife including the northern spotted owl and salmon
gained protection under the Endangered Species Act, the agency shifted its focus toward conservation and
recreation. The Clinton administration in 2001 barred logging or roads on roughly one-third of the agency's land.
The agency in 1987 sold a record 12.7 billion board feet of timber, but in 2013 it sold 2.6 billion board feet, in part
because even relatively noncontroversial timber sales are challenged in federal court.
At the same time, overstocked forests, droughts and increased residential development have sent wildfire fighting
costs through the roof. The Forest Service's firefighting budget increased from 16 percent of its budget in 1995 to
42 percent today, forcing cuts in other budget areas and earning the agency the nickname the "Fire Service."
"By all appearances, we have lost our identity, and are groping blindly in the dark for anyone who can tell us what
we stand for now," said one employee.
Hank Kashdan, a 37-year Forest Service employee who retired four years ago as associate chief, said that despite
the "unfortunate wording" of the agency's branding proposal, it was "probably a fairly worthwhile effort." Much of the
blowback appeared based on the misconception that the Forest Service would spend the full $10 million, when in
fact it would have maintained discretion to spend much less, he said.
"So many people view the Forest Service as only about fighting fire," Kashdan said. "Some think it is fire and
cutting trees. Some think it is fire and preserving lands. This contract really seeks to figure out how communities
understand [the agency] and how the agency can better represent the multiple-use mission the agency is all
about."
'Clear line of sight'
A 2013 internal agency survey found that barely half of agency employees think the Forest Service is
accomplishing its mission (Greenwire, Sept. 25, 2013).
Efforts to "unify diverse sectors around a shared appreciation of the agency mission," as outlined in the Forest
Service's branding call, may be money well spent, said John Palguta, vice president at the Partnership for Public
Service, a nonprofit aimed at improving government jobs.
"I don't think it's silly at all for the Forest Service to want people to have a better understanding of what they do and
why they do it," he said.
Public understanding can lead to greater public support, which can lead to more robust budgets from Congress,
Palguta said.
Employees must also have a "clear line of sight" that connects their work to the agency's broader mission, he said.
"One thing any organization can do is make sure there's good internal branding," he said.
Other federal agencies have rebranded to stay relevant to the American public, Palguta said.
Just last month, the Government Printing Office got Congress to change its name to the Government Publishing
Office to better reflect its increasingly digital portfolio, he said. The Government Accounting Office in 2004 became
the Government Accountability Office, in part to shake the perception that its employees were "the green eye
shade people," Palguta said.
"There's good internal branding," he said of GAO. "They take to heart that they're making government more
efficient for the American public."
While it's not unreasonable for federal employees to grumble about the cost of a branding and PR contract,
particularly when budgets are tight, Palguta said $10 million spread over five years is a relatively small percentage
of the Forest Service's roughly $5 billion annual budget.
There are similar grumblings about investing in information technology, he said. But while the upfront costs can be
steep, long-term efficiencies can pay dividends, Palguta said.
"The reality is good management is looking out for the strategic long-term well-being of the organization," he said.
"We need to invest now to prevent problems down the road."
Reprinted from Greenwire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC - www.eenews.net - 202-628-6500
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Bill Gates wants to turn poop into drinking water
By Chris Isidore @CNNTech
January 7, 2015: 7:43 AM ET
Bill Gates says a new plant that can turn human feces into electricity and clean drinking water can save
a huge number of lives.
The plant, called the Omniprocessor, was designed and built by Janicki Bioenergy and backed by the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation. The facility would try to prevent diseases caused by contaminated water
supplies.
A test plant is up and working at Janicki's headquarters north of Seattle, according to a blog post by
Gates. The first operational plant is planned for Senegal.
Read entire article HERE.
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Drought: California water use down 10%, still short of target By Kurtis Alexander
Updated 5:27 pm, Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Wet weather at the end of last year helped Californians tame their insatiable demand for water,
but consumption - particularly in Southern California - remains well above Gov. Jerry Brown's
target for the drought-stricken state.
Figures released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board show California residents
used 9.8 percent less water in November than in the same month in 2013. That's an improvement
over October, when year-over-year use was down 6.8 percent, but still short of Brown's goal of
cutting back 20 percent.
State water board officials warned this week - as Bay Area temperatures approached record
highs, with clear skies forecast into the foreseeable future - that California could face yet another
dry year, meaning efforts to conserve remain vital.
Read entire article HERE.
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Capitol Hill Californians will push for drought legislation again
BY MICHAEL DOYLE
Bee Washington BureauJanuary 6, 2015 Updated 16 hours ago
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/06/4317173_capitol-hill-californianswill.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
WASHINGTON - Another year, another California water fight.
This week, as the 114th Congress commences, lawmakers prepare to revive anti-drought proposals that
divided the state last year. Tactics and strategies are still being crafted and the outcome is uncertain, as are
the lessons that may or may not have been learned.
"We're still figuring out what our next step is going to be," said Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford. "We have to
see what's possible."
Valadao introduced the House of Representatives' versions of California water legislation last Congress. The
first passed the Republican-controlled House on a nearly party line vote in February, over the opposition of
Northern California Democrats. A second version passed in December.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/06/4317173_capitol-hill-californianswill.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Read entire article HERE.
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2015 Montana State Water Plan released
January 05, 2015 2:38 pm
The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) recently released the 2015
Montana State Water Plan.
The result of an 18-month-long planning and public involvement process, the plan contains 68
recommendations to guide state water policy and management from the present into the future, noted
DNRC Director John Tubbs.
"The State Water Plan represents the input of the most diverse group of water users ever brought
together by the State of Montana," Tubbs said. "All of the recommendations are guided by the legal
principles in the Montana Constitution, the prior appropriation doctrine and the Montana Water Use Act."
Read entire article HERE.
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