the film forum library tutorial contact

House Republicans Question White House Role in LSRDs by K.C. Mehaffey NW Fishletter, October 2, 2023

"Seriously considering what these lower Snake River dams are doing to salmon
in the Columbia River basin is inevitable, certainly under the Endangered Species Act..."
-- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA)

A subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources is investigating what it calls an overreach of authority by the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is looking into CEQ's involvement with mediation over a lawsuit and whether it has favored groups that support breaching the four lower Snake River dams.

A Sept. 14 hearing included testimony from Scott Simms, CEO and executive director of the Public Power Council, and Jill Witkowski Heaps, a senior attorney at Earthjustice. Earthjustice represents the conservation groups that sued federal agencies in National Wildlife Federation et al. v. National Marine Fisheries Service et al., and PPC is an intervenor-defendant in the case.

Republican members of the subcommittee have accused President Joe Biden of changing a small agency with a limited role into "a legion of frontline warriors for implementing radical social change and eco-justice initiatives across the federal government," according to a subcommittee memo on the hearing.

The CEQ -- which oversees federal agency compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act -- had its baseline budget grow from $2.89 million to $4.67 million between 2019 and 2023, according to the memo. The CEQ also received $62.5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act in fiscal year 2022 to support environmental and climate data collections, and to train personnel, develop programmatic environmental documents, and develop tools to improve stakeholder and community engagement, it says. According to the memo, Biden's budget provides the agency with an additional $47 million in FY 2023 and $31 million proposed in FY 2024 above the baseline budget.

"President Biden has transformed CEQ's role from overseeing NEPA compliance to an agency with a bloated budget and a role in government policy. It is an entity charged with implementing his radical eco-agenda, remaking federal agencies as vehicles of social change, and leading the war on domestic energy production," Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), the subcommittee chair, said in his opening statements.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) -- the ranking Democratic member of the subcommittee -- countered that CEQ is simply carrying out additional duties assigned to it in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Stansbury said the country and the world are experiencing catastrophic environmental crises caused by climate change, and that by passing the IRA -- which she called "the largest and most significant legislation ever in the history of the planet to address climate change" -- Congress increased CEQ's funding and duties, directing it to help prevent further destruction of the planet from climate change.

CEQ's involvement in the debate over whether to breach the four lower Snake River dams was among the topics discussed at the hearing. The memo notes that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not endorse breaching the dams in its record of decision following its environmental impact statement on the Columbia River System Operations in 2020.

"Instead of aggressively defending the official position of the federal government, the Biden administration, notably CEQ, has sought to appease the calls to breach the Lower Snake River Dams and has shown favoritism to the plaintiffs in confidential negotiations," the memo states.

It also says CEQ supported breaching the four dams in a blog post that contradicts the 2020 CRSO decision, and engaged the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to mediate the litigation.

Simms told the subcommittee that PPC entered the mediation process with CEQ and FMCS with "guarded optimism" that litigation would finally be resolved in a fair and collaborative manner. "Regretfully, our experience has been to the contrary. It has been a frustrating bureaucratic process with little discussion of new ideas and much less progress toward a regional compromise.

"Labeling any of this as mediation was a sham from the beginning, and it's quite an abuse of the very word. What CEQ has done is put a thumb squarely on the scale for certain parties," he told the subcommittee.

He said PPC and other stakeholders have important expertise that could be shared during the negotiations, and they should be involved in the discussions early, not as a last step to "sign on."

Simms also criticized a NOAA Fisheries report on rebuilding salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin, which he believes was floated by CEQ as NOAA science to push a specific agenda. He said the report apparently "paved over" decades of NOAA's scientific evidence and record. In his written testimony, Simms added, "The NOAA report was prepared in conjunction with plaintiffs who sought removal of the LSRDs, was anonymously produced, was not peer-reviewed, and had glaring biological errors. Yet that report is increasingly cited as the 'best and latest science.'"

Simms later told the subcommittee that as a result of CEQ's involvement in mediation, "We're further apart than we were at the start of this process."

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), a member of the subcommittee, pushed back on Simms' characterization of the report, noting, "We've had 20 years of litigation over biological opinions on these lower Snake River dams and every single lawsuit has found that we're not doing enough to meet the standard of avoiding jeopardy, much less getting the salmon in the Columbia River basin on a path toward recovery."

Huffman added, "It looks like seriously considering what these lower Snake River dams are doing to salmon in the Columbia River basin is inevitable, certainly under the Endangered Species Act and also if you give a damn about salmon, if you give a damn about tribes, if you give a damn about the dwindling orca populations in the Puget Sound."

Representing Earthjustice, Heaps told the subcommittee that the dams have decimated salmon populations.

"This has had enormous impacts on the four Columbia Basin treaty tribes who reserved their right to fish in treaties with the United States government in exchange for 13.2 million acres of land. It's time for a comprehensive basinwide solution that restores the lower Snake River, honors the treaties and makes stakeholders whole," she testified.

Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) commented that it became apparent in June the CEQ's efforts were "a blatant attempt to remove those four Snake River dams." He also criticized the agency for holding "secret" talks in a process in which the outcome is important to the public.

Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) called the dams the "lifeblood of central Washington," citing their many benefits to agriculture, flood control, navigation and a source of renewable carbon-free energy. He said all the groups involved with the benefits that the dams provide consistently raise the same concerns: "That the CEQ, the Council on Environmental Quality, has not adequately involved them. That's very frustrating."

Related Pages:
Ag Advocates Worry Their Message Has Been Lost During Snake River Dam Mediation by Matthew Weaver, Capital Press, 4/3/23
County Leaders Speak Out Against Simpson's Proposal by Kerri Sandaine, Spokesman-Review, 2/23/21

To: Committee on Natural Resources Republican Members
From: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Staff
Subject: Oversight Hearing titled "Examining Systemic Government Overreach at CEQ"
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2023

The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations will hold an oversight hearing titled, "Examining Systemic Government Overreach at CEQ" on Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 10:00am EDT in room 1324 Longworth House Office Building.

Member offices are requested to notify Cross Thompson by 4:30 p.m. on September 12, 2023, if their Member intends to participate in the hearing.

I. KEY MESSAGES

President Biden has transformed the once small Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) staff from their core mission of ensuring compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) into a legion of frontline warriors for implementing radical social change and eco-justice initiatives across the federal government.

CEQ's role in implementing executive orders and rulemaking vastly exceeds its statutory role and prescribed authority.

It is imperative for CEQ to abide by the Fiscal Responsibility Act's significant NEPA and permitting reforms -- reforms that will make it faster and easier to build critical infrastructure projects and reduce the burden on taxpayers by creating efficiencies in the permitting process.

The recent NEPA Phase Two Proposed Rulemaking issued by CEQ ignores significant NEPA reforms of the Fiscal Responsibility Act -- specifically those aimed at reducing the scope of NEPA reviews -- and undercuts the White House's agreement with Congress.

CEQ was invited to testify at this hearing but declined to appear. CEQ's willful disregard for Congress and the rule of law impacts all Americans -- from the cost of heating and cooling our homes to small and large businesses, their impact has no bounds.

. . .

f. CEQ's involvement in the Lower Snake River Dams

The Lower Snake River Dams in the Columbia River Basin and Washington state were authorized by Congress in 1945 and have the capacity to supply 3,000 megawatts of carbon- free energy. Particularly during periods of high demand, the Lower Snake River Dams help to keep the Pacific Northwest power system reliable, even during emergencies. Additionally, the Lower Snake River Dams play a critical role in reducing transportation emissions. Between 50 and 60 million tons of cargo are transported through barges along the river each year and forty percent of America's wheat transits through the system.

Despite the immense importance of the Lower Snake River Dams, and continuous work to improve fish passage rates, radical eco-activist groups have abused the litigation system for decades in pursuit of dam removal. Simultaneously, the Biden administration has attempted to circumvent Congress by betraying previous federal actions supporting the continued operation of the Lower Snake River Dams and is instead heeding calls for breaching the dams.

Those in favor of breaching the Lower Snake River Dams often fail to recognize, and/or ignore, the value of the Lower Snake River Dams and the cost of replacement. In 2016, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) estimated that replacing the dams would increase power costs by $274 million to $372 million per year. Six years later, in 2022, BPA commissioned a study by a San Francisco environmental consulting firm, Energy + Environmental Economics ("E3"), which found that the cost of replacing the output from the Lower Snake River Dams ranges from $415 million to $860 million per year through 2045. Moreover, under assumptions from litigants supporting breaching the Lower Snake River Dams, up to 1.2 terawatts (or 1,200,000 MWh) would depend on technologies not yet readily available, such as hydrogen-fueled combustion turbines.

In 2020, the federal government released a Record of Decision (ROD) on the operations for the Columbia River System, which includes the Lower Snake River Dams. The ROD did not endorse dam breaching, stating that while breaching may benefit "some species of ESA-listed fish, it would achieve those benefits at the expense of not meeting the other components of the agencies' Purpose and Need Statement for certain EIS objectives." Shortly thereafter, Earthjustice, the National Wildlife Federation, and other eco-groups, sued the federal government to challenge the ROD.

Instead of aggressively defending the official position of the federal government, the Biden administration, notably CEQ, has sought to appease the calls to breach the Lower Snake River Dams and has shown favoritism to the plaintiffs in confidential negotiations. In 2021, the federal government, the State of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, and plaintiffs to the litigation filed an agreement with the U.S. District Court that outlined how dam operations would be altered in the coming year while allowing for parties to reach further agreement on long-term operations.

Shortly thereafter, in March 2022, CEQ published a blog outlining a "path forward" for the Columbia River Basin following a consultation between agencies and Tribes of the Columbia River Basin. The blog post specifically supported a policy of breaching the four dams on the lower Snake River, contradicting the 2020 ROD on the operations of the Columbia River Basin system. At the same time, CEQ engaged the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to "mediate and facilitate between the parties in the litigation and the regional sovereigns, including Tribal Nations and states." FMCS, on behalf of CEQ, announced public listening sessions for the public.

While the mediation process is confidential, many of the defendants have expressed deep reservations and considerable disappointment regarding the overall mediation process. Of particular concern is the Biden administration's apparent push to forgo trying to reach a "consensus" resolution and instead advance a predetermined outcome of dam removal. At the end of August, the U.S. District Court extended the stay in the long-running litigation to allow the mediation to continue until the end of October. Stakeholders expressed dismay with the mediation process, the Biden administration's favoritism towards the eco-activist plaintiffs, and the role of CEQ.

IV. CONCLUSION

President Biden has transformed CEQ's role from overseeing NEPA compliance to the entity charged with implementing his radical eco-agenda, remaking federal agencies as vehicles of social change, and leading the war on domestic energy production. A bureaucratic morass of various agencies, offices, and councils report to and take directions from CEQ. At the same time, CEQ's role in implementing executive orders and rulemaking vastly exceeds its statutory role and prescribed authority. It is imperative for CEQ to abide by the Fiscal Responsibility Act's significant NEPA and permitting reforms -- reforms that will make it easier to build in America, speed up timelines for critical infrastructure projects, and reduce the burden on taxpayers by creating efficiencies in the permitting process. Sadly, the recent NEPA Phase Two Proposal from CEQ ignores significant NEPA reforms of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, specifically those aimed at reducing frivolous environmental lawsuits and betrays the White House's agreement with Congress.