Latest news with #Alaska-specific
Axios
12 hours ago
- Business
- Axios
Thune's troublesome senators to watch
Majority Leader John Thune wants to force an initial vote on the " big, beautiful bill" around 4pm ET — here is an update on the senators most likely to cause headaches. Why it matters: Thune can only afford to lose three GOP senators and still manage to move forward with — and eventually pass — the bill, with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance. It could be close. The nos: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has long been clear that he would vote against the package because it raises the debt ceiling. He is not one to fold — like, ever. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters after a GOP lunch Saturday that he would vote "no" both on Saturday afternoon's initial procedural vote and on the final bill. He has concerns about how the Medicaid changes would impact his state, and he's up for re-election next year. The question marks: Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are coordinating and planning to vote as a conservative bloc. "We are waiting, among other things, to see how this scores," Lee told reporters on Saturday. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is no stranger to being a swing vote. She has raised concerns about the Medicaid measures in the bill, but has also managed to win Alaska-specific caveats and tax breaks, which could be enough to win her over. Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) is threatening to vote no to move forward if a public lands sale measure makes it into the bill. A tweaked version of that language is awaiting a decision from the parliamentarian. Several GOP senators are adamantly opposed to the provision. The reluctant yeses: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is another frequent swing vote and is running for re-election next year in a blue state. She said she will vote yes to move forward, but is leaning toward "no" on final passage. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is also running for re-election next year and had been raising some concerns about the provider tax provision, but told reporters he was a "yes" on the motion to proceed and was "still reviewing" the overall bill. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told reporters Saturday that he plans to vote yes on both the procedural vote and bill passage, due to the newest text delaying the implementation of reduced Medicaid provider taxes.
Hamilton Spectator
5 days ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Trump administration plans to rescind rule blocking logging on national forest lands
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Trump administration plans to rescind a nearly quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging on national forest lands, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday. The so-called roadless rule adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton's presidency in 2001 long has chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the West where national forests sprawl across vast, mountainous terrain and the logging industry has waned. The roadless rule impeded road construction and 'responsible timber production' that would have helped reduce the risk of major wildfires, Rollins said at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association. 'This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation's forests,' Rollins said. The rule affected 30% of national forest lands nationwide, or about 59 million acres (24 million hectares), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency over the Forest Service. State roadless-area rules in Idaho and Colorado supersede the boundaries of the 2001 roadless rule, according to the USDA, meaning not all national forest land would be affected by a recission. The announcement came amid talk of selling off federal lands, an idea that received a mixed reception from governors at the same meeting. In Alaska, home to the country's largest national forest, the Tongass, the roadless rule has long been a focus of litigation, with state political leaders supporting an exemption to the rule that they argue impedes economic opportunities. During the latter part of President Donald Trump's first term, the federal government lifted restrictions on logging and road-building in the Tongass, something the Biden administration later reversed . Trump in January called for reverting to the policy from his first term as part of an Alaska-specific executive order aimed at boosting oil and gas development, mining and logging in the state. The Tongass is a temperate rainforest of glaciers and rugged coastal islands. It provides habitat to wildlife such as bears, wolves, salmon and bald eagles. Environmental groups, who want to keep restrictions on logging and road-building in place for the Tongass, criticized the possibility of rolling back the protections. 'Any attempt to revoke it is an attack on the air and water we breathe and drink, abundant recreational opportunities which millions of people enjoy each year, havens for wildlife and critical buffers for communities threatened by increasingly severe wildfire seasons,' Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement of USDA's plans. ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska. Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump administration plans to rescind rule blocking logging on national forest lands
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Trump administration plans to rescind a nearly quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging on national forest lands, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday. The so-called roadless rule adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton's presidency in 2001 long has chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the West where national forests sprawl across vast, mountainous terrain and the logging industry has waned. The roadless rule impeded road construction and 'responsible timber production' that would have helped reduce the risk of major wildfires, Rollins said at the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association. 'This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation's forests,' Rollins said. The rule affected 30% of national forest lands nationwide, or about 59 million acres (24 million hectares), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency over the Forest Service. State roadless-area rules in Idaho and Colorado supersede the boundaries of the 2001 roadless rule, according to the USDA, meaning not all national forest land would be affected by a recission. The announcement came amid talk of selling off federal lands, an idea that received a mixed reception from governors at the same meeting. In Alaska, home to the country's largest national forest, the Tongass, the roadless rule has long been a focus of litigation, with state political leaders supporting an exemption to the rule that they argue impedes economic opportunities. During the latter part of President Donald Trump's first term, the federal government lifted restrictions on logging and road-building in the Tongass, something the Biden administration later reversed. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. Trump in January called for reverting to the policy from his first term as part of an Alaska-specific executive order aimed at boosting oil and gas development, mining and logging in the state. The Tongass is a temperate rainforest of glaciers and rugged coastal islands. It provides habitat to wildlife such as bears, wolves, salmon and bald eagles. Environmental groups, who want to keep restrictions on logging and road-building in place for the Tongass, criticized the possibility of rolling back the protections. 'Any attempt to revoke it is an attack on the air and water we breathe and drink, abundant recreational opportunities which millions of people enjoy each year, havens for wildlife and critical buffers for communities threatened by increasingly severe wildfire seasons,' Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement of USDA's plans. ___ Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska. Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.
San Francisco Chronicle
13-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
US appeals court refuses to vacate Biden approval of Alaska's Willow oil project
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Friday refused to vacate the approval of the massive Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope though it found flaws in how the approval was reached. The decision from a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes in a long-running dispute over the project, most recently greenlit in March 2023 by then-President Joe Biden's administration and under development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska by ConocoPhillips Alaska. The court's majority opinion found what it called a procedural error — but not a serious or substantive one — by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as part of the analysis in approving Willow. The court sent the matter back to the agency for additional work. The majority determined that vacating the project's approval would be unwarranted and its consequences severe, though Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez dissented on that point. A prior version of the project approved late in President Donald Trump's first term was overturned in 2021, leading to the environmental review process completed under Biden that drew the latest legal challenges from environmentalists and a grassroots Iñupiat group. Alaska's Republican governor and its congressional delegation and state Legislature have backed Willow. The project also has broad support among Alaska Native leaders on the North Slope and groups with ties to the region who see Willow as economically vital for their communities. But critics cast the project as being at odds with Biden's pledges to combat climate change and raised concerns that it would drive further industrialization in the region. Trump expressed support for additional drilling in the reserve as part of a broader, Alaska-specific executive order he signed upon his return to office aimed at boosting oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state. During the cold-weather seasons, ConocoPhillips Alaska has worked to build infrastructure such as new gravel roads, bridges and pipelines at the project site, and it has laid out a timeline for producing first oil in 2029. In a statement Friday, the company said it welcomed the ruling and looked forward to 'continuing the responsible development of Willow.' J. Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson with the U.S. Department of the Interior, said the agency doesn't comment on litigation. The Bureau of Land Management falls under Interior. The appeals panel ruling comes more than a year after it heard arguments in the case. Environmental groups and the grassroots Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic had appealed a lower-court ruling that upheld Willow's approval. Attorneys representing the groups on Friday were evaluating next steps. Arguments before the appeals court panel focused largely on claims the land management agency did not consider a 'reasonable' range of alternatives in its environmental review, as well as the groups' contention the agency had limited its consideration of alternatives to those that allowed for full-field development of the project. Attorneys for ConocoPhillips Alaska argued the leases in the company's Bear Tooth Unit in the northeast part of the petroleum reserve are in areas open to leasing and surface development — and that the agency committed the unit to development in issuing leases there over a number of years. Willow is in the unit. Friday's ruling said the agency during the environmental review process took a stance that it needed to screen out alternatives that stranded an economically viable quantity of oil but then never explained whether the pared-back plan it ultimately approved satisfied the full-field development standard. The agency 'framed its environmental review based on the full field development standard and had a rational explanation for doing so,' the ruling states. 'But that does not permit BLM to potentially deviate from the standard without explanation.' ConocoPhillips Alaska had proposed five drilling sites for Willow but the Bureau of Land Management approved three, which it said would include up to 199 total wells. Erik Grafe, an attorney with Earthjustice who represented some of the groups that challenged Willow, saw the ruling as a partial victory. 'They found a fundamental flaw that led them to conclude that the BLM acted arbitrarily in approving the Willow project and have sent that back to the agency to reconsider in a non-arbitrary way and make a new decision,' he said.
CBC
26-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Biden administration lacked authority to cancel oil and gas leases in Alaska refuge, judge rules
A federal judge in Alaska on Tuesday ruled the Biden administration lacked the authority to cancel seven oil and gas leases that had been issued for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said terms of a 2017 tax law that set the stage for the first-ever lease sale in the refuge's coastal plain in early 2021 suggested that leases could only be cancelled by a court order. She sent the matter back to the Department of Interior for further action. President Donald Trump upon his return to office in January signed an Alaska-specific executive order that among other things had sought to rescind the lease cancellation. The tax law called for two lease sale offerings by late 2024 in the refuge's coastal plain, a roughly six-million-hectare swath of the vast refuge that borders the Beaufort Sea and is home to such wildlife as polar bears, caribou and birds. The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a state corporation, was the major bidder in the first sale, which was held in the waning days of the first Trump administration. Small companies won two other leases but gave them up. Gleason in 2021 had rejected calls by drilling opponents to halt that first lease sale until underlying lawsuits were resolved. The second sale, held shortly before Biden left office, drew no bids. It was criticized by Alaska political leaders as too restrictive to attract interest, but environmental groups pointed to a lack of interest from oil companies as a reason to put the long-running debate over whether to allow drilling to rest. Tuesday's decision, in a case brought by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority against the Interior Department and federal officials, is the latest twist in the decades-long fight. Gwich'in leaders have opposed drilling on the coastal plain, which they consider sacred, citing its importance to caribou they rely upon. Leaders of the Inupiaq community of Kaktovik, which is within the refuge, have expressed support for drilling, as have Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state's congressional delegation. Dunleavy in a statement lauded the decision: "Now the leasing program can move forward and could result in more safe, secure energy production right here in Alaska." Gwich'in leaders and environmental groups vowed to keep fighting. "While we are deeply disappointed by today's ruling, we want to be clear that this decision does not diminish our determination to protect these sacred lands," Raeann Garnett, First Chief of the Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government, said in a statement.
