Washington’s attention has turned almost – but not quite – completely to the crisis unfolding nearly five thousand miles to the east, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has ended thirty years of relative peace in Europe, threatens the lives of millions of people and is rattling global markets, including back home.
Even as he announced sweeping new sanctions aimed at cutting Russia’s economic system off from the rest of the globe and sending more U.S. troops to protect NATO allies in Eastern Europe, President Biden continued to grapple with domestic issues that don’t take a break during a foreign crisis.
Most notably, Biden announced Friday that he has chosen federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer on the Supreme Court. Jackson, 51, would be the first African-American woman to serve on the court and just the third African American in the Court’s 233-year history. Jackson received some GOP support in the Senate when Biden nominated her for the U.S. Court of Appeals last year, and is likely to receive unanimous Democratic support. Still, the nomination process will divert the Senate’s attention from other matters for the next month or two.
And this week, Biden is set to deliver his first official State of the Union address before both chambers of Congress. Russia will undoubtedly take center stage in that address, but Biden also is likely to continue pushing for pieces of his Build Back Better climate and safety net bill which is hung up in the Senate. Congress and the White House also need to finalize a spending bill for the federal government to keep the doors open past March 11, when the current temporary funding measure expires.
African-American Burial Grounds Bill Introduced
The cultural resources sector received an important boost last week when the African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program Act was re-introduced in both chambers of Congress with bipartisan support. The bill would provide grant opportunities and technical assistance via the National Park Service to research, identify, survey and preserve African-American burial grounds.
As ACRA and the Society for American Archaeology wrote in letters to the bill’s sponsors, ”African American burial grounds are a vital part of our nation’s story. They are the resting places of former enslaved people, freedmen, civil rights champions, military veterans, community and national leaders, artists and artisans, and beloved family members. . . [this] legislation will help ensure we honor the legacy of countless Americans whose stories are an integral part of our nation’s history.”
In other news that impacts cultural resources:
- The Supreme Court has rejected the Dakota Access Pipeline operator’s appeal of a federal appeals court ruling, leaving in place the lower court’s decision that the Army Corps of Engineers should have conducted a more thorough environmental analysis before allowing the pipeline to cross under a lake in North Dakota. The pipeline, which has been operational since March 2017, is now vulnerable to being shut down.
- The Interior Department placed an indefinite pause on new federal oil and gas drilling leases after a Louisiana judge ruled in favor of several states in an ongoing legal brawl over how the Biden administration is calculating the social cost of carbon. In a legal filing asking the court to stay the injunction on the Biden administration’s use of the metric, the Justice Department said that work on new oil and gas projects on federal lands and waters has been delayed or stopped “so that agencies can assess whether and how they can proceed.”
- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued new guidance for natural gas projects, including a first-ever climate change threshold, upending decades of precedent for how major energy infrastructure is approved. FERC updated a 23-year-old policy for assessing proposed natural gas pipelines, adding new considerations for landowners, environmental justice communities and other factors. In a separate but related decision, the commission also laid out a framework for evaluating projects’ greenhouse gas emissions.
- The White House Council on Environmental Quality released a beta version of a screening tool that the administration will use to determine where to invest billions of dollars aimed at concentrating renewable energy and infrastructure in historically marginalized communities. Called the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, it will weigh income levels as well as dozens of socioeconomic, health and environmental indicators, though race is not included.
What’s The Outlook for CRM?
With Congress and the White House in the thick of debates over the economy, infrastructure and more, what can you expect this year on the issues important to CRM in DC?
Find out on Wednesday, March 9 at 12:00pm EST for The 2022 Outlook for CRM in Washington. This webinar will explore the current legislative and regulatory environment, the outlook for the year, and ACRA’s 2022 government relations priorities.
In addition, we will be joined by U.S. Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), the author of the Historic Preservation Enhancement Act and a leading voice in Congress on preservation, who will share her perspective on the issues that matter the most to our profession.
You will also learn how to make a direct impact on the issues you care about the most. From engaging policymakers to communicating your message effectively, you will come away with the skills you need for advocating for your business, your family, and your community.
This webinar is FREE for ACRA members and available to non-members for $15. Spaces are limited – register now to reserve your spot.