With temperatures in the nation’s capital reaching the triple digits last week, Congress escaped the heat as lawmakers started their month-long August recess, leaving a long to-do list for when they return in September.
With the new fiscal year just two months away, Congress is far behind schedule on finishing the 12 appropriations bills that fund federal agencies, with the House just passing one and the Senate not bringing any to the floor. With arch-conservative Republican members of the House demanding steep spending cuts and controversial policy riders on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and other social issues, finding common ground with the Democratic-controlled Senate and Biden administration will be no easy task.
The Senate Appropriations Committee did manage to approve a funding bill for the Interior Department which the full Senate will consider in the fall. The Senate bill provides more funding for the Department overall than the House proposed, but for some agencies within the Department provides less than they receive in the current fiscal year.
Most notably, the Senate Appropriations Committee would provide $195 million from the Historic Preservation Fund for S/THPOs and other preservation competitive grant programs, which, while higher than the amount proposed by the House, is lower than the amount provided in the current fiscal year.
The Senate Appropriations bill also includes a provision to extend the authorization of the HPF for one more year. It is scheduled to expire at the end of September. ACRA and its allies in the preservation community are working to get Congress to approve a longer term authorization for the Fund and authorize more funding to be deposited into the Fund each year.
The amounts proposed by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees for the Department of the Interior and selected agencies are below.
| Current year level | House-proposed amount | Senate-proposed amount | |
| Interior Department | $15.1 billion | $14.4 billion | $15.6 billion |
| Bureau of Land Management | $1.49 billion | $1.24 billion | $1.49 billion |
| National Park Service | $3.47 billion | $3.04 billion | $3.46 billion |
| Historic Preservation Fund | $204 million | $175 million | $195 million |
| U.S. Geological Survey | $1.49 billion | $1.35 billion | $1.51 billion |
| Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | $183 million | $154 million | $164 million |
Even as Congress leaves DC for the month, the Biden administration – not to mention the courts – continue to take actions which may impact the CRM industry. In other news:
- The Supreme Court last week granted a request that would allow the construction of the $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline to continue, after a lower court has halted the natural gas development through the federally owned Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. The project’s approval was part of an earlier debt limit deal by Congress, which the pipeline developer said “expressly stripped all courts” of jurisdiction to review the decision.
- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a bid to block construction of the Thacker Pass lithium mine along the Nevada-Oregon border, despite conservationists saying that the operation will lead to polluted groundwater and destroy wildlife habitats. The judges generally deferred to the expertise of the Bureau of Land Management, which granted Lithium Nevada approval for the mine in 2021.
- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unanimously approved new rules that aim to revamp how quickly clean energy projects are assessed, as 2,000 gigawatts of projects wait for grid connection approvals. The new rules would allow for energy projects in more advanced stages to be evaluated first and in groups instead of on a first-come, first-served basis. The moves come as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is calling on FERC to help push through some Democratic permitting priorities. In a letter released Monday, Schumer asked the panel to finalize a “strong” rule for planning and allocating costs for power lines, along with providing the federal government with more authority to approve new transmission lines.
- The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has taken two regulatory actions that impact the size standards used by CRM firms and others to determine eligibility for small business programs and financing. On July 19, the SBA finalized rules that adjust monetary-based industry size standards for inflation, implementing a 13.65 percent inflation increase to account for inflation. For Environmental Consulting Services (NAICS code 541620), the size standard rises from $16.5 to $19.0 million.
And on July 28, the SBA announced a proposal to increase the alternative size standard for its 7(a) Business and Certified Development Company (CDC/504) Loan Programs by 34.46% to account for inflation. The inflation adjustment would increase the size standard’s level for tangible net worth to $20 million and for net income to $6.5 million. SBA also proposed adjusting for inflation the applicable statutory limits for contract size under the Surety Bond Guarantee (SBG) Program. The adjustment would increase the contract limit to $9 million and to $14 million for Federal contracts if a Federal contracting officer certifies that such a guarantee is necessary.
Get in the Know at the 2023 ACRA Conference
With so many policy developments that impact CRM, the 2023 ACRA Conference is a great place to get the latest scoop.
In addition to updates on what’s happening in Washington, the conference will feature a discussion with Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Chair Sara Bronin on her plans for the ACHP, not to mention session topics on strategic planning for CRM, the roles of geophysical archaeology in the industry, CRM in the age of artificial intelligence, and much more.
Don’t miss out on the premier CRM event of the year – register now to make sure you get the best rate.