Federal Lawmaking

By NACD Natural Resource Policy Specialist Adam Pugh Since NACD’s February 2018 blog explaining the role of the courts during the implementation of the 2015 Clean Water Rule, there have been a few updates on the waters of the United States (WOTUS). Prior to publishing the 2019 proposed definition of WOTUS, the Environmental Protection Agency…… Continue reading →

By NACD Natural Resources Policy Specialist Adam Pugh Last week’s mid-term elections resulted in the U.S. House of Representatives flipping to a Democrat majority for the first time since 2010. In the conservation world, focus is primarily centered on the expired farm bill. However, the elections will also significantly impact the House Committee on Natural…… Continue reading →

By NACD Natural Resource Policy Specialist Adam Pugh On July 12, the Congressional Western Caucus rolled out its legislative package to modernize the Endangered Species Act (ESA). On July 17, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a legislative hearing on its discussion draft of the ESA Amendments of 2018. NACD staff…… Continue reading →

By Coleman Garrison Last week, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill - that President Donald Trump signed into law - that avoided a government shutdown and funds the federal government through the end of the 2018 fiscal year. NACD releases appropriations requests around February of each year, and our organization is generally pleased with the…… Continue reading →

By Chris Heck This post will be continuously updated as the reorganization process moves forward. Feedback on the DOI’s reorganization plan can be sent here. Timeline: January 10, 2018: Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced a planned reorganization of the Department of the Interior (DOI). The reorganization plan includes the creation of “13 Common…… Continue reading →

By Coleman Garrison As Congress wraps up its work for 2017 and NACD looks ahead to the new year, we wanted to let you know where things stand on a few topics. This week, Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown of the federal government by passing another short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) which will fund the federal…… Continue reading →

By Coleman Garrison As we enter the final month of 2017, there are several issues on NACD’s radar that we want you to be aware of: By the end of this week, Congress is expected to pass a bill to fund the federal government for two weeks and prevent a government shutdown from occurring on…… Continue reading →

By Edward Hutschenreuter Farmers with land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) may now have a new environmentally beneficial option for satisfying their contract requirements. On November 9, Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri introduced the “CRP Grazing Flexibility Act” (H.R. 4298), which would allow farmers to graze livestock on their enrolled CRP acreage as an…… Continue reading →

By Chris Heck Last Friday, Representative Rob Bishop, R-Utah, introduced the National Monument Creation and Protection Act, H.R.3990. The legislation seeks to modernize the Antiquities Act by protecting the president’s ability to establish a national monument and, based on the monument's proposed size, ensuring local government and community voices have been heard. Earlier this week,…… Continue reading →

Over the past year and a half, NACD’s Farm Bill Task Force, currently chaired by NACD First Vice President Tim Palmer, has worked to create a set of policy requests for the 2018 Farm Bill. Starting with a survey of our members last summer, the Task Force created a set of principles that helped to…… Continue reading →