Riders: Interior Approps Bill Subcommittee Draft

In our ongoing series of blog posts detailing anti-environment riders in spending bills, the following is a list of riders currently found in the Interior Appropriations Bill. 

Clean Air

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 428) offered by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from limiting pollution from livestock production under the Clean Air Act.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 429) offered by Rep. Simpson would prevent EPA from requiring the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from manure management systems.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 431) offered by Rep. Simpson would prevent EPA from limiting carbon pollution from power plants and other stationary sources.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 441) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently require EPA to accept certain state plans for enforcing the Clean Air Act even when EPA determines the state plans will not reduce pollution as the Act requires.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 443) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently weaken regulation of air pollution from offshore oil and gas drilling activities, particularly in Alaska.  Among other things, the provision exempts certain sources of air pollution from the Clean Air Act. 

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 4444(c)) offered by Rep. Simpson would prevent EPA from limiting certain kinds of pollution under the Clean Air Act and other statutes.  The rider is written in such a way that its precise intent and impact are unclear, but it is based on the incorrect premise that EPA requires jurisdictions to reduce air pollution below natural background levels. 

Clean Water

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 116) offered by Rep. Simpson would  forbid the National Parks Service from enforcing boating regulations in the Yukon-Charley National Preserve in Alaska.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 432) offered by Rep. Simpson would block the Department of Interior (DOI) from enforcing safeguards designed to protect streams from pollution from surface coal mining. 

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 433) offered by Rep. Simpson would prevent EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and DOI from limiting pollution and the destruction of streams from mountaintop removal coal mining.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 434) offered by Rep. Simpson would block EPA from strengthening oversight of coal ash disposal.  EPA was acting in response to the massive release of toxic coal wastes in Tennessee in 2010. 

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 435) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently block EPA from clarifying which streams and wetlands are protected by the Clean Water Act.  Blocking EPA would threaten those waters, many of which are sources of drinking water and help with flood control.  This is a counterpart to the provision in the Energy and Water appropriation since EPA and the Army Corps jointly enforce aspects of the Clean Water Act.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 436) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently block EPA from strengthening oversight of the use of water by power plants.  Power plants use enormous amounts of water for cooling and then discharge it. 

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 438) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently block EPA from limiting pollution from runoff from logging roads.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 439) offered by Rep. Simpson would require a 90-day review by Congress before EPA could strengthen limitations on pollution from urban stormwater systems.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Title V) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently exempt pesticide application from the Clean Water Act.  Mae Wu has blogs.

Wildlife

A provision in the Interior and Environment appropriation (page 8 under the section heading “UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.”) offered by Rep. Simpson (in Title I) would bar all new listings of threatened and endangered species as well as critical habitat designations for currently listed species, but would allow species to be de-listed.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 119) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently prohibit the courts from reviewing any delisting of gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act in Wyoming and in the upper Midwest.

Lands

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 118) offered by Rep. Simpson would make it more difficult to challenge DOI land use decisions in the courts.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 409) offered by Rep. Simpson would make it more difficult for courts to require the Forest Service to update its land use plans.

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 437) offered by Rep. Simpson would permanently limit the ability of citizens to challenge Forest Service land use decisions in the courts.

Two riders in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Secs. 120 and 442) offered by Rep. Simpson would eliminate nearly all protections for bighorn sheep in the western United States for five years. 

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 445) offered by Rep. Simpson

Would permanently prevent DOI and the Forest Service from declaring lands near the Grand Canyon off limits for uranium mining. 

A rider in the Interior and Environment appropriation (Sec. 446) offered by Rep. Simpson Section 446 would require the Forest Service to stop its development of Travel Management Plans in California until it considers opening trails to off-road vehicle use. The provision would also require more Forest Service roads to be open to off-road vehicles.

NRDC is tracking these riders, who’s responsible and the impacts, get the latest news here.