Public Policy
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from public policy organizations whose goal it is to influence the debate Washington.
Featured Stories
Southwest Research Institute Scientist Develops Novel Algorithm to Aid Search for Exoplanets
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, June 25 -- Southwest Research Institute issued the following news release:
Inspired by movie streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu, a Southwest Research Institute scientist developed a technique to look for stars likely to host giant, Jupiter-sized planets outside of our solar system. She developed an algorithm to identify stars likely to host giant exoplanets, based on the composition of stars known to have planets.
"My viewing habits have trained Netflix to recommend sci-fi movies I might like -- based on what I've already watched. These watched movies are like the
... Show Full Article
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, June 25 -- Southwest Research Institute issued the following news release:
Inspired by movie streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu, a Southwest Research Institute scientist developed a technique to look for stars likely to host giant, Jupiter-sized planets outside of our solar system. She developed an algorithm to identify stars likely to host giant exoplanets, based on the composition of stars known to have planets.
"My viewing habits have trained Netflix to recommend sci-fi movies I might like -- based on what I've already watched. These watched movies are like theknown star-exoplanet systems," said Dr. Natalie Hinkel, a planetary astrophysicist at SwRI. "Then, the algorithm looks for stars with yet-undetected planets -- which are comparable to movies I haven't watched -- and predicts the likelihood that those stars have planets."
Just as a cake recipe includes some basic ingredients, stars need certain elements to make giant planets. Scientists can use spectroscopy, or the way that light interacts with atoms in the star's upper layers, to measure a star's composition, which includes materials such as carbon, magnesium and silicon. These elements are the ingredients for making a planet, because stars and planets are made at the same time and from the same materials. However, while there are a lot of ingredients in your kitchen, not all of them belong in a cake. This is where the movie-streaming algorithm comes in, predicting planets based on the elements in stars.
"We found that the most influential elements in predicting planet-hosting stars are carbon, oxygen, iron and sodium," Hinkel said. "The funny thing was that we were not expecting sodium to be a key ingredient for predicting a planet. But it must be an important link between stars and planets, because it kept popping up, even when looking at different combinations of elements."
Hinkel used the Hypatia Catalog (link is external), a publicly available stellar database she developed, to train and test the algorithm. It's the largest database of stars and their elements for the population within 500 light years of our Sun. At last count, Hypatia had stellar element data for 6,193 stars, 401 of which are known to host planets. The database also catalogs 73 stellar elements from hydrogen to lead.
The algorithm, which will be publicly available, has looked at more than 4,200 stars and assessed their likelihood of hosting planets, based solely on the elements, or ingredients, within the star. In addition, Hinkel looked at different combinations of those ingredients to see how they influenced the algorithm.
Hinkel's team identified around 360 potential giant planet host stars that have more than a 90 percent probability of hosting a giant exoplanet. "We were excited, so we used archival telescope data to search for any signs of planets around these likely host stars," Hinkel said. "We identified possible Jupiter-sized planets around three stars predicted by the algorithm!"
When asked about how reliable her algorithm is, she explained that "we don't have any true-negatives in our data -- that is, stars that we know don't have planets -- so we 'hid' some known planet-hosting stars in the data to see what their prediction score would be like. On average they scored more than 75 percent, which is great! That's probably a higher average than me liking the sci-fi movies Netflix picks for me."
Moving forward, these findings could revolutionize target star selections for future research and clinch the role elements play in giant planet detection and formation. Hinkel is the lead author of the paper "A recommendation algorithm to predict giant exoplanet host stars using stellar elemental abundances" that will be published in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
National Education Policy Center: Fixing the Morass of Special Education Funding
BOULDER, Colorado, June 25 -- The National Education Policy Center issued the following news release:
* * *
- Policy brief addresses areas of incoherence in funding of special education, providing guidelines for federal policymakers to establish a national policy framework.
* * *
Today's challenges for special education funding are rooted in a complex regulatory and policy environment that reflects little forethought about who can and will pay special education costs.
Despite the fact that states and school districts are legally required to ensure a free and appropriate public education to
... Show Full Article
BOULDER, Colorado, June 25 -- The National Education Policy Center issued the following news release:
* * *
- Policy brief addresses areas of incoherence in funding of special education, providing guidelines for federal policymakers to establish a national policy framework.
* * *
Today's challenges for special education funding are rooted in a complex regulatory and policy environment that reflects little forethought about who can and will pay special education costs.
Despite the fact that states and school districts are legally required to ensure a free and appropriate public education tostudents with disabilities - as a condition of accepting federal funding - the federal government does little to fund the special education that students with disabilities receive. This places the overwhelming burden on states and localities to implement and pay for special education programs.
The result is a diffuse funding system in which almost all states fail to provide enough funding to cover the cost of special education in their local districts. In a brief released today by the National Education Policy Center, Tammy Kolbe of the University of Vermont examines the complex - and largely incoherent - policy framework that creates this precarious system for funding special education.
Funding Special Education: Charting a Path that Confronts Complexity and Crafts Coherence describes how increased federal funding should be packaged with a new framework for federal policy that would establish a fair and effective system for funding special education.
Professor Kolbe provides specific and immediate steps for federal policymakers, with the goal of moving the country closer to a new, more coherent national policy framework grounded in thoughtful consideration of what special education should cost, who should pay the costs, and how best to align funding models with policy goals for identifying and providing appropriate educational opportunities for children with disabilities.
Find Funding Special Education: Charting a Path that Confronts Complexity and Crafts Coherence, by Tammy Kolbe, at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/special-ed
This policy brief was made possible in part by the support of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice (greatlakescenter.org).
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: https://nepc.colorado.edu.
[Category: Education]
Los Angeles Professional Services Industry Raises More Than $500,000 for National Jewish Health
LOS ANGELES, California, June 25 -- National Jewish Health, a respiratory hospital, issued the following news release, dated June 21:
On June 1, 2019, the Los Angeles professional services industry held their annual Black & White Ball to support National Jewish Health, the nation's leading respiratory hospital. Nearly 450 people attended the event presented by Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber LLP and Rosenthal & Rosenthal of California, at the Intercontinental Downtown Los Angeles and raised more than $500,000.
The Los Angeles professional services industry has gathered for a dinner to support
... Show Full Article
LOS ANGELES, California, June 25 -- National Jewish Health, a respiratory hospital, issued the following news release, dated June 21:
On June 1, 2019, the Los Angeles professional services industry held their annual Black & White Ball to support National Jewish Health, the nation's leading respiratory hospital. Nearly 450 people attended the event presented by Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber LLP and Rosenthal & Rosenthal of California, at the Intercontinental Downtown Los Angeles and raised more than $500,000.
The Los Angeles professional services industry has gathered for a dinner to supportNational Jewish Health and honor members of their profession for more than 50 years. Proceeds from the Black & White Ball help advance National Jewish Health compassionate care and groundbreaking research for children and adults with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related diseases.
This year the event honored Sydnee Breuer of Rosenthal & Rosenthal of California and Nicholas A. Rozansky of Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber LLP with the Humanitarian Award, which is given to individuals across the country who have made significant civic and charitable contributions to their communities and professions.
"I am involved in a number of other charities, but none quite like National Jewish Health, which attracts such a diverse group who are not necessarily connected to the hospital medically, but who have grown to support it because they understand its importance," Rozansky told the attendees.
The co-chairs for the dinner were Gail K. Bernstein of PNC Business Credit; Robert Ezra of Freeman, Freeman & Smiley LLP; Ronald S. Friedman of Marcum LLP; Robert K. Lewin a former honoree; William Mark Levinson of Thompson Coburn LLP and Debbie Steinberg a former honoree. Top sponsors were Fashion Manuscripts and Connected Apparel.
For event information, please contact Alessandra Franco at 818.905.1300 or FrancoA@njhealth.org.
National Jewish Health is the leading respiratory hospital in the nation. Founded 120 years ago as a nonprofit hospital, National Jewish Health today is the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to groundbreaking medical research and treatment of patients with respiratory, cardiac, immune and related disorders. Patients and families come to National Jewish Health from around the world to receive cutting-edge, comprehensive, coordinated care. To learn more, visit the media resources page.
Immigration Reform Law Institute: Supreme Court Can Strike Down Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Now
WASHINGTON, June 25 -- The Immigration Reform Law Institute issued the following news release:
* * *
- IRLI urges faster recognition of program's illegality
* * *
Yet another appellate court - this time, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals - has enjoined the Trump administration's rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In support of the government's petition for review of this decision in the Supreme Court, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Court to take the case in order to rule that the courts lack
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 25 -- The Immigration Reform Law Institute issued the following news release:
* * *
- IRLI urges faster recognition of program's illegality
* * *
Yet another appellate court - this time, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals - has enjoined the Trump administration's rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In support of the government's petition for review of this decision in the Supreme Court, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Court to take the case in order to rule that the courts lackjurisdiction to hear it - because DACA is flagrantly unlawful.
DACA is unlawful, IRLI shows, because Congress never delegated authority for it to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This is especially so when it comes to the work authorizations DACA beneficiaries receive. If the law is read broadly enough to allow DHS to give out these work authorizations, then Congress has delegated sweeping power to DHS to authorize any alien it wants to work, without needing to comply with any statutory standard at all. But in that case, Congress has delegated authority that it cannot delegate under the Constitution. And, where possible, courts are to avoiding reading statutes in a way that makes them unconstitutional. Here, that can only be done by not reading the law broadly enough to allow the work authorizations in DACA.
Because DACA is unlawful, stopping the rescission of DACA, as the Fourth Circuit did, should not restore DACA. Rather, it should restore the last lawful regulatory state of affairs - here, the regulations in place before DACA. Since that result does not help the plaintiffs at all, their injuries cannot be redressed by this lawsuit, and the courts lack jurisdiction to hear the case.
"It boggles the mind that one President can begin a discretionary program, but a later President can't exercise his own discretion to end it," said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. "But when the discretionary program is unlawful to begin with, saying it can't be ended is especially absurd. We hope the Court takes up this case, performs its duty to determine its own jurisdiction and that of the lower courts, and at last puts an end to this massive exercise of illusory power by a federal agency."
The case is DHS v. Casa de Maryland, No. 18-1469 (Supreme Court).
Denver Center for the Performing Arts: Theatre or Theater? in Stage Circles, That's a Fighting Word
DENVER, Colorado, June 25 -- The Denver Center for the Performing Arts issued the following news, dated June 21:
* * *
- How companies spell that one volatile word says much about their histories and theatrical sensibilities
* * *
When The New York Times announced in March that Denver's Curious TheatRE Company will be opening its fall season with Antoinette Nwandu's "Pass Over," the article claimed the play was being presented by Curious TheatER Company.
As painful as this is for a journalist to say, this is a rare example of a credible media outlet not only getting it wrong. It got it wrong
... Show Full Article
DENVER, Colorado, June 25 -- The Denver Center for the Performing Arts issued the following news, dated June 21:
* * *
- How companies spell that one volatile word says much about their histories and theatrical sensibilities
* * *
When The New York Times announced in March that Denver's Curious TheatRE Company will be opening its fall season with Antoinette Nwandu's "Pass Over," the article claimed the play was being presented by Curious TheatER Company.
As painful as this is for a journalist to say, this is a rare example of a credible media outlet not only getting it wrong. It got it wrongon purpose. This is real #FakeNews. The correct spelling is Curious TheatRE Company.
But at The New York Times, it doesn't matter what you call yourselves. Even if you have "TheatRE" in your proper name, The Gray Lady will change it to "TheatER" in America's leading theatre, er, theater publication. That's just their style.
As someone who has covered the Colorado theatre/er community for nearly 20 years, I have always been fascinated by how companies and journalists alike use the word both in their names and in everyday use. So I did a study on it.
Colorado has 92 active or recently active companies - defined as any troupe that has staged a production in the past year or has one scheduled in the next year. It turns out the vast majority of companies that have Theatre or Theater in their proper names prefer the word Theatre (40). But not all. Because are we or are we not Americans??? Fourteen Colorado companies use TheatER in their names. And a healthy number (38) perhaps smartly avoid the word altogether.
Those in the TheatRE corner include Theatre Aspen, Phamaly Theatre Company and the DCPA Theatre Company. (The inclusion of the Denver Center in this group should surprise no one given that founder Donald R. Seawell was an honorary member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.) Those in the TheatER corner include Buntport Theater, Local Theater and the Firehouse Theater Company.
Media outlets follow designated style books - these are compendiums of rules not necessarily covered by grammar stricture to ensure consistency in copy. More than 1,400 U.S. newspapers use the Associated Press Stylebook as their bible, and that bible calls for theatER in all cases except proper names. The DCPA Stylebook, which governs this very article you are reading, calls for theatRE in all uses except proper names. And The New York Times ... well, follows its own bliss.
For the majority who prefer TheatRE, the argument is an open-and-shut curtain: Historically, theatRE has meant the art and theatER has meant the building it takes place in. By that logic, any theatre organization should be named RE, while any physical space should be named ER.
But those aren't the only reasons companies have chosen to use TheatRE in their names. Our survey revealed some fun facts about our shared Colorado theatre/er history. For example, two of our mountain companies call themselves TheatRE simply to distinguish themselves from their towns' movie houses:
* Lake Dillon Theatre Company (Dillon): "The founders of our company kept getting phone calls for the local movie theater, so they changed the name to Lake Dillon TheatRE to help the operators connecting the calls understand we were the live theatRE, not the movie theatER. It didn't help, by the way. I got here nine years later, and for my first three years, I would say half of our calls were for movie times. So we just started telling people what time the movies were on." - Producing Artistic Director Christopher Alleman
* Thingamajig Theatre Company (Pagosa Springs): "We originally named the company TheatER in 2010. However, when we set up our land line, the phone company gave us the last four digits 7469, or SHOW. And it turned out the movie house had done the same thing, so we both had the same last four numbers, just different prefixes. So when folks Googled for theater in Pagosa Springs, they would phone us thinking we were the movie theater. After three months, we just changed our name to TheatRE to further differentiate ourselves. So you could say the reason we chose TheatRE was really a result of search-engine optimization." - Producing Artistic Director Tim Moore
Perhaps no one in Colorado is more passionate about the preferred use of TheatRE than Steve Wilson, Executive Artistic Director of the Mizel Arts and Culture Center, which until recently ran the Denver Children's TheatRE. Wilson has a magnet in his office that says: "Theater re." You'll note the ER is stricken in favor of RE.
"I was the one who insisted on the 'RE' spelling for both the Denver Children's Theatre and the Elaine Wolf TheatRE we perform in," Wilson said. "Every respected theatre professional I have ever encountered spells theatRE with an RE. One of my teachers once said that the ER spelling can refer to the actual building, but I believe we theatRE people aspire to the belief that our spaces are always inhabited by the higher art at all times. Hence - assume pretentious British accent here - 'The TheatRE!'
But the mighty minority have their own passionate reasons for embracing the word TheatER. Primarily because we are Americans, and a few hundred years ago, we staged a revolution to get out from under the Brits' oppressive word clutches (and I suppose some other clutches as well.)
"We call ourselves Local TheatER Company because we develop new American plays, and we spell theater ER here in the United States," said founder Pesha Rudnick. Rick Yaconis, founder of the currently dormant Edge Theater Company, chose ER, he says, "because TheatRE seems pretentious to me, and I didn't want there to be anything pretentious about The Edge." John Ashton, who took over the late Avenue Theater in 1990, went with TheatER "just because theatRE seemed kind of uppity and froo-froo to me," he said. "I'm not sure what authority I may have to think that way; that's just how it feels."
Then there is Buntport TheatER collective, which in typical self-deprecating fashion picked a side "but not from a place of great passion - except when playful sparring with friends is involved," the company said in a collective response. "We discussed it when we started, but not at any great length. It's just: We don't write 'colour' or 'neighbour' or 'centre' in the U.S., so we also don't tend to write 'theatre.' "
The Buntport gang also pointed out that Grammarist.com, a credible source for grammar conflict resolution, stays neutral on this issue, saying: "In most contexts, there is no difference in meaning between theatER and theatRE. Neither has any special definitions in general usage."
OK, so that might be grammatically true. But what is drama without great conflict? To stoke the embers further, here are a few representative responses when we asked Colorado companies why they chose the names they chose:
TheatER proponents
* "The standard American English is TheatER. Some feel sort of superior by using theatRE as if they're more 'in the know,' but neither is 'correct.' Or more to the point, both are." - Lynn Fleming, Secretary, Coal Creek Theater of Louisville
* I named our new venue TheatER 29 instead of TheatRE 29 based on the fact that the RE spelling yielded fewer results in an initial Google search. My unscientific research led me to believe the ER spelling would be better for website purposes." - Lisa Wagner Erickson, co-founder, Theater 29, Denver
TheatRE proponents
* "American TheatRE magazine is, obviously RE, and that, we think, is the industry standard." - Denise Freestone, co-founder, OpenStage Theatre & Company, Fort Collins
* "We decided that the English version, theatRE, was more appropriate for what we wanted to do, and for the audience we wanted to attract." - Mark Rossman, co-founder, Cherry Creek Theatre
* "We don't have a single home for our shows, so TheatER doesn't really fit us. TheatRE reflects our commitment to the process of creating, collaborating and living." - Alexander Evert, Artistic Director, Fearless Theatre, Denver
* "When I talk about theatER vs theatER to my students at Pikes Peak Community College, I equate it to 'A church' vs. 'THE Church.' The theatRE resides in each of us. (Insert smiley emoji)." - Sarah Shaver, founding member, Springs Ensemble Theatre, Colorado Springs
* "Bas Bleu is French for 'bluestocking,' which means 'an intellectual woman.' The 18th-century Bluestocking salons in Europe closely reflected what we hoped to accomplish on the Front Range of Colorado. But we called ourselves 'The Bas Bleu Theatre Company' with our tongues firmly planted in our cheeks. There are such glorious mispronunciations of the French language in Fort Collins left over from the days of the fur trappers. The 'Poudre River' is often called 'The Pooder,' for example. We knew we were being somewhat cheeky by breaking some boundaries and choosing to do plays that might inspire, excite and terrify us as artists, but that might not have broad box-office appeal. We thought we would only last two years. That was 27 years ago. But in short: Bas Bleu is French, and in France, theater is always spelled theatRE." - Wendy Ishii, co-founder, Bas Bleu Theatre Company, Fort Collins
* "I named our company Vintage Theatre because I wanted to pay homage to my mentor, Amnon Kabatchnik, and that was the name of his touring company in the Finger Lakes region of New York." - Craig Bond, founder, Vintage Theatre, Aurora
* "I've always spelled the word TheatRE. But it could be my British husband's influence. I find a lot of my words suddenly have The Queen's English spelling." - Susan Lyles, founder, And Toto too Theatre Company
Bonus: A few naming nuggets from Colorado history
* Creede Repertory Theatre: The company was founded in 1966 as a desperate attempt by the local Jaycees to save the town as silver mining was drying up. The Jaycees sent a letter to universities within a thousand miles, hoping some excited students would answer the call to operate a summer company on Main Street. University of Kansas theatre student Steve Grossman was the only one to respond. The Jaycees originally called the project Operation Summer TheatER, which was changed to Creede Repertory TheatRE in 1968. "We company members were delighted NOT to be called an 'operation' anymore," said Kay Lancaster. "We wanted to be recognized as a repertory theatre, and we also wanted Creede in the title. Creede Repertory TheatRE had the perfect ring to it. And I will always remember how many folks in Creede called us the "THEE-A-TER kids."
* The Bug Theatre: In 1994, The Bug Performance and Media Art Center debuted in what originally opened in 1912 as a nickelodeon movie house in 1912. After several variations, the neighborhood children nicknamed it "The Bug House," and the name stuck. In 1994, it was incorporated as "The Bug Performance and Media Art Center," which was an accurate name, "but a pain in the butt to say answering the phone," said Executive Director Alex Weimer. From 1994-98, the building was called The Bug TheatER. "When we started our theatRE company in 1998, we wanted to have an entity under yet separate from The Bug," said Weimer. "We were punks. We were driven. We did not understand the business of a non-profit organization, but we were motivated and ready to explore. We called ourselves The Bug TheatRE Company, spelled the arsty-fartsy way, because several of us were in the blushing bloom of our adulthood of creativity and embraced our pretentiousness in a manner that takes the piss right out of it. At least, I thought so at the time. Anyway, when artist and designer Kenn Penn re-did the facade of the building around 2003, he cut the logo from one-quarter-inch steel and we stuck with the name "The Bug Theatre."
John Moore was named one of the 12 most influential theater critics in the U.S. by American Theatre Magazine in 2011. He has since taken a groundbreaking position as the Denver Center's Senior Arts Journalist.
At Conference of Top Cancer Researchers, Environmental Working Group Presents New Analysis Showing Nitrate-Polluted Tap Water Could Cause 12,500 Cancer Cases a Year
WASHINGTON, June 25 -- The Environmental Working Group issued the following news release:
* * *
- U.S. Drinking Water Standard for Nitrate Untouched Since 1962
* * *
Drinking water contaminated with nitrate could be responsible for more than 12,500 cases of cancer each year, according to a peer-reviewed study by Environmental Working Group presented today at a conference of leading cancer and environmental health experts.
EWG toxicologist Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., discussed the research findings during a meeting sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, entitled Environmental
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 25 -- The Environmental Working Group issued the following news release:
* * *
- U.S. Drinking Water Standard for Nitrate Untouched Since 1962
* * *
Drinking water contaminated with nitrate could be responsible for more than 12,500 cases of cancer each year, according to a peer-reviewed study by Environmental Working Group presented today at a conference of leading cancer and environmental health experts.
EWG toxicologist Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., discussed the research findings during a meeting sponsored by the American Association for Cancer Research, entitled EnvironmentalCarcinogenesis: Potential Pathway to Cancer Prevention.
The study, recently published in the journal Environmental Research, is the first in the U.S. to estimate the number of cancer cases from nitrate pollution in municipal drinking water systems. Nitrate contamination in drinking water often comes from agricultural runoff of fertilizer and manure from farm fields and animal factory farms into rivers, lakes and streams. EWG estimates the healthcare costs of treating those cases may be close to $1.5 billion a year, Dr. Temkin said in her remarks.
EWG's research shows Arizona, California, Iowa and Delaware have the highest frequency of estimated cancer cases from nitrate-contaminated tap water, with greater than 10 cases per 100,000 people.
The current federal drinking water standard of 10 parts per million, or ppm, was set in 1962 during the Kennedy administration and has not been updated since. Earlier this year, the Trump EPA abandoned plans to review the health effects associated with nitrate, claiming it was a "low priority."
Over the past decade, a number of well-regarded epidemiological studies, including research conducted by National Cancer Institute, have connected nitrate in drinking water with increased risk of colon, kidney, ovarian, thyroid and bladder cancers. Four-fifths of the estimated cancer cases reported by the EWG study were occurrences of colorectal cancer.
Nitrate contamination of drinking water is also linked with neonatal health issues. EWG estimated that nitrate pollution may be responsible for as many as 2,939 cases of very low birth weight; 1,725 cases of very preterm birth; and 41 cases of neural tube defects.
EWG scientists estimate the level at which no adverse health effects would occur from nitrate in drinking water to be 0.14 milligrams per liter - equivalent to parts per million. That level, 70 times lower than the EPA's legal limit, represents a one-in-one-million risk of cancer.
"Our research discovered that in many communities, nitrate found in drinking water could pose real health harms," said Dr. Temkin. "If not addressed, this problem will likely continue to get worse."
There are federal farm programs that pay farmers to adopt conservation practices to prevent nitrate pollution from running off fields into drinking water sources. EWG's Conservation Database provides the first-ever detailed look at what practices farmers are being paid to adopt in every county nationwide. However, the data reveal a stunning underinvestment in the practices needed to protect drinking water in the places where it is most threatened from nitrate contamination.
The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
[Category: Environment]
Alaska Wilderness League: Conservation, Alaska and Indigenous Organizations Applaud Interior Spending Provision That Holds Trump Administration Accountable for Misleading Arctic Refuge Promises
WASHINGTON, June 25 -- The Alaska Wilderness League issued the following news release, dated June 21:
* * *
- Bill language requiring a floor on lease sale bids holds Trump and members of Congress accountable for promises made when Arctic Refuge leasing was inserted in the 2017 tax bill
* * *
The United States House of Representatives yesterday evening rejected a bid to amend its Interior Department spending bill that includes language requiring any Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas lease sales offered by the Trump administration to meet revenue projections promised by the 2017 Tax
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, June 25 -- The Alaska Wilderness League issued the following news release, dated June 21:
* * *
- Bill language requiring a floor on lease sale bids holds Trump and members of Congress accountable for promises made when Arctic Refuge leasing was inserted in the 2017 tax bill
* * *
The United States House of Representatives yesterday evening rejected a bid to amend its Interior Department spending bill that includes language requiring any Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas lease sales offered by the Trump administration to meet revenue projections promised by the 2017 TaxAct. Specifically, the language stipulates that the Bureau of Land Management must set minimum lease sale bids for an initial sale capable of meeting one-half of the $1 billion projected federal revenue included as the single offset in the tax bill. An amendment to strike the Arctic Refuge language offered by Representatives Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Don Young (R-AK) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) failed on the floor Thursday on a 198-233 vote.
The average Alaska North Slope lease sale bid since 2000 is $31 per acre. To achieve one-half of $1 billion dollars in promised federal revenue, acreage in the Arctic Refuge would have to lease for at least $2,500 per acre. By setting a floor on what companies must bid to lease land on the Arctic Refuge's fragile coastal plain, language in the current Interior appropriations bill holds the Trump administration and members of Congress that voted for the tax bill accountable for unrealistic promises made in 2017.
Gwich'in Steering Committee, Alaska Wilderness League, Braided River, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuges, National Audubon Society, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society issued the following statement on passage of the Interior Appropriations bill with language restricting Arctic Refuge leasing:
"We applaud the House for holding to account the Trump administration and members of Congress who voted for the 2017 tax bill while cooking the books on Arctic drilling revenues. Even if lease prices were anywhere close to what was promised, drilling should never take place in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We support the inclusion of the Arctic Refuge provision in the House Interior spending bill as well as bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Huffman (D-CA) and Fitzpatrick (R-PA) that would restore protections to the Arctic Refuge coastal plain.
No amount of money can replace this unparalleled national treasure or the caribou, polar bears, millions of birds and other wildlife that depend on it. It certainly can't replace the value of this land to the Gwich'in people who depend on the Porcupine caribou and refer to the coastal plain where caribou give birth each year as 'the sacred place where life begins.'"
[Category: Environment]
