On the Hill
Both Houses of Congress are in recess this week due to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. They will return next week and face a two-week sprint before they recess again for the month of August. The focus will be on Fiscal Year 2025 appropriations bills. All of the 12 House appropriations bills have been reported from the House Appropriations Committee and 4 of these have passed the lower chamber. The Senate lags behind considerably with only 3 of the 12 bills having received committee consideration and none of the 3 has been considered by the full Senate. The fiscal year ends September 30 and a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded past that date is almost a certainty.
Reforming the Endangered Species Act
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) intends to introduce legislation next week that would comprehensively reform the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This statute has long been used by environmental groups as a tool to curtail forest management on public and private lands. Chairman Westerman’s legislation seeks to soften the impact of ESA listing decisions on landowners by, among other things, requiring USFWS to establish objective, incremental recovery goals for listed species.
The 38-page discussion draft of the ESA Amendments Act of 2024 was rolled out at a hearing last week. A section-by-section summary of the bill suggests that it seeks to restore a number of definitions that were put in place through regulations adopted during the Trump Administration. One of these definitions is “critical habitat” which is a key piece in determining the impact of a listing decision. A recent example is the Northern Longeared Bat (NLEB). A few years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had proposed listing the NLEB as “endangered” and the definition of critical habitat was so broad that it would have precluded any timber harvesting or landscape disturbance in the bat’s 40 state range during roosting months. Advocacy efforts prevailed in rolling that action back, but it pointed out the need for ESA reform.
In addition to codifying important definitions, the bill will establish an environmental baseline to measure successful outcomes and incentivize the recovery of listed species. According to the sponsor, the bill will also promote species conservation on private and public lands and create greater transparency and accountability in the ESA regulatory process.
Port Strike Grows More Likely
ABMA continues to monitor developments on labor contract negotiations that impact ports along the East and Gulf Coasts. A statement released last Friday by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) indicated that the threat of a strike after the current Sept. 30 contract expiration deadline is “growing more likely” as the negotiations remain at an impasse. ILA’s chief negotiator said that the maritime employers represented by United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) “are running out of time” to negotiate a new master contract agreement and avoid a coastwide work stoppage across 36 ports from Maine to Texas.
Contract talks broke down after ILA learned that Maersk-owned APM Terminals and Maersk Line were using an “auto gate” system at Alabama’s Port of Mobile, which powers the gate that enables trucks to enter and exit a terminal and be autonomously processed without union labor. Upon this discovery, the ILA said in June that it would not meet with USMX until the auto gate issue is resolved. Talks have not resumed in the months since.
Obviously, a port strike would have enormous ramifications up and down the supply chain. We will keep you apprised of progress of contract talks.
