The Natural Resources Conservation Service through an interim rule amended its regulations under the 2018 Farm Bill to implement the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which enhances conservation and promotes coordination between the Service and its partners to help producers and landowners increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, and wildlife on a regional or watershed scale.
EPA renewed the charter for the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory Committee, which provides advice and recommendations to the Administrator on environmental issues and policies that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities, for an additional two years.
Our country's landscape has changed dramatically over the last 50 years as a result of numerous governmental policies and subsidies that encourage low-density development commonly referred to as "sprawl." Sprawl results in environmental problems ranging from air pollution to wetland degradation. Our countryside is disappearing and becoming more fragmented, while urban areas are simply neglected. Moreover, this type of growth, which has gone unchecked for the latter half of this century, increases traffic congestion, strains public budgets, and deteriorates our quality of life.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency seeks comment on residential energy retrofitting programs financed through special state legislation enabling a "super-priority lien" over existing and subsequent first mortgages.
The Commodity Credit Corporation made interim changes to the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program to conform with the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.
The Commodity Credit Corporation made changes to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to conform with the Agricutural Improvement Act of 2018.
The Commodity Credit Corporation revised regulations for the Conservation Reserve Program to specify the terms and conditions of the program and implement amendments made by the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018.
The United States owns, on behalf of all Americans, approximately 30% of the nation’s land, totaling more than 600 million acres. These lands are overseen by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI).
The Commodity Credit Corporation announced and seeks comment on interim amendments to existing regulations for the conservation stewardship program that would incorporate programmatic changes as authorized by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.
In Federal Lands and Fossil Fuels: Maximizing Social Welfare in Federal Energy Leasing, Prof. Jayni Foley Hein assesses inefficiencies in the federal fossil fuel leasing program that lead to the over-extraction of fossil fuels at great societal cost. In recognition of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI's) role in stewarding federal lands for the long-term benefit of the American people, Hein proposes that DOI should adopt a policy of seeking to maximize social welfare or “net public benefits” in its leasing decisions.