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January 29, 2016 by

FLINT, Mich. — During a blustery winter afternoon yesterday, cars and trucks here moved through the line at a downtown water distribution center at a steady clip. Vehicles stopped for only a moment as a uniformed National Guard soldier loaded cases of water into passenger-side doors or pickup beds and offered visitors clear plastic bags for recycling.

In quick succession, a GMC Envoy boasting a Ben Carson 2016 sticker, a Chevy Silverado declaring "Silly boy, trucks are for girls," and a Ram 1500 decorated with both a Detroit Red Wings logo and an aging "I love Jesus" decal each received a case of water at Flint’s Fire Station #1 and then continued on their way.

Across town at Fire Station #3, residents parked alongside the brick building and entered through a side door to claim their daily allotment of water, some of the more than 196,000 cases of bottled water distributed by state and local officials this month in response to lead contamination in Flint’s water supplies.

Flint resident Tjuana Lee, 37, said she visits multiple water distribution centers each day to gather enough water to drink, cook and bathe her family, which includes three school-aged children.

"It’s very heartbreaking, and I feel like they just don’t care," Lee said of the state and local officials. "It takes everything in me not to cry sometimes. To see us have to come and get water from the fire station. How do they expect us to live day to day?"

Just how long Lee and other Flint residents must wait to see repairs made to the water system — the city began using the Flint River for its water in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure directed by a state emergency manager, but the river proved to be a corrosive source that damaged the city’s lead pipes and leached the neurotoxin into the water supply — remains an open question.

"I’ve been in public office a long time. I got elected 39 years ago. I’ve been through a lot, and I’ve never been so angry in my whole life about this complacency and this sort of, I can’t even describe it, this sense that this is not urgent — when we’re talking about the lives of 100,000 people, that the state has shown this is not urgent," Rep. Dan Kildee (D) told E&E Daily in an interview at his Flint office this week.

While both state and federal officials are working to direct funds to address the water crisis, officials provide varying timelines and predictions for how long it could take to rectify Flint’s water infrastructure.

"The biggest question mark is, when will the water be safe to drink?" Kildee said. The city is currently deploying phosphates into its water supply in an effort to control corrosion in both lead supply lines and homes. "The hope is that once corrosion control is fully optimized, there will be enough testing done by people that are trustworthy … that we’ll be able to focus more of our attention on the long-term challenges," he said.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver announced Wednesday that Virginia Tech environmental engineering professor Marc Edwards, who pushed officials to acknowledge the extent of lead contamination, had been retained to monitor the city’s future water testing. In the meantime, Michigan’s Legislature approved $28 million in supplemental funds for Flint (Greenwire, Jan. 28).

But The Flint Journal noted that those funds would be split among six state agencies, with a portion of the funds going to continue to pay for the National Guard and additional bottled water and filters. A total of $5 million will be set aside to pay Flint for the loss of revenue from unpaid water bills as well as to provide new infrastructure for lead service pipes and plumbing.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) has vowed to seek additional funds for Flint in his upcoming annual budget.

Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D) and Gary Peters (D) have proposed an amendment to the Senate energy bill that would designate $400 million in aid to Flint to repair its lead service lines, although the funds would require a match from the state.

In addition to setting aside funds to repair and replace the city’s lead pipes, the measure would create a $200 million research center on lead exposure in Flint and compel U.S. EPA to forgive about $20 million in water infrastructure loans through the agency’s state revolving fund (E&ENews PM, Jan. 28).

Kildee said he planned to sponsor a measure in the House that would, like the Senate amendment, also require the federal government to act if a state fails to alert the public about lead contamination in its water supplies.

Both EPA and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality noted mid-2015 test results indicating rising lead levels in Flint in 2014, but water customers were not warned to stop drinking the unfiltered water until last October — when the city ended its use of the Flint River as its source.

Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley (R) addresses the media yesterday about the water contamination crisis in Flint. | Photo by Jennifer Yachnin.

But while Kildee said EPA could have done more to protect Flint residents — EPA Region 5 Director Susan Hedman resigned last week over the crisis — he puts blame squarely in the lap of Gov. Snyder (Greenwire, Jan. 26).

"There’s one entity who is responsible for what happened, and there are others who could have done more to stop them. The state of Michigan did this to Flint, and there’s no two ways about it," Kildee said.

He later added: "The thing that bothers me is it does appear that clearly, the EPA should have done more, but that doesn’t give the state of Michigan an excuse for what they did, any more than someone who is caught red-handed should blame the police because they weren’t caught earlier, because the police didn’t stop them before they did more damage."

Some political observers may see a partisan element to Kildee’s criticisms of Snyder: The Democrat is considered a possible candidate for governor in 2018, when the incumbent is term-limited. Democrats are increasing their criticisms of the Republican administration (see related story), while some Republicans are zeroing in on the Obama administration’s oversight.

Michigan Lt. Gov. Brian Calley (R) yesterday rejected the idea that any specific agency or politician should shoulder blame for the city’s ongoing water crisis.

"I’m sure there’s plenty of blame to go around at local, state and federal levels," Calley told E&E Daily following a news conference at Fire Station #1, where he announced expanded recycling efforts to deal with the influx of plastic water bottles. "But I see a need to focus on solutions. We need to first be about fixing it so it doesn’t happen, not just here, but anywhere in the nation."

‘The lesson goes beyond water’

Although the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on the Flint water crisis Wednesday, Snyder has not been invited to testify (E&E Daily, Jan. 28).

The panel has yet to publish a public notification of invited witnesses, but a governor’s spokesman confirmed to E&E Daily that he had not been invited nor had he requested to attend the session.

In an interview before the hearing was announced, Kildee said he has asked to testify before the panel himself.

While Kildee said he would like to see the crisis in Flint spur changes to EPA’s revolving fund — which states use to address infrastructure problems — he said there should be more funds dedicated to forgivable loans or outright grants, particularly for cities like Flint that struggle financially.

But Kildee said he would also like to see the spotlight now on Flint prompt greater discussion of how state and federal officials address once-thriving manufacturing cities that have faced decades of shrinking populations and budgets.

"This is important not just to make sure that the facts come clear so the response to the Flint crisis is equal to the gravity of the problem, but also to make sure that this provides a lesson for the rest of the country," Kildee said. "And the lesson goes beyond water. This is a lesson about how we have basically dismissed older industrial cities as if they’re meaningless and the people that live there don’t count … and that’s true of the federal government and state governments."

"For me, the importance of this is first of all to get the people in Flint the help they need, but also to help drive home this larger point: We can’t treat cities with high poverty, with population loss, with all sorts of social factors or stress, we can’t treat those communities like they don’t matter," he said.

In particular, Kildee has been highly critical of Michigan’s use of emergency managers to address budget problems in Flint as well as in the Detroit public school system.

"It’s a result of bankrupt philosophy of government that basically looks at communities as if they’re companies. And we have a governor who, like many governors in the U.S. right now, has brought this notion of a bottom-line, corporatist approach to managing communities. … Communities are not corporations; they’re human organisms," Kildee said.

Kildee acknowledged that the emergency manager’s decision to switch to Flint River water was not in itself an unusual idea, but the city’s subsequent failure to treat the water with a corrosion control agent was an egregious oversight.

"Not spending $140 a day to provide corrosion control for river water — which is 19 times more corrosive than lake water — caused this problem. I wish it were more complicated, but it’s really not," Kildee said.

‘Year of water’

Less than two years ago, Snyder was seeking an increase in funding for the state’s water infrastructure and initiatives, prompting then-Michigan DEQ Director Dan Wyant — who resigned in December over the Flint water crisis — to dub the fiscal 2015 budget the "year of water."

But the incident in Flint all but negates those efforts, said Michigan League of Conservation Voters Deputy Director Jack Schmitt.

"This is becoming a legacy issue for the governor, and by that I mean an issue that really will define his administration," Schmitt said. "The governor clearly has a major black mark on his record on environmental issues and water quality issues."

While Snyder is term-limited in 2018, observers suggest the Flint debacle will likely remain a top issue in the next election.

Kildee is a Flint native who was elected to Congress in 2012 to replace his uncle, former Rep. Dale Kildee (D), who served for 36 years. The younger Kildee has held various local offices dating back to 1977, when he was just 18. During that time, he has also done nonprofit work and once ran a local land bank, which addressed the growing problem of abandoned properties in Flint. He demurred when asked this week about his interest in the 2018 gubernatorial race.

"Politics take care of themselves," Kildee said. "There’s an election between now and then. When the time comes because so many people are suggesting it, I will certainly give it thought, but right now I think we should be more focused on the current governor doing his job than figuring out who the next governor should be."

January 28, 2016 by

A chief ranger with the National Park Service took to the comment section on a local news website to criticize a former employee who won a whistleblower retaliation ruling, according to the Interior Department’s inspector general.

The IG’s office released a summary yesterday of its investigation into online comments made by the chief ranger of Canaveral National Seashore. Though the summary does not name the ranger, Edwin Correa holds the chief ranger position and responded to a Florida Today article in January 2015.

The article detailed a ruling by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), which found that former Canaveral employee Candace Carter suffered retaliation after reporting contracting violations to the IG.

In the world of newspaper comment sections, Correa’s post was tame and its distribution limited. The article got only six other comments.

But Correa posted from his Facebook account, outing himself as an NPS employee.

"Does anybody know that this whistleblower took over two years in leave abusing the system, taking advantage of volunteers twice older than her an doing the job for her, did you know that all her complaints were racially bias against african americans and latinos," Correa wrote in a stream-of-consciousness post that ends with "last but not least do you know that the only thing she won was two hours back paid do to the Government found not merit on her lies."

The IG determined that the comments were "unbecoming of an NPS law enforcement manager and may have violated the NPS Law Enforcement Code of Conduct," according to the investigation summary. It provided the report to NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis.

NPS spokesman Jeffrey Olson said agency officials "take this information from the OIG very seriously." Any personnel actions, he said, will comply with privacy laws.

Correa’s misstep is only the latest installment in a series of questionable behavior of employees of Canaveral, a park on Florida’s east coast that boasts a 25-mile beach popular with nesting sea turtles.

The IG’s office began investigating staff misconduct in 2011 after Carter reported that park officials had violated contracting rules. The resulting 2012 report confirmed Carter’s allegations: Two employees had improperly "split" the cost of a contract in order to hire vendors without competition.

Those employees, Mark Hempe and Shawn Harris, ultimately hired their relatives for the job, according to the 2012 IG report. The $18,000 project should have gone through competitive bidding; Hempe and Harris broke it down into increments of $2,000 or less to avoid that requirement.

The IG also found various management problems.

The park’s superintendent, Myrna Palfrey, told someone on her staff about an IG visit — and then lied to IG investigators about doing so. Then she denied having a personal relationship with Harris and his wife, Natalie, who also works at the park. IG investigators observed Shawn Harris’ car at Palfrey’s home later that night.

The IG opened a second investigation in 2014 based on allegations from Carter that the park was still violating contracting rules.

Carter, who was a biological science technician at the park, filed a retaliation complaint in 2013. She left the agency in October 2014 due to medical reasons, according to an article in National Parks Traveler.

The 2015 ruling by MSPB Administrative Judge Pamela Jackson blasts NPS for arguing that Harris and Hempe did not use split purchases and followed policy.

"I am, frankly, astounded by the agency’s representations and arguments," Jackson wrote. "Unless it did not read its own OIG report, I cannot fathom how it could make such assertions. Clearly, its own OIG specifically found evidence of [Federal Acquisition Regulation] violations almost identical to the appellant’s allegations or disclosures."

Jackson ordered NPS to change a 2012 performance rating to "superior" and provide Carter with any associated back pay. She also ordered the agency to approve administrative leave — likely amounting to a few hours — for Carter’s visits to a counselor after a co-worker roughly grabbed her arm in a meeting.

But Jackson also dismissed several other claims. One of those was Carter’s allegation that Correa, the chief ranger, had sent retaliatory emails.

Carter asserted that Correa had sent emails with quotes she thought attacked whistleblowers. The example given: "A wise man/woman is superior to any insults which can be put upon him/her and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation."

Carter did not submit evidence, and Jackson calls it "no more than a bare allegation."

Correa’s comments on the Florida Today website, however, are open for anyone to see.

Correa did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

January 28, 2016 by

BURNS, Ore. — Shards of glass and M&M’s trail mix littered the highway pavement yesterday at the site where Ammon and Ryan Bundy and three others were arrested and where police gunned down LaVoy Finicum.

The leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation were pulled over by police Tuesday before dusk about 20 miles north of Burns on Highway 395 in a stand of majestic ponderosa pines.

It took place in the snow-covered Malheur National Forest near the Joaquin Miller horse camp and campground, a federal recreation site that is closed in the winter.

The Bundys and Finicum were driving in two vehicles to attend a community meeting in John Day, Ore., when they were intercepted by the FBI and Oregon State Police.

As they traveled north, they would have traversed the scenic Devine Canyon, a winding stretch of old-growth pine and lichen-covered rocks.

It was an ideal spot for police to converge on the armed militants, given the absence of homes and the lack of turnoffs. It likely minimized potential harm to civilians and the risk of the militants escaping. Police blocked off a 40-mile stretch of road from the U.S. Highway 20 junction near Burns north to Seneca.

"We worked to ensure that we could [arrest them] in the safest way possible — removing the threat of danger from innocent citizens," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing.

Police have offered almost no details on how the arrests and shooting went down. They merely said that "there were shots fired" and that one person was killed and another wounded.

A pair of tire tracks through the snowbank west of the road shows a northbound vehicle left the pavement and came to a quick stop.

That’s consistent with the accounts of two people, Victoria Sharp and Mark McConnell, who say they were riding in the cars but were not arrested. They both said Finicum crashed his truck off the road after trying to flee police. Sharp said Finicum’s passengers were herself, Ryan Payne, Ryan Bundy and Shawna Cox.

Sharp said the driver’s-side front window was shot out, but it appears from the location of the broken glass that a passenger-side window was shot out.

Investigators left neon-orange paint marks on the pavement, and fresh footprints remained in the snow. The scene was quiet yesterday afternoon as the sun filtered through moss-covered tree limbs.

A state police "explosives unit" truck passed on its way south to the police command center in Burns.

Police said they will not release any more details of the arrests and gunfire until the Deschutes County Major Incident Team finishes an investigation. No estimated timeline was provided.

If video evidence exists, it could confirm or dispel allegations by Sharp that Finicum was surrendering when police shot him. That account sowed anger among the militants who chose to stay at the refuge yesterday, defying FBI warnings to leave. They appeared itching for a gunfight with the police who surrounded them.

January 28, 2016 by

BURNS, Ore. — LaVoy Finicum’s shooting death at the hands of Oregon State Police on Tuesday set off a firestorm of anti-government vitriol on social media and could galvanize extremist groups that oppose federal land ownership, experts warned yesterday.

Finicum, a 55-year-old Arizona rancher who played a prominent role in Ammon and Ryan Bundy’s occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, is being hailed in such circles as a martyr who died defending Americans against overbearing federal landlords.

His death has become a recruiting tool for extremist groups and the militant wing of the movement to transfer federal lands to local control.

"This is a movement that has spent a lot of time constructing martyrs, and they would very much like to have one more," said Mark Potok, a senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, a nonprofit that tracks extremist groups. "I think there are many reasons to be concerned."

This is precisely the result that federal authorities had hoped to avoid.

For more than three weeks, the FBI declined to interfere with the dozens of militants squatting at refuge headquarters about 30 miles south of town. The occupiers demanded that the federal government release two imprisoned ranchers and relinquish control of its roughly 640 million acres of land.

As the militants’ numbers grew, so did the pressure from state, county and tribal officials for the Justice Department to take more aggressive action to prevent the occupation from spreading to surrounding counties.

Police took a calculated risk in deciding to intercept Finicum, the Bundys and at least five others as they traveled north Tuesday afternoon in two cars on a remote highway from Burns to John Day. The location of the arrests among a grove of old-growth ponderosa pine and far from any towns was possibly strategic (see related story).

"We worked to ensure that we could do so in the safest way possible — removing the threat of danger from innocent citizens," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing.

Yet it did not end peacefully.

According to accounts by two people who said they were traveling with the group, Finicum, who was driving one of the vehicles, sped off in the middle of the traffic stop and crashed his truck into a snowbank. But the accounts differ as to what happened next.

Victoria Sharp, 18, whose Kansas family had sung songs at the refuge, said she was in a car with Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne of Montana, Shawna Cox of Utah and Finicum when they were pulled over on U.S. Highway 395. According to Sharp’s account, police showered the car with bullets and shot Finicum multiple times after he emerged from the vehicle with his hands up. She claims no one in her party ever touched their guns.

"He was like, ‘Just shoot me then,’" Sharp said of Finicum. And the police shot.

But Mark McConnell, who said he was driving the other car, which carried Ammon Bundy and Brian Cavalier of Nevada, said he was told by Cox that Finicum "charged after law enforcement."

Finicum was definitely not on his knees surrendering, McConnell said in his videotaped account, relaying Cox’s story to him. McConnell said he did not see the shooting himself.

"Her story has changed a few times," McConnell said of Cox. "She’s added pieces, subtracted pieces. I don’t know."

CNN quoted an unnamed law enforcement official as saying Finicum reached for his waistband, where he had a gun, which prompted the police shooting.

Authorities did not arrest Sharp or McConnell. They did arrest the others: the Bundys, Cox, Cavalier and Payne, charging them with conspiracy to interfere with U.S. officials through the use of force or intimidation, a federal felony that carries a sentence of up to six years in prison.

They’re being held in the Portland area without bail pending a detention hearing tomorrow.

Police said they will not release any more details of the incident until the Deschutes County Major Incident Team finishes an investigation into the shooting. No estimated timeline was provided.

Until then, the narrative of Finicum as heroic victim will prevail among Bundy followers.

"A patriot was killed in cold blood, execution-style," said one man in a video posted yesterday by a Facebook group called Convicted Patriots, which claims to stand up for the U.S. Constitution. "It’s time for the patriot movement to rise up."

The post was later removed.

A "Bundy Ranch" Facebook community group that enjoys nearly 160,000 "likes" asked followers to use Finicum’s image as their profile photo and fly flags at half-mast.

"LaVoy has left us, but his sacrifice will never be far from the lips of those who love liberty," said one post. "You cannot defeat us. Our blood is seed."

Several other Facebook groups that have backed the occupation, including Citizens for Constitutional Freedom Support Group and LaVoy Finicum’s Stand for Freedom, have also posted tributes to the deceased leader.

Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore (R), long a supporter of the Bundy family, who is running for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), tweeted that Finicum was "just murdered with his hands up in Burns."

Foster parent, Mormon

Finicum’s personal story made him an ideal spokesman for the militants.

He said he grew up in Page, Ariz., on the Navajo Reservation. He took part in rancher Cliven Bundy’s standoff in Bunkerville, Nev., and, like Bundy, publicly refused to pay his grazing fees to BLM. His down-home persona distinguished him from other occupation leaders who donned military uniforms and had less connection to public lands.

Finicum, who had 11 children, loved "nothing more in life than God, family, and freedom," according to his website, which promotes his novel, "Only by Blood and Suffering: Regaining Lost Freedom."

He closely followed the tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the religion followed by Ammon Bundy, and does not appear to have ever committed a serious crime.

He cared for as many as 50 foster children through the years, according to The Oregonian. Catholic Charities Community Services Inc. paid Finicum $115,343 in 2010 for "foster services," according to tax records.

Even if police can provide evidence justifying their use of deadly force against Finicum, many associated with the occupation might not believe it.

Interviews with several refuge occupants over the past month show they believe many odd conspiracy theories, such as: The federal government is taking over Harney County ranchlands to claim a secret reserve of uranium and natural gas; President Obama is secretly allied with the terrorist group known as the Islamic State; and the Bureau of Land Management is really a private corporation.

"It would be awfully nice if there was film [of the shooting]," said Potok of SPLC, "because these people are given to concocting absolutely incredible conspiracy theories about the government."

In the aftermath of the BLM’s failed roundup of Cliven Bundy’s cows in April 2014, there were incidents of harassment of federal employees and the murder of two police officers by a husband and wife who had participated in Bundy’s standoff.

An SPLC report this month found that the number of national anti-government militia groups increased 37 percent in 2015 from 2014.

Critics say the government’s failure to bring charges against Cliven Bundy and his followers emboldened the younger Bundys to take Malheur.

A better way?

In the near term, federal lands agencies, including BLM, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service, should exercise caution, said former BLM Director Bob Abbey.

That means keeping tabs on employees’ whereabouts in the field and keeping radio and telephone contact, Abbey said.

"The key right now is to be cognizant of the situation that employees find themselves in," he said. "It’s really important for agencies, if any employees are harassed or threatened, that there’s quick follow-up."

Abbey lauded the police response at Malheur.

They were patient, maintained dialogue with the occupants, tried to negotiate a settlement and took action when they needed to, he said.

"Their actions were prudent," Abbey said. "I think they were responsible."

It is not clear how soon the dozens of BLM, FWS and Forest Service employees who work in the county will be allowed to return to their offices.

All of the 16 full-time refuge employees have been relocated outside the county, along with many members of their families, after many reported incidents of harassment. One staff member said she was tailed down the highway while leaving town, and there was chatter on social media about the potential of refuge staff being taken hostage.

"We have erred on the side of caution," said FWS spokesman Jason Holm.

BLM’s Burns District office and the Forest Service’s Emigrant Creek Ranger District have remained closed since the occupation began Jan. 2, forcing dozens of staff members to work from home. On Monday, a week-old, soiled newspaper lay in front of the BLM office south of Hines. A sign on a utility pole said "Thank you" to BLM’s law enforcement officers and "Go home, Bundy."

While the occupation may have roused the most extreme opponents of federal lands, it likely did not help groups that seek to transfer federal lands through legal and political channels.

"From now on, anyone who attempts to seize or sell our American lands will be tarnished with the brand of Ammon and Cliven Bundy," said Jessica Goad, advocacy director at the Center for Western Priorities. "The occupiers have given the cause a black eye."

It has put groups like the American Lands Council, a nonprofit that educates and prods Western elected officials to pursue lawsuits and legislation to take control of federal lands, in an uncomfortable spot. They’re fighting for the same ends as the Bundys, though they disagree on the means.

ALC CEO and Montana state Sen. Jennifer Fielder (R) yesterday framed the Oregon uprising as symptomatic of the injustices faced by public lands ranchers, loggers and miners.

"After more than three weeks of occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, seven protestors were arrested and, sadly, one was left dead at the end of the incident," she wrote yesterday in an email to followers. "It makes you shake your head and wonder, what brought all of this about? And isn’t there a better way?"

January 28, 2016 by Alex Wang

Two deadly wildfires that ravaged Northern California last fall caused an estimated $1 billion in damages, state insurance regulators said this week.

The announcement comes days after California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones
signed an order making it easier for Californians to qualify for the state’s "plan of last resort."

The California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, known as the FAIR Plan,
provides basic property coverage for consumers who are unable to find coverage in the private insurance market, which often includes homeowners living in high-risk fire areas.

"The changes to the FAIR Plan included in this order will improve consumer access and the coverages available under the FAIR Plan," Jones said in a statement.

But some analysts fear that opening up the state-sanctioned insurance program undercuts the private market’s ability to address mounting climate threats that are fueling damaging wildfires. Moreover, they argue, it does nothing to discourage development in fire-prone areas.

Wildfire insurance is not a legal requirement for Californian homeowners, although some banks may require it in order to get a mortgage. Homeowners who do wish to protect their property must first try to get coverage from traditional insurers. In recent years, some underwriters have scaled back where they will insure homes. In 2007, for example, Allstate Corp.
stopped issuing new policies in California.

For the nearly 2 million households in California considered at high risk of fire, the next stop for trying to procure insurance is from surplus line insurers, who write specialty policies at premium prices. Between 2010 and 2014, the Surplus Line Association of California
reports the number of policies filed jumped 30 percent.

Increased wildfire risk isn’t the only driver, but it’s playing a role, experts said.

Writing plans ‘no one else will’

The last stop for coverage is the FAIR Plan. The program was created by the state Legislature in 1968 but is privately operated and not subsidized by taxpayers.

Considered a bare-bones plan, the new order steps up the level of coverage offered by the FAIR Plan to include optional coverage for the replacement of the contents of a building, as well as coverage for debris removal. The order also removes the requirement that consumers prove they were rejected three times for standard insurance before applying for coverage.

"That’s a huge deal," said Ian Adams,
senior fellow and Western region director of the conservative R Street Institute
. "By making the coverage in the FAIR Plan better and by making it the case that you don’t have to be denied by others, it’s effectively making it very, very difficult for private insurance companies to compete."

The program wrote 7,200 policies relating to brush fire and wildfire risk in 2013 and 8,500 in 2014. The number held steady in 2015, according to Anneliese Jivan,
president of the FAIR Plan.

Jivan praised the changes and said eliminating the three denials policy was removing "an artificial barrier to entry."

She said FAIR Plan applicants often had trouble providing paper proof of coverage denial, and when they did, brokers weren’t looking at them closely anyway.

"We were inadvertently making it difficult," she said, adding that at every chance the FAIR Plan reminds policyholders that if they can get insurance with someone else, they should.

"We try really hard to get consumers to shop around," Jivan added. "We will write the plans no one else will."

Climate-driven insurance risks

But some see changes to the FAIR Plan as a bandage trying to fix a bullet hole of a problem.

As risk increases, the traditional insurance market either increases its prices or pulls out, leaving consumers to pay more or join the FAIR Plan.

"We’re seeing people having to increasingly rely on it because private insurance market is judging the risk to be too high. That’s not a good sign — it’s a wake-up call," said Rachel Cleetus,
lead economist and climate policy manager with the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"This is not a problem that is going to go away because the underlying risk will get worse in a hotter, drier climate," she said.

Insurers are increasingly aware of higher risks posed by a changing climate.

Steven Bowen
, associate director and meteorologist for insurance company Aon Benfield’s
Impact Forecasting division, said in recent years the insurance industry has had its eyes opening to the growing risk posed by climate change as evidenced by the uptick in insurance companies using computer simulations to map future risk from different extreme weather events, such as wildfires and floods.

The "catastrophe models" use weather prediction models, climate models, historical data and future simulations, as well as a host of other data, to paint a picture of where claims will be filed and where loss will be highest.

"They have become engrained in the daily lexicon of the insurance industry," Bowen said.

A September 2015 analysis by Impact Forecasting found California’s wildfire season, driven by the Butte and Valley fires, was the costliest since 2007.

$1B is just the beginning

The Valley and Butte fires, which killed six and destroyed more than 2,700 structures last September, are the third and seventh most damaging wildfires in the state’s history, respectively, according to data from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Hot, dry, windy conditions fueled the fall blazes, which burned more than 150,000 acres.

To date, insurers report they have received 5,600 claims for residential and commercial structures, personal property, cars, and other items. So far, they have paid out more than $500 million and expect to pay an additional $500 million in anticipated future losses after all claims are received, processed and paid, the California Department of Insurance said.

The $1 billion figure does not include surplus insurance line claims or damage to public infrastructure such as roads and utilities.

"In the Valley and Butte fires, the sad thing is we saw a lot of people lose their livelihoods because they did not have insurance at all," Cleetus said. "There’s a lot of loss not being accounted for."

Changes to the FAIR Plan "address an immediate need," she said, but added that at some point public policy will need to step in to tackle growing development in wildfire-prone areas.

Mandating where people can live to mitigate risk is a tricky proposition, said Adams with the R Street Institute, but it could be the only way to reduce risk to both human life and loss, as well as the insurance industry.

"For people living off in the mountains in California, they’re going to get wrecked, and it’s not helping to them to keep them there on an artificially constructed plan which continues to put them in a hard position," he said. "I think [changes to the FAIR Plan] could encourage risky development."

Time to ‘take stock’

The jury is out as to whether insurance companies alone could shift either the location or pace of development.

A 2014 white paper by research firm Headwaters Economics found insurance may not be the strongest tool in the market.

"While homeowner premiums may be higher in the WUI [wildland-urban interface], reflecting the higher wildfire risk, it appears unlikely that they are high enough currently to be an actual deterrent to development," the paper stated.

The onus to reduce risk is on homeowners, communities, insurance companies and public policy alike, Cleetus said.

Homeowners and communities can take steps to reduce fire risk by fire-proofing homes, clearing brush and having water sources available, and some insurance companies are trying to incentivize those actions.

As it stands, she said, those actions don’t seem to be enough.

"We should view what’s happening in the insurance market as the canary in the coal mine," Cleetus said. "The risk is growing, and there are implications not just for California but other places that are wildfire-prone. It’s a good time to take stock of climate change as well as growing development."

January 28, 2016 by

The throng of litigants that rushed to a federal appeals court when U.S. EPA released its Clean Power Plan is now lining up at the Supreme Court, making multiple requests for Chief Justice John Roberts to freeze the sweeping climate rule.

Utilities, coal companies and business groups yesterday asked the high court for an immediate stay of the rule, blocking its implementation while litigation plays out in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. A coalition of 25 states and four state agencies made the same request to the chief justice Tuesday. The requests come after the D.C. Circuit last week declined to stay the rule while it considers the merits of the multifaceted litigation (EnergyWire, Jan. 22).

Roberts has asked the Obama administration to respond to the states’ request by Feb. 4. The chief justice may consider the requests on his own or refer them to the full court (EnergyWire, Jan. 27).

Approaching the Supreme Court while the circuit court litigation is ongoing is considered an extraordinary step, one that plaintiffs argue is necessary to ward off severe economic effects of the Clean Power Plan.

"The impact of this rule on the economy cannot be overstated," said Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in a statement. "The rule causes many businesses in the electricity sector and beyond to radically restructure or even close their doors, setting off a domino effect in local communities across the country. And while this happens, Americans will see their electricity bills increase as reliable power sources are forced to retire."

The Chamber of Commerce led a group of 15 other business groups in a stay request to the Supreme Court yesterday. The coalition includes the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Federation of Independent Business, the American Chemistry Council and others.

A stay request from a large coalition of electric utilities made similar arguments yesterday, noting that utilities are investing billions of dollars in updates to generation and transmission infrastructure and are prematurely closing coal plants in anticipation of the rule. The coalition says EPA will achieve backdoor changes to the electric sector even if the rule is ultimately vacated.

"Because of the time it will take to litigate the case, absent a stay EPA likely will obtain its desired transformation of the power sector through irreversible investments, even if its rule is ultimately struck down," the coalition said in its request. The group includes the American Public Power Association, the Utility Air Regulatory Group, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and others.

Coal companies beat the same drum in their filing yesterday, noting that allowing the rule to move forward would result in "shuttered coal mines, tens of thousands of additional layoffs, and the economic devastation of the States and rural, economically depressed communities that rely on coal."

"The coal industry is suffering irreparable harm now, as the Power Plan forces utilities to make investment decisions away from coal today and States begin the restructuring of the power sector within their respective borders today," industry lawyers told the court. "Irreparable injury will occur long before the panel decision in the Court of Appeals."

Murray Energy Corp., Peabody Energy Corp., the National Mining Association and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity are included in the request.

Asked for comment, EPA restated its position from last week expressing satisfaction that the D.C. Circuit left the rule intact. Clean Power Plan supporters, meanwhile, have been outspoken in their criticism of industry and states’ Supreme Court action. Environmental attorneys have called the approach a long shot.

In an email yesterday, Heartland Institute policy adviser David Applegate, a lawyer, acknowledged the unconventional nature of the Supreme Court requests but maintained that the Clean Power Plan’s far-reaching effects are exactly the type of impacts the high court should intervene to avoid.

"If ever a case existed for the courts to intervene with equitable relief — in this case a stay of the lower court’s ruling — it is here, where the jobs of the people, the nation’s ability to meet its energy needs, and a coherent environmental and energy policy are at stake," he said, "and a refusal to grant the stay becomes effectively irreversible."

January 28, 2016 by

States are anxiously awaiting a calculation from the Federal Highway Administration that could open up access to more than $2 billion in unused, decade-old congressional earmarks.

December’s omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal 2016 included a provision allowing state departments of transportation to reallocate earmarks that are more than 10 years old if they haven’t yet spent more than 10 percent of the original funding (Greenwire, Dec. 16, 2015).

"This money is extremely welcome and will be well-used by states," said American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Executive Director Bud Wright. "These dollars are more than 10 years old; it is very, very unlikely that they would have been spent on their original projects going forward. The fact that they can now be reassessed is definitely a good thing."

The FHWA has been tasked with reviewing old earmarks to determine which ones are eligible, but preliminary estimates place the total sum at $2.2 billion.

Unlike money in the Highway Trust Fund, which is allocated proportionally state by state based on population, the old earmarks would remain in the state where they were originally intended, and states would have to use the money for projects within a 50-mile radius of the one that was originally funded.

Wright said he expects that most states will receive some funding from the measure, but that the amount could range from "$200 million to just a few million, depending on their project history."

A FHWA spokesman said the agency is still working on implementing the omnibus provision and "anticipates providing the necessary guidance in the near future."

While states are waiting to figure out exactly how they will spend their newfound cash until the FHWA makes a determination, Wright said he believes most of the funding will go to help projects that are already underway.

"For states that have projects that for some reason never went forward, this un-earmarked funding gives them the flexibility to invest in their infrastructure."

January 28, 2016 by

Senators from both parties are planning a slew of amendments to the chamber’s bipartisan energy bill reflecting both recurring fights over administration policies as well as new battles over recent developments in the energy arena.

At noon, lawmakers are set to cast the first of two votes on amendments scheduled last night.

First up is a bipartisan nuclear energy proposal, S. 2461 from Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). The amendment would require the Department of Energy to work with private partnerships to test and demonstrate new reactor concepts.

Then, Democrats who favor strong action on climate get a vote on an amendment designed to highlight their cause. The Senate will vote on a measure to boost funding over the next five years for DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, a program central to the Obama administration’s climate plan.

Despite desire to pass a bill that President Obama will sign, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said amendments to rescind U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan and Clean Water Act jurisdiction rules are likely, with proposals to hand states primacy in regulating fracking and overhauling the permitting process for energy infrastructure projects that cross the United States, Mexican and Canadian borders coming, as well.

"I think you’re going to see all of those offered," he told reporters yesterday. "I think the sense is we’ll try to go through regular order. Let people offer amendments and see what can get 60. And frankly, if you can get 60 votes on an amendment, it should ultimately help the bill because it creates some bipartisan support. And that’s the main focus here."

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said that she and bill manager Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) have their work cut out for them in managing a wide range of controversial proposals.

"There are possibilities all over," Murkowski told reporters yesterday, "energy-related and non-energy-related, and I think we recognize that anytime you have an open amendment process, stuff can happen."

Murkowski said, "So my job and that of Senator Cantwell is to manage that, and what we’re also trying to do is manage expectations. We want to make sure that we’re going to have a process that is equal to what we … demonstrated within the committee itself. It’s not necessarily easy, but it is possible. We demonstrated it with Keystone XL itself, and we’re going to do that with this one."

Old fights

From the amendments filed yesterday, it’s clear that some longstanding policy fights may resurface over the next week as the chamber debates the bill.

Pressed on the administration’s reservations on hydropower provisions in the bill, Murkowski said she’s happy to discuss the issue with the White House (E&ENews PM, Jan. 27).

"Well, then, I would love to have that conversation with President Obama himself in terms of the enormous potential that we have out there," she said. "In terms of what more we can do, we can electrify existing dams. We don’t need to do new dams, but we can gain more out of the existing infrastructure. So talk to me about that, and tell me what you don’t like about the idea."

In addition to the Clean Power Plan, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has filed an amendment to "harmonize" the 2008 national ozone standard with the update finalized last year, by giving states and industry leeway in meeting the new standard.

Cassidy also filed an amendment to repeal the renewable fuel standard. He said there should be a debate on the mandate, which set annual goals to boost biofuel production to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022.

"It’s terrible for the environment," said Cassidy, as Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) — a strong supporter of the RFS and former "Saturday Night Live" comedian — jokingly pretended to strike him in the back. "We’ve got a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico from all of the fertilizer spewing down the Mississippi."

But Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) downplayed the possibility that an RFS repeal provision would go far.

"I think so far, the RFS stuff has really not been touched by either side," she said. "There’s a lot of people here who would like to revisit that policy; I’m not one of them."

Heitkamp said she expected amendments on "all of the issues that people had hoped would find their way on the omnibus but didn’t," including the Obama administration’s Waters of the U.S. rule and clean coal provisions.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has filed an amendment that would make Canadian oil sands subject to a federal excise tax that helps pay for oil spills — addressing an issue he has long fought for.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said he is optimistic that the bill that passes will include the entire energy efficiency measure that he and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) have labored on for years. The bill came to the floor twice in the last Congress but was sunk by amendment fights.

"This is the third time we’ve brought it to the floor, and I think third time is going to be the charm," he said yesterday.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who offered the ARPA-E amendment up for a vote this afternoon, said he and other Democrats who favor strong action on climate are discussing amendments to highlight their cause.

ARPA-E would see a boost over the next five years under the amendment, beginning with $325 million for fiscal 2016. The program is key to the Obama administration’s participation in "Mission Innovation" — a plan for 20 countries to collectively double spending on clean energy from $10 billion to $20 billion, with the United States providing half the total (see related story).

Schatz also offered an amendment to phase out tax preferences for fossil fuels and an amendment that would mandate that EPA propose new methane emissions standards for existing sources in the oil and natural gas industry.

Yesterday, Schatz signaled that the approaches would differ from the amendments they offered during last year’s debate on the Keystone XL pipeline.

"We want to cover new ground," Schatz told reporters. "Some of these amendments may fail, but we still want to advance the conversation and continue to lay the predicate that we need rational Republicans in the Senate if we’re going to solve the problem."

New fights

But the amendment offerings will also address new energy controversies, as well.

Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) is working with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on an amendment to address the fight over net metering — which has roiled Nevada and a number of other states.

"We’re working on something right now," King said yesterday, adding that the amendment will include parts of a bill to encourage distributed generation that he offered last year.

Republicans also have filed a number of amendments requiring economic analyses of various administration proposals.

One such amendment, offered by Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.), would require EPA to prepare a study of the economic and environmental effects of the final rule for carbon emissions from existing power plants. A second Inhofe amendment would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to conduct an independent reliability analysis of the rule.

Other amendments target the regulatory process more broadly, including one from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) that would require agencies to repeal or amend one or more regulations before issuing or rewriting a regulation.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) last night said he was still hoping to offer a handful of coal-related amendments, including one to protect the United Mine Workers of America’s imperiled benefits plan.

"We’ve been trying every way possible to get that in. I think there’s still talks going on, hopefully constructive talks, and it’s just there’s a few things that we have to maybe work on to get all the sides together on. But it’s something so needed," Manchin said.

Reporter Tiffany Stecker contributed.

January 27, 2016 by Alex Wang

Correction appended.

Millions of Americans watched as National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis rode horseback in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.

He was joined by about a dozen other mounted NPS rangers, an 1800s stagecoach and two lines of mules with saddlebags that urged onlookers to "Find Your Park."

The agency and its supporters have adopted that slogan as a call to action during the months surrounding the Park Service’s 100th anniversary on Aug. 25.

Jarvis will remain one of the most visible faces of that campaign for the rest of 2016. Behind him, however, stand many officials from the Park Service, Congress and advocacy groups who will play major roles in determining the outcome of the centennial.

Will they only celebrate the 409 units of the National Park System? Or will they also succeed in setting the Park Service — which faces challenges ranging from billions of dollars in deferred maintenance to difficulties attracting young and minority visitors — on a firmer footing for its next 100 years?

Here is a look at some of those key players whose efforts over the coming months will help answer those questions.

Alexa Viets

As centennial coordinator for the Park Service, Alexa Viets aims to find new ways to link people to the parks.

The Rose Parade partnership is a prime example of her handiwork. The theme of this year’s event, "Find Your Adventure," echoed the centennial campaign. The parade also featured filmmaker Ken Burns — whose 2009 series brought new attention to the national parks — as its ceremonial grand marshal and included a message during the broadcast from first lady Michelle Obama and her predecessor, Laura Bush, urging Americans to visit a national park this year.

Viets, who leads a team of five at headquarters in Washington, D.C., says her job is to "try to make sure all of the dots are connecting."

Her main goal for the centennial is "to see a real increase in the diversity of our visitors, as well as the diversity of supporters and advocates," she said. "It’s really about introducing not just the parks themselves, but the work that we do in communities, to a whole new generation."

To bring more minorities and millennials into the system, Viets and her team are working with outside groups ranging from the National Endowment for the Arts to the YMCA to the League of United Latin American Citizens.

She also coordinates daily with the National Park Foundation, a charity created by Congress in 1967 to support the Park Service.

"They are our national nonprofit partner, and they are the organization that is paying for and taking the lead on our ‘Find Your Park’ campaign, as well as aligning significant philanthropic support for the National Park Service," she said of NPF.

Viets started with the Park Service in 2002 after working as a transportation consultant in Philadelphia. She was a fellow in Jarvis’ office before landing the centennial job in 2012.

The 41-year-old native of Kansas City, Mo., grew up canoeing along the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. She went on to graduate from Bryn Mawr College and earn a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood with Leo, her German shepherd.

When she is finally able to "come up for air" in 2017, Viets said she is "looking forward to spending some time in the quiet places across the country, some of the wilderness areas."

Will Shafroth

After six months as NPF’s president and CEO, Will Shafroth still hasn’t fully decorated his office, probably because he mostly works outside it.

Shafroth is the lead rainmaker for the congressionally chartered group that’s helping bankroll the Park Service’s centennial effort. That responsibility requires him to spend much of his time flying around the country to meet with prospective donors.

Historically, NPF has brought in about $25 million per year, but last year, as part of the centennial effort, it took in a record $82 million. One quarter into fiscal 2016, NPF has secured nearly three-quarters of its almost $70 million budget, Shafroth said.

"That’s a good problem to have," he said, adding that the foundation is on pace to raise around $100 million this year.

"Our intention is to have this be a kind of new plateau and a new way of doing business," Shafroth said. "For us, I really see the centennial as a way for the foundation to kind of reinvent itself — to say, ‘We’re here for the long haul, at a much higher level,’" he said.

But the fundamental purpose of all that money is to reinforce the agency’s focus on increasing the diversity of national park visitors and supporters, he added.

"If we don’t begin to change the arc of who we connect to the parks, the rest of it isn’t going to matter," Shafroth said.

Even before taking the reins at NPF, Shafroth, 58, was familiar with the organization. For the first four years of the Obama administration — while acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks at the Interior Department and later as a counselor to former Secretary Ken Salazar — Shafroth represented Salazar at meetings of the foundation’s board.

Shafroth, whose great-grandfather was a U.S. representative, senator and governor of Colorado, unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2008, losing to Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.). Previously he worked for land conservation groups in the state and in California, where he went to the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also earned a master’s at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The pictures he intends to hang in his NPF office are of Point Reyes National Seashore, which he often visited in his 20s, and two national parks that he makes annual pilgrimages to: Voyageurs along the Minnesota-Ontario border and Rocky Mountain in northern Colorado.

Born and raised in Denver, Shafroth said he now lives "90 seconds" from the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal National Historic Park in D.C.’s Palisades neighborhood. He and his wife have three adult children: two daughters and a son.

Donald Hellmann

The agency hopes to begin addressing another huge problem: its $11.5 billion deferred maintenance backlog, with a centennial bill authored in large part by Donald Hellmann, the assistant director for legislative and congressional affairs at NPS.

The administration’s proposal could make up to $1.5 billion available to the Park Service over three fiscal years. Most of that would be via $900 million in mandatory spending over three years, although lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have balked at that provision (E&E Daily, Dec. 9, 2015).

"Whenever there is ever any kind of proposal for mandatory funding, it tends to be a bit more of a heavier lift," Hellmann said. "We’re trying to make the case with Congress about what the needs of the National Parks are and how this mandatory funding could help move the agency forward in addressing those needs."

Even if lawmakers can reach agreement on the amount of NPS funding and on a controversial provision that would grant new concessions management authorities to the agency, limited days in session this year may be another problem for the bill, Hellmann said.

One way the measure could pass, he suggested, is as a rider to a larger spending package.

Congress has a habit, "particularly when it comes to parks and public lands bills, of taking things and putting a lot of them in one big package and getting it done when they need to get it done," Hellmann said, pointing back to the 2015 defense authorization bill. In addition to funding the Pentagon for a year, that legislation designated 250,000 acres of wilderness, withdrew hundreds of thousands of acres from mineral development, established or expanded more than a dozen national park units, and protected about 140 miles of rivers (Greenwire, Dec. 12, 2014).

Hellmann, 62, has spent two decades in the Park Service’s legislative affairs office, which he has led since 2009. Before being recruited to join the agency, he also interacted with lawmakers as the Wilderness Society’s legislative counsel and vice president for conservation.

A native of northern Kentucky, Hellmann earned his bachelor’s degree at Thomas More College and taught junior high history and English in the state before earning a master’s in politics at the Catholic University of America.

Hellmann’s first job in D.C. was as a legislative assistant to former Sen. Walter Huddleston (D-Ky.). After earning his Juris Doctor at the University of Baltimore, he also worked with former House Majority Whip Tony Coelho (D-Calif.).

A resident of Annandale, Va., his favorite national park is Maui’s Haleakala, which is centered around a volcanic crater that he described as "like walking on the moon."

Erica Rhoad

One of the lead players who could help shape a parks funding package is Erica Rhoad.

As the majority staff director of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, Rhoad spearheaded the effort to craft the centennial discussion draft put forward last month by full committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah).

That proposal would provide the Park Service with an estimated $47.6 million per year, well short of the administration plan. Those funds would be raised by increasing the price of the lifetime senior pass from $10 to $80 — in line with the cost of an annual pass for visitors younger than age 62 — and by levying a new 5 percent lodging fee on most overnight stays within the national park system. Both provisions are also included in the administration’s legislation.

"While we would love to come up with some other ways to get mandatory funding to the National Park Service to deal with the deferred maintenance backlog, it’s just not realistic unless we have an offset," she said, referring to cutting spending elsewhere in the federal budget to pay for new expenditures.

Rhoad still thinks it’s possible to pass bipartisan, bicameral legislation.

"The entire goal is to kind of shift the way we think about national parks for the next century," she said of Bishop’s draft. "Because we’re still doing things the old way."

Rhoad lamented that, for example, visitors to Yosemite have to wait in lines during peak season — a problem that she thinks could be alleviated in part with new online tools that would make it easier to buy passes, book lodging and tour parks. She said the lack of Internet service in much of the park system "is a huge issue right now, too."

Rhoad, 36, came to the committee after lobbying for the National Rifle Association and the Society of American Foresters. A memento from working with the timber industry — an ash and maple Louisville Slugger with her name burned onto it — sits on her office shelf. An avid equestrian, she has a framed photo of a horse, on loan from the Forest Service, hanging beside her desk.

Her previous Hill experience includes stints on the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee and in the personal offices of former Republican Reps. Bob Schaffer of Colorado and Richard Pombo of California, her home state.

Rhoad was born in Oakdale, which claims to be the "Cowboy Capital of the World," but moved to northern Colorado at age 5. She earned a bachelor’s in political science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Rhoad lives with her husband in the Plains, Va., a small town about 50 miles from Capitol Hill, and says Yosemite, which she visited as a child, is her favorite national park.

Lucy Murfitt

The NPS funding and reform bill that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee plans to unveil is sure to have Lucy Murfitt’s fingerprints all over it.

As the top resources policy aide to Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Murfitt is leading centennial discussions with staffers from the offices of ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.); National Parks Subcommittee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.); and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a longtime supporter of the Park Service.

They are working on limiting the broad concession management authority that the agency requested and tweaking an endowment provision supported by NPF to make the fund more sustainable, she said. Another priority for Murkowski is to expand measures that engage the private sector so that NPS "brings in both the big donors and the little donors — and gets also the youth engagement that is going to be needed in order to sustain the park system."

The bipartisan group hopes to have its own bill ready to roll by March or April.

"We’ve been moving on an aggressive timeline," she said.

With or without new money and authorities, Murfitt believes the Park Service can have a successful centennial and build support for its next hundred years. But she said, "I’m a glass-half-full kind of person," and believes a centennial bill of some sort will be signed into law by the president.

Murfitt came to the committee in 2013, after the retirement of her former boss, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

She first became interested in natural resource policy while working as a legal aid attorney in rural western Pennsylvania during the early days of the fracking boom. Murfitt went on to join the Army as a commissioned officer, a move that allowed her to serve as both environmental counsel for the service and occasionally lead physical training sessions at Fort Bragg in central North Carolina, she said.

Originally from New Jersey, Murfitt earned a degree in philosophy and history at Pennsylvania’s University of Scranton and her Juris Doctor at the Loyola University Chicago Law School. The 44-year-old lives in D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Her favorite national parks are Great Falls just outside the D.C. Beltway, the Grand Canyon and Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias, a 13.2 million-acre national park that spans from the ocean to the 18,000-foot-tall summit of Mount St. Elias.

Correction: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect figure for the number of units in the National Park System.