News

The U.S. Department of the Interior has rescinded an order issued in the final months of the Trump administration that critics say undermined the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a centerpiece of legislation that Montana’s senators helped shepherd through Congress last year. Then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt issued the order in November, requiring private landowners to get approval from their state’s governor and their county government in order to sell land to the Interior Department. The order also constrained all federal land purchases to the current boundaries of national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and conservation areas, and it put the Bureau

Republican members of Montana’s congressional delegation on Wednesday sent a letter to federal officials in support of changes to the Endangered Species Act meant to speed timber work on critical habitat. The state’s Democratic senator said he also supports the changes. The proposed amendments to interagency consultation regulations would reverse precedent set in a 2015 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision over critical Canada lynx habitat. Judges on the case determined that when “new information” indicates a land management plan’s direction might harm a federally-protected species, the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service must consult with the U.S.

Montana lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to adopt a rule change — filed in the days before the White House changed hands last month — that aims to eliminate a potential hurdle for forest management projects when endangered species might be affected. Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Matt Rosendale, both Republicans, outlined their support in a letter yesterday to top officials at the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department’s NOAA Fisheries. “The proposed rule will allow land managers and wildlife biologists to follow the best-available science for consultation. It will remove an ambiguity in current

A Senator from North Dakota wants the Biden administration to withdraw a final rule on the importation of sheep and goats. Republican Kevin Cramer made the request in a letter to the Department of Agriculture this week, asking the rule be withdrawn until its impact on current market conditions can be fully evaluated. The rule, finalized on January 14, would remove brain disorder-related import restrictions on sheep, goats, and most of their products. Cramer says the existing import restrictions function as a necessary protection against the introduction of other brain disorders, such as scrapie or mad cow disease. Republican Senators

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) recently reintroduced a bipartisan bill to allow the interstate sale of state-inspected meats and poultry. “Our bill would allow these high-quality products that pass state inspection standards to be sold across state lines,” Sen. Rounds said, “opening up new markets for our producers and giving consumers greater choice at the grocery store.” Sen. Rounds on Jan. 28 sponsored the New Markets for State-Inspected Meat and Poultry Act, S. 107, with 10 cosponsors including U.S. Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Joe Manchin III (D-WV), and Angus King (I-ME). Sen. Rounds and several of his colleagues previously introduced

Nearly all of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate have united to warn the Democratic leadership they will oppose any effort to overturn long-standing bans on federal funding of abortion. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and 47 other GOP senators promised Majority Leader Charles Schumer in a Feb. 5 letter that they will vote to block attempts to eradicate or diminish the Hyde Amendment and other pro-life protections. The Hyde Amendment, first adopted in 1976, bars federal funds in the Medicaid program from paying for abortions. The 48-member commitment is a promising development in efforts to maintain federal pro-life policies. As