Bulletins, Press Releases & Announcements –
KNRC Staff, attorneys and Commissioners routinely monitor the Federal Register, legal periodicals, trade press and other sources for natural-resource and related Proposals by government agencies. Proposed Rules, Plans or other Major Agency Actions identified as having potential to impact KNRC Members, affiliates, agriculture or industry are first subjected to a statutory compliance review and then evaluated to ensure that National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) Environmental-Assessment and Environmental-Impact-Statement (EIS) procedures are being followed.
In some cases, KNRC has been astonished at the bureaucratic gyrations Federal agencies will undertake to circumvent Human socioeconomic-impact assessments required by (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedures Act. In one example, KNRC documented that Listing of the Lesser Prairie-Chicken would have significant, multi-generational implications for land-use and affect the economies of a five state region – a fact that would have been revealed if USFWS had performed their due diligence and undertaken the statutorily-required EIS process.
In response to allegations of its disdain for the Human Environment, USFWS limply points to a 1983 Federal Register Notification – which in turn identifies a 1983 letter from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), a Sixth Circuit Court Opinion, and a testimonial the Agency itself performed 130 EAs that did not result in an EIS.
In other words, a letter from the Executive Branch and an Opinion from a Court – neither of which make law – have been used for 33 years to justify the dismissal of a specific Congressional Mandate requiring impact-assessments to the human environment during ESA listings.
Periodically KRNC issues Bulletins, Press Releases and other communications which proactively identify issues associated with Federal Agency proposals. Our goal is to equip local governments throughout the region with statutes, information, and facts in order to respond to current proposals; from that platform, retroactive activities may be evaluated and undertaken.
Bulletins and Briefing Papers –
- KNRC Bulletin National Historic Trail Designation and Workshop –
- Briefing Paper KNRC Rails-to-Trails Accountability Program 080520 –
- Steering Committee Votes for CRA Litigation –
- USFWS to Perform Lesser Prairie-Chicken Status Review –
- BLM County Record Search –
- Housing & Urban Development Land-Use Bulletin –
Announcements –
- No Current Announcements