OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Trump admin to sell oil leases at Arctic wildlife refuge before Biden takes office |Trump administration approves controversial oil testing method in Gulf of Mexico | Rep. Scott wins House Agriculture Committee gavel

by Rachel Frazin - 12/03/20 6:07 PM ET

HAPPY THURSDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at rbeitsch@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin.

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ON SALE! The Trump administration is planning to lease land to oil and gas developers at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska before President-elect Joe Biden, who opposes drilling there, takes office in January.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said in a statement Thursday that it expects to conduct the sale on Jan. 6 via video.

A notice announcing the sale is expected to be published in the Federal Register next week.

“Oil and gas from the Coastal Plain is an important resource for meeting our Nation’s long-term energy demands and will help create jobs and economic opportunities,” BLM Alaska State Director Chad Padgett said in a statement.

Drilling at the refuge is controversial, as opponents have raised concerns that it could harm animal species found there, negatively affect the landscape and negatively impact the Gwich’in people who hunt caribou there.

ANWR is home to grizzly bears, polar bears, gray wolves and more than 200 species of birds.

On the campaign trail, Biden pledged to “permanently” protect the refuge even though he’s likely to be bound by a 2017 law requiring one lease sale there by the end of December 2021 and another by the end of 2024.

Although it would be difficult for Biden to avoid holding the lease sale entirely, by holding the sale before he takes office, the Trump administration may be undercutting some of the legal tools the president-elect has to limit drilling there.

Specifically, it prevents the incoming administration from deciding what land is sold and from setting terms on the leases.

Thursday’s announcement was met with backlash from environmentalists, who argue that the process has been done hastily.

“The Trump administration’s rushed and sloppy push to sell off the Arctic Refuge for drilling has been a disaster from day one, and has ignored the serious and permanent damage drilling would do to this unique ecosystem and the communities that depend on it,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement.

His group and others noted that the administration still hasn’t completed the prior step: seeking input on what tracts of land will be sold off.

The public can weigh in on that until Dec. 17, 10 days after the sale’s Federal Register notice is expected to be published.

TESTING TESTING 123: The Trump administration on Thursday formally approved a decision allow the continued use of a controversial method known as seismic testing to search for oil and gas deposits in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) issued a record of decision that allowed for continued permitting for the testing in the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf.

Seismic testing uses blasts from air guns to try to detect the deposits and is controversial among environmentalists because of its impacts on wildlife.

The Thursday decision by BOEM rejected alternatives that would have reduced the testing or stop the issuance of new permits, though it did include some measures aimed at reducing its impacts, including monitoring certain species.

“The mitigation measures chosen at this stage will help minimize the impacts of [geological and geophysical] activities on marine resources in the Gulf and adjacent state waters,” Mike Celata, director of BOEM’s Gulf of Mexico office in New Orleans, said in a statement.

However, critics argued that the agency didn’t do enough to protect endangered species like the Bryde’s whale, of which there were fewer than 100 remaining as of last year.

“They could have adopted an alternative that would have authorized a lower level of activity, required activities to cease when they see a marine mammal in the area [or] prohibit it entirely in certain habitat areas,” Kristen Monsell, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Oceans program, told The Hill.

Read more about his new chairship here.

LEGATE KEEPER: The White House is appointing David Legates, a top administration official with a history of questioning humans’ influence on global warming, to the committee responsible for selecting the National Medal of Science winners.

Legates joined the administration in September and now serves as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deputy assistant secretary of commerce for observation and prediction.

Previously an academic at the University of Delaware, Legates has a long history of questioning humans’ influence on global warming.

“Seems to be a travesty to me,” said Andrew Rosenberg with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Why have someone so far out of mainstream science deciding on those deserving of such an honor that should go to those that make major contributions to the science he derides.”

Legates’s appointment to the committee is one of the first actions the Trump administration during the president’s term with regard to the award. The administration has not conferred any National Medals of Science since President Trump trump took office.

Legates’s appointment will extend into the Biden administration. National Medal of Science winners are selected by a 12-member presidential committee, who serve two-year terms.

In Senate testimony in 2014, Legates argued that the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was wrong in its assertion the humans are a main driver behind climate change.

ON THE INTERIOR: Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) has won headlines as she’s emerged as a leading contender to become President-elect Joe Biden’s Interior secretary, but a second public figure could win the post and become the first Native American to lead the department.

Former Interior Deputy Secretary Michael Connor, a descendant of the Taos Pueblo tribe who served during the last three years of the Obama administration, is also being seriously considered to lead the department.

Connor has largely flown under the radar while potential picks like Haaland have gathered momentum and attention, particularly as Biden has pledged to deliver a Cabinet that “looks like America.”

Connor first came to Interior in 1993, working his way up the chain before a several-year stint as counselor for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee starting in 2001. Upon returning to Interior in 2009, he served as head of the Bureau of Reclamation before being confirmed as deputy secretary in 2014, serving until the start of the Trump administration.

“Understanding the roles of the different departments and different assistant secretaries and looking at the chemistry of each department is really valuable,” one former high-ranking Interior official told The Hill.

“You get to understand how things get done, how to get things done, the areas where you have to pay close attention, and the people you can have faith are going to do the job without a lot of supervision. So Michael serving in the deputy secretary role would have seen all that. That’s an important asset he brings to table,” the official said.

Others described Connor as being well-liked and respected within the department.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

Leaked draft: EPA aims to clarify Supreme Court Maui ruling, E&E News reports

San Juan County asks President-elect Joe Biden to immediately restore Bears Ears National Monument, The Salt Lake Tribune reports

‘We Don’t Have To Live This Way’: Doctors Call For Climate Action, NPR reports

How Scientists Tracked Down a Mass Killer (of Salmon), The New York Times reports

ICYMI: Stories from Thursday (and Wednesday night)...

Progressives urge Haaland for Interior as short list grows

Trump admin to sell oil leases at Arctic wildlife refuge before Biden takes office

Haaland has competition to be first Native American to lead Interior

Rep. Scott wins House Agriculture Committee gavel

Trump appoints NOAA climate skeptic to panel selecting National Medal of Science winners

Trump administration approves controversial oil testing method in Gulf of Mexico

FROM THE HILL’S OPINION PAGES:

“Climate swarming” should be Biden’s ‘Plan B’ for the planet, opines Gilbert Metcalf, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment and Energy at the Treasury Department