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Year: 2023

Biden admin quietly developing settlement with groups seeking to tear down key power source

Biden admin quietly developing settlement with groups seeking to tear down key power source

The Biden administration is quietly discussing a potentially far-reaching settlement with environmental groups that advocate for tearing down four hydroelectric dams in Washington to protect salmon. Federal attorneys representing the government said it had “developed a package of actions and commitments” and agreed to pause litigation with environmental activist plaintiffs in the case, according to court documents filed late last month. In the filings, jointly submitted by the federal government and eco groups, the parties said they could request a multiyear pause on the litigation to allow for the implementation of the package as soon as Dec. 15, 2023. However, the filing failed to detail exactly what conditions were included in the secretive package developed. The groups involved in the case have vehemently argued in favor of breaching the four federally managed dams amid declining salmon populations in the lower Snake River, which winds through Idaho and southwestern Washington before feeding into the Columbia River and then into the Pacific Ocean. “We find it necessary to remind you Congress alone has the authority not only to order the breach of the Lower Snake River Dams, but also exclusive authority to direct the study of breaching or to authorize replacement resources,” four House Republicans from the Pacific Northwest led by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., wrote to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on Monday. MAJOR US POWER SOURCE FACING EXTINCTION THANKS TO RED TAPE, SPARKING CALLS FOR REFORM “This is statutory fact, and we warn the Administration not to attempt to circumvent that fact through clever wordsmithing,” the lawmakers continued, noting they have received a “plethora” of complaints from stakeholders and constituents about the federal government’s secretive negotiations on the matter. The CEQ and Department of the Interior have for months engaged with the plaintiff groups but have stopped short of endorsing tearing the dams down. President Biden, though, said in March he would work with proponents of breaching — Indigenous tribes and Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho — to “bring healthy and abundant salmon runs back” to the Columbia River system. WHITE HOUSE PROHIBITING OFFICIAL TRAVEL TO FOSSIL FUEL CONFERENCES, INTERNAL MEMO SHOWS However, he didn’t pledge to work with Newhouse, the other lawmakers who signed his letter Monday or industry groups like the Public Power Council (PPC), all of which have opposed breaching the dams. The PPC represents consumer-owned utilities in the Pacific Northwest on key issues, such as preserving the Federal Columbia River Power System, and is an intervenor-defendant in the ongoing litigation. “The people of the Pacific Northwest have really been let down by this so-called process being run by the Council on Environmental Quality,” said PPC CEO and Executive Director Scott Simms in a press statement. “Our non-profit, community-owned member utilities and their customers were never given a real chance from the get-go, as we just recently learned a few parties in the litigation were working secretly with the federal government for more than six months on a ‘package of actions and commitments.’” “We can’t wait for the day when the current confidentiality gag order is lifted on those proposed actions and commitments and everyone gets to see for themselves the level of uncertainty and prospective new costs that are being proposed for Northwest citizens as a result of these secret dealings,” he continued. In recent years, multiple government and private reports have determined that breaching the dams would have a dramatic negative impact on energy production, climate goals and transportation in Washington. The dams were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers primarily to ensure the Snake River was passable for barge transportation. However, since then, the main benefit has been their reliable clean energy output. They still provide about 8% of the state’s electricity, enough to serve millions of residents, and have a large total capacity of 3,000 megawatts. BIDEN ADMIN PLAN TO RELEASE PREDATOR NEAR RURAL COMMUNITIES FACES WIDESPREAD OPPOSITION: ‘A HUGE THREAT’ Removing the dams would also likely chip away at U.S. climate goals since their energy production would likely need to be replaced by fossil fuel alternatives. According to federal data, replacing the hydropower with natural gas generation would increase carbon emissions by up to 2.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of 421,000 passenger cars. “Despite our organization’s extensive efforts to contribute as industry and subject matter experts, our input was overlooked for months while the plaintiffs engaged in secretive negotiations with the Council on Environmental Quality,” added Neil Maunu, the executive director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association, in the press statement. “This failure to consider the expertise and perspective of our members who rely on the critical navigation services provided by the system has left us with grave concerns about the credibility and fairness of the resulting package of actions and commitments,” Maunu continued. “We urge transparency and fairness in this process and call on this administration to do so.” In addition to the impacts on energy and climate ambitions, industry groups have argued that removing the four Snake River dams would disrupt the economy and harm agriculture exports.  The river system notably feeds the largest U.S. wheat export gateway. Aided by the dams, barges traveling along the Columbia River system carry about 60% of Washington’s annual wheat exports. A staggering 40% of the nation’s total wheat production, valued at billions of dollars, travels through the river system. LOCAL RESIDENTS EXPLODE AT BIDEN OFFICIALS OVER PLAN TO RELEASE GRIZZLY BEARS NEAR THEIR COMMUNITIES “We have said all along that healthy salmon and dams can coexist, but this can only happen through cooperative work and the ability for all stakeholders to come together in a productive way,” Michelle Hennings, the executive director of the Washington Wheat Association, said in a statement. “Lack of clear direction and transparency from the Federal government only hinders the ability of that progress.” In a statement, a White House CEQ spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the

CBP memo orders agents not to misgender ‘members of the public’

CBP memo orders agents not to misgender ‘members of the public’

An internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) memo obtained by the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project and shared with Fox News Digital prohibits agents from using “he, him, she, her” pronouns when initially interacting with members of the public. “DO NOT use ‘he, him, she, her’ pronouns until you have more information about, or provided by, the individual,” reads the memo obtained by Heritage via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Oversight Project Director Mike Howell told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday that the “members of the public” who border patrol agents most often interact with are illegal migrants. “Border Patrol deals with more illegal aliens than any entity in the federal government. This forced language guidance is designed to coddle illegal aliens,” Howell said. THOUSANDS OF CHINESE NATIONALS, GOTAWAYS AT SOUTHERN BORDER SINCE OCT 1: SOURCES “I guess it wasn’t enough for the Biden administration to betray the Border Patrol by purposefully unleashing chaos on the southern border,” Howell said. “Now, the radical political leadership is enrolling agents in a forced-speech program to call illegal aliens by their preferred pronouns.” CBP did not respond to Fox News Digital’s multiple requests for comment. The memo encourages agents to use “a universal greeting, such as ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Good Evening’ in the initial greeting.” “If an incorrect pronoun is used and corrected by the individual, acknowledge the oversight and use the correct pronoun,” the memo reads. It also lists “key terms” with definitions next to each: bisexual, gay, gender expression, gender identity, gender non-conforming, intersex, lesbian, non-binary, queer, questioning, sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, transgender, transgender woman, transgender man and transitioning are all listed. NEW ‘ORWELLIAN’ HHS PRONOUN MANDATE FORCES EMPLOYEES TO ‘DENY REALITY,’ VIOLATE LAW: LEGAL EXPERT “This job aid provides guidance to all CBP employees who interact with members of the public to help facilitate effective communication with the diverse public we serve, including individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, non-binary, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQI+),” the memo’s introduction reads, adding that the guidance “should be used by all CBP employees.” It also notes that the terms and definitions “are not universal” and that some LGBTQ individuals “may define these terms differently and the meanings of the terms may change over time.” DEMI LOVATO REVEALS WHY USING THEY/THEM PRONOUNS WAS ‘ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTING’ Howell said CBP “should be allowed to do their job and prevent all illegal immigration, not used as pawns in some sick social experiment.” The memo follows an earlier report by Heritage’s Oversight Project that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rolled out a similar gender pronoun guideline. “All employees should be addressed [by] the names and pronouns they use to describe themselves,” the reported email to HHS employees stated as part of its push for “Gender Identity and Non-Discrimination Guidance,” which it says protects “employee rights and protections related to gender identity.” Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

Experts examine how Supreme Court could overhaul voting rights litigation in possible gerrymandering case

Experts examine how Supreme Court could overhaul voting rights litigation in possible gerrymandering case

A new voting rights case bubbling up to the Supreme Court has the potential to transform how voting rights are litigated in the courts. On Monday, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act – which prohibits the “denial or abridgment of the right to vote on account of race or color through voting qualifications or prerequisites” – does not explicitly grant a private right of action. In other words, the Eighth Circuit decided that individuals or advocacy groups who believe a state is violating a voter’s rights can’t bring a lawsuit – only the federal government can do so. In the case in question, the court said a local NAACP group in Arkansas, which is suing the state over redistricting maps that the group says discriminated against Black voters, needs to convince the Justice Department to take up their case. “Did Congress give private plaintiffs the ability to sue under [Section 2] of the Voting Rights Act? Text and structure reveal that the answer is no, so we affirm the district court’s decision to dismiss,” the ruling states. Legal experts told Fox News Digital that the case is likely to make its way up to the highest court in the land, giving the nine justices the opportunity to examine the Voting Rights Act in a presidential election year. SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF BLACK VOTERS IN ALABAMA RACIAL GERRYMANDERING CASE “Justice [Neil] Gorsuch had indicated that this is a significant issue, and the Eighth Circuit just agreed that there isn’t a private right of action. Resolution of this question is clearly headed to the Supreme Court for resolution,” Jason Torchinsky, a partner at Holzman Vogel and an expert in election law, told Fox News Digital. Monday’s ruling applies only to federal courts covered by the Eighth Circuit, which includes Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. But there are several pending lawsuits by private groups that are challenging political maps drawn by legislators across the country. In 2021, Gorsuch, who lawyers refer to as a “textualist,” indicated that at some point the Supreme Court needs to decide if Congress assumed a private right to action in the Voting Rights Act or not. SUPREME COURT APPEARS TO LEAN IN FAVOR OF UPHOLDING GOP-DRAWN SOUTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL MAP “I join the court’s opinion in full, but flag one thing it does not decide,” Gorsuch wrote at the time, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. “Our cases have assumed — without deciding — that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 furnishes an implied cause of action under section 2.” Mike Dimino, law professor at Widener University Commonwealth Law School in Pennsylvania, said the difficulty with the Eighth Circuit’s argument is that “the Supreme Court’s attitude in the mid-’60s was much more open to the creation of a private right of action where a statute was ambiguous.” “If you’re in Congress, and you’re writing a statute in the mid-’60s, you look at the Supreme Court’s precedent at the time, and you say, ‘All right, well, this is what the Supreme Court does,’” Dimino said.  “But the statute has gone on now for more than 55 years, and the Supreme Court hasn’t decided squarely whether these suits are available or not,” he said. Dimino says he believes it is unlikely that the Supreme Court would affirm the Eighth Circuit’s decision should it decide to take up the case. HIGH-PROFILE SUPREME COURT CASES TO WATCH IN 2023-2024 The Legal Defense Fund, a civil rights group, criticized the Eighth Circuit’s decision by saying that it means “[i]ndividuals who experience voting discrimination on account of their race will be prevented from suing under the Voting Rights Act (VRA)’s critical Section 2 provisions to vindicate them and must instead rely on the discretion and limited resources of the U.S. Attorney General.” The group also called the ruling “a stark departure from six decades of decisions in hundreds of Section 2 cases,” pointing to the recent Supreme Court case Allen v. Milligan. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In that case, which was decided this year, a 5-4 majority affirmed a lower court decision that ruled in favor of Black voters in Alabama who challenged the state’s GOP-friendly map, concluding the state likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Should the Eighth Circuit case be petitioned to the Supreme Court, it could set up a timeline for the case to be decided during a presidential election year. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Utah Republican seeking to replace Romney accused of falsifying endorsements, strong-arming GOP for support

Utah Republican seeking to replace Romney accused of falsifying endorsements, strong-arming GOP for support

A Utah Republican seeking to replace retiring GOP Sen. Mitt Romney in the U.S. Senate has been deemed “one hundred percent a liar” by one state lawmaker following his claim that his campaign received endorsements from several elected officials in the state. Earlier this year, then-Utah state House Speaker Brad Wilson, who announced his campaign for the Senate in September, released a list of more than 60 lawmakers who his campaign said endorsed Wilson in the race. Wilson’s campaign also said last week that it has received endorsements from more than 50 mayors throughout the state. However, at least a few of those endorsements were not actually given to Wilson’s campaign, according to four officials whose names appeared on the lists and spoke to Fox News Digital about the situation. Speaking anonymously about the alleged endorsement of Wilson’s campaign, one lawmaker whose name was on the list said he never endorsed the Republican in his race for the Senate. Other officials confirmed to Fox Digital that their names were listed even though they didn’t endorse Wilson’s bid. UTAH HOUSE SPEAKER JUMPS IN SENATE RACE TO REPLACE ROMNEY: ‘OUR COUNTRY IS NOT ON THE RIGHT PATH’ The lawmaker – who requested to remain anonymous out of concern for retaliation from Wilson – said the fiasco with the campaign began this year when Wilson, whose tenure as House speaker concluded last week, called House members and pressured them to donate to him after he launched an exploratory committee to consider running for the seat. “I think it’s completely inappropriate to call around and ask for donations from members. So, I was put in a position out of the gate where it’s like I say no to our current speaker of the House who still holds and wields all the power,” the lawmaker said. “It’s completely unacceptable and inappropriate.” The lawmaker, despite being reluctant to make contributions so early in the race, ultimately donated to Wilson’s campaign and “thought that’d be the end of it.” “Then this letter comes down … saying that I was on a list of legislators that had endorsed him. I’m like, ‘Whoa, I didn’t endorse Brad. I gave him money because he asked for it … he’s speaker of the House,’” the lawmaker told Fox. “I called other legislators, and they said the same thing. They felt like they were put in a tough position where they felt like they had to donate to him.” Describing it as a “he knows what he’s doing type of situation,” the lawmaker also told Fox that some state House members who didn’t financially support Wilson ended up losing their committee assignments. Another House member, the lawmaker said, is supporting Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs in the Senate race and ended up in an awkward situation after the representative made a small donation to Wilson and later appeared on the list, which was released in August, prior to Wilson’s campaign announcement. “It just put everyone in a really tough position, and I don’t think it’s right,” the lawmaker said. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen as we move forward here because he still technically holds a lot of power.” MORE THAN 60 UTAH REPUBLICANS ENDORSE PRIMARY CHALLENGER TO MITT ROMNEY “To have him be speaker and do that is just unacceptable. I mean, I’m not aware of someone who says they’re going to run and calls while they’re still in power and is gathering up all these bits of, you know, donations and endorsements,” the lawmaker added. “Let’s be real. Brad doesn’t need the money. He is self-funding most of it anyways, and he has tons of it.” The alleged endorsements for Wilson’s campaign, according to the lawmaker, were “an attempt” by the campaign to show strength early on in the campaign process by listing some House members’ names on the list solely because they gave him a donation he solicited. “In reality, they weren’t endorsements. They were just people who were scared,” the lawmaker said. “I’ve seen the same thing with the mayoral races or mayors around the state. They’re also saying, ‘I didn’t endorse him, but he put my name on a list.’” The lawmaker said the false endorsements that ended up on the list are representative of how Wilson has “run things as speaker of the House,” saying that “you don’t cross him” without some type of retaliation. “One hundred percent a liar,” the lawmaker added of Wilson. In addition to the state lawmaker, three other elected officials in the state confirmed to Fox News Digital that they did not endorse Wilson’s campaign and were seemingly shocked to see their names on the lists. In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Wilson’s campaign said, “It’s sad our opponents are spending Thanksgiving agonizing over Brad’s endorsement list, but the fact is Brad Wilson has over one hundred Republican endorsements from every corner of Utah, many times more than all the other candidates in the race combined.” Asked whether it was appropriate for Wilson to solicit donations during his speakership, Wilson’s campaign responded, “Brad has consistently smashed fundraising records in this race because, like any strong campaign, he’s been asking his friends and allies to chip in to support his campaign.” In September, following Romney’s announcement that he would not be seeking reelection to the upper chamber in 2024, Wilson told Fox News Digital that a “number of factors” played into his decision to enter the Senate race. “One is just the overwhelming support we’ve had from everyone in the state — from elected officials to grassroots support. Just a lot of people encouraging us to run, whether it’s been support in terms of wanting to go out and knock on doors or get supporters on board [with] financial support. I mean, that’s been overwhelming,” he said. “At the end of the day, our country is not on the right path, and we all know it. People feel like Utah is on the right path, and I

Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson leaving Congress to accept role as president of Youngstown State

Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson leaving Congress to accept role as president of Youngstown State

U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, announced Tuesday that he is retiring from Congress to accept an offer to become president of Youngstown State University. Johnson, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 2010, will continue in his role as a lawmaker for several more months before starting as president of Youngstown State University in March. “After much thought and prayerful deliberation, I have accepted the offer to lead Youngstown State University and will not be seeking an 8th term in Congress,” Johnson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “As I’ve stated previously, I wasn’t looking for another job, because I love the one I have serving the people of Eastern Ohio in the U.S. House. This was an extremely difficult decision.” “This is not a goodbye, however. I will continue serving in the House for several more months, and you will see no let up,” the outgoing congressman continued. “My offices are open and my staff remains ready to serve you.” TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY INCREASES TUITION, MEANING IT COSTS LESS TO ATTEND HARVARD The Youngstown State University Board of Trustees voted 8-1 on Tuesday to offer Johnson his new job as president of the institution. Johnson, 69, will succeed former Ohio State University football head coach Jim Tressel, who left as Youngstown president in February. Helen K. Lafferty is currently serving as the university’s interim president. “There is still much left on my agenda to do before I depart Congress, including doing all I can to help pass tax exemption legislation to benefit the people of East Palestine as well as a broader rail safety bill, streamline America’s LNG export process, and advance a responsible budget and spending package for the remainder of this fiscal year. It’s business as usual,” Johnson wrote in his statement on X. OHIO DEMOCRAT UNDER INVESTIGATION AFTER ALLEGATIONS OF ‘ERRATIC AND ABUSIVE’ BEHAVIOR The Ohio lawmaker represents the state’s sixth congressional district, which covers the East Palestine area where a Norfolk Southern train derailed in February, resulting in black smoke blanketing the village and hazardous chemicals spilling into the community’s soil and water. The filing deadline for congressional candidates to submit signed petitions to run in party primaries for the two-year term that starts January 2025 is Dec. 20, and the primary election will be held in Ohio on March 19.  Republican Gov. Mike DeWine will decide if and when to schedule a special election to select someone to replace Johnson in Congress for the rest of 2024.