lillie, j

wow, NO info online

Leaked Memo Silences Department of Interior

by KEN COLE on JANUARY 24, 2017 · 108 COMMENTS · in DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, POLITICS

A memo leaked today orders all of the bureaus of the Department of Interior, which includes the Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Indian Affairs, and others, to clear nearly every decision or correspondence with the Office of the Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs (OES).Other departments such as the EPA have instituted similar gag orders. This sweeping gag order stops the bureaus from corresponding with entities ranging from tribal leaders, governors, and even Congress.

The contents of the memo are below and the memo is here

Memorandum

To: Chiefs of Staff, Bureaus and Offices

From: Julie Lillie,Director, Office of Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs

Subject: Federal Register Documents and Correspondence Clearance Procedures

As we begin a new administration, it is important that the incoming policy team has an opportunity to review documents. Effective immediately, and in addition to your internal clearance processes, all Federal Register documents, including all notices, and all correspondence to or from the Secretary must be forwarded to the Office of the Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs (OES) for review 5 days prior to any deadline for Departmental clearance, regardless of signature level. For Federal Register notices this includes, but is not limited to:

• any proposed or final regulation or policy action,

• notices of all meetings, including tribal consultation meetings,

• all notices related to NEPA documents

• information collection notices,

• FWS notices of low effect applications for permits,

• BLM notices of plat surveys, and

• BOEM quarterly notices of environmental documents prepared for the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf.

In addition to the above, all incoming congressional and gubernatorial correspondence as well as correspondence from Indian or Alaska tribal leaders and leaders from national level environment/recreational and industry organizations must be forwarded to OES prior to responding, regardless of addressee or signature level. No correspondence should be cleared to go to Congress or to any Governor until it has been reviewed by the Acting Chief of Staff [WHO? Bernhardt?] and/orSenior White House Advisor. The OES will be responsible for tasking these letters for response . The incoming leadership team will decide whether to continue or modify these instructions.

flake mccain letter about grand cyn

http://www.grandcanyonwatchdog.com/userfiles/file/mccain%20flake%20letter.pdf

some kind of log

foia req?

OS-2017-00231 January 19, 2017 January 26, 2017 Bailey Kate

OS Open All records of communications between officials or employees of the Department of the Interior and officers, officials, employees, or representatives of the President-Elect's Transition Team. The time frame for this request is November 15, 2016 to the present. OS-2017-00229

January 26, 2017 January 26, 2017Nichols Jeremy OS Open Any and all records concerning or relating in any way to the January 20, 2017 memorandum from Julie Lillie, Director, Office of the Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs to Chiefs of Staff, Bureaus and Offices in the Interior Department regarding ¿Federal Register Documents and Correspondence Clearance Procedures.¿ This memo, which we refer to as the ¿January 20, 2017 Correspondence Memo,¿ is attached to this request as Exhibit 1. Cont below.

OS-2017-00239 January 31, 2017 January 31, 2017 Trevithick Joseph OS Open Copy of any materials the Department of the Interior's Office of the Executive Secretariat and Regulatory Affairs (OES) has reviewed for clearance or release purposes since Jan. 20, 2017. Cont below.

---- Forwarded message ----------

From: Micah Chambers Date: Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 5:37 PM Subject: Fwd: Letter to Secretary Zinke DOI re 114th Document Requests To: Robert Howarth , juliette lillie@ios.doi.gov, Christopher Salotti Here it is Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: "Casey, Sharon" To: "micah chambers@ios.doi.gov" , "Amanda kaster@ios.doi.gov" Cc: "Beaumont, Melissa" , "McGrath, William" , "McKenna, Liam" Subject: Letter to Secretary Zinke DOI re 114th Document Requests Attached please find a letter from Chairman Chaffetz of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

newsmax bs

Trump's Communication Changes Cause Outcry

(ap?)

President Donald Trump's administration is getting reamed on social media for a perceive lack of communication compared to former President Barack Obama's, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Soon after his inauguration, the Whitehouse.gov page on climate change was removed, prompting a worried response from environmentalists. The Trump administration is reportedly reviewing the information that was posted there to see what reflects the new president's policies, according to transition spokesman Doug Erickson.

Reuters reported Wednesday that the Trump administration instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to remove its webpage on climate change, according to unnamed sources in the EPA.

"This isn't normal," Andrew Rosenberg, director of the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists who worked in former president Bill Clinton's administration, told the Journal.

"The idea scientific information should be vetted by the political people before it goes out doesn't make sense," he added.

An internal memo at the Department of the Interior obtained by the Journal provides instructions for reviewing "all notices related to NEPA [National Environmental Protection Act] documents" and "information collection notices," before that info is released to the public.

"All incoming congressional and gubernatorial correspondence as well as correspondence from Indian or Alaska tribal leaders and leaders from national level environmental/recreational and industry organizations must be forwarded to [regulatory affairs] prior to responding," read the memo, signed by director of executive secretariat and regulatory affairsJulie Lillie.

"This memo is part of the Department of the Interior's standard practice to ensure a smooth transition of government from one administration to the other and allow new Department officials to have the opportunity to review agency actions for legal and regulatory compliance," Lillie said in a statement.