Appendix E

Secretarial Order No. 3289

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
Washington

ORDER NO. 3289, Amendment No. 1 (Amended material italicized)

SIGNATURE DATE: February 22, 2010

Subject: Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources

Sec. 1 Purpose and Background. Secretarial Order No. 3285, issued on March 11, 2009, made production and transmission of renewable energy on public lands a priority for the Department.

This Order establishes a Department-wide approach for applying scientific tools to increase understanding of climate change and to coordinate an effective response to its impacts on tribes and on the land, water, ocean, fish and wildlife, and cultural heritage resources that the Department manages. This Order replaces Secretarial Order No. 3226, Amendment No. 1, issued on January 16, 2009, and reinstates the provisions of Secretarial Order No. 3226, issued on January 19, 2001.

To fulfill our nation’s vision for a clean energy economy, Interior is now managing America’s public lands and oceans not just for balanced oil, natural gas, and coal development, but also—for the first time ever—to promote environmentally responsible renewable energy development. Sun, wind, biomass, and geothermal energy from our public and tribal lands is creating new jobs and will power millions of American homes and electric vehicles.

The Department is also taking the lead in protecting our country’s water, land, fish and wildlife, and cultural heritage and tribal lands and resources from the dramatic effects of climate change that are already occurring—from the Arctic to the Everglades. The realities of climate change require us to change how we manage the land, water, fish and wildlife, and cultural heritage and tribal lands and resources we oversee. For example:

• New water management imperatives associated with climate change may require restoration of natural systems and construction of new infrastructure to reduce new flood risks or to capture early run-off.
• Strategies to address sea level rise may require acquisition of upland habitat and creation of wetlands and other natural filters and barriers to protect against sea level rise and storm surges. It may be necessary to relocate certain iconic and culturally historic structures.
• Shifting wildlife and habitat populations may require investments in new wildlife corridors.
• New invasions of exotic species and new wildland fire threats due to longer fire seasons and more severe droughts will require innovation and more effective ways of managing the Department’s resources.

The Department of the Interior, with its 67,000 employees and scientific and resource management expertise, is responsible for helping protect the nation from the impacts of climate change. In particular the Department must:

• Adapt its water management strategies to address the possibility of shrinking water supplies and more frequent and extended droughts to continue to supply drinking water to more than 31 million people and irrigation water to 140,000 farmers.
• Wisely manage millions of acres of parks, refuges and other public lands, and prudently exercise its shared responsibility for managing the 1.7 billion acres of the U.S. outer continental shelf.
• Conserve and manage fish and wildlife resources, including over 800 native migratory bird species and nearly 2,000 federally listed threatened and endangered species.
• Protect cultural and archaeological resources and iconic structures that may be affected by climate change.

• Address the impacts of climate change on American Indians and Alaska Natives, for whom the Department holds trust responsibilities on behalf of the Federal government.
• Continue to provide state-of-the art science to better understand the impacts of climate change and to develop science-based adaptive management strategies for natural and cultural resource managers.
• Continue its work to quantify the amount of carbon stored in our forests, wetlands, and grasslands, identifying areas where carbon dioxide can be safely stored underground, and ways to reduce the Department’s carbon footprint.

Sec. 2 Authority. This Order is issued under the authority of Section 2 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1950 (64 Stat. 1262), as amended.

Sec. 3 Coordinating the Department’s Response to Climate Change Impacts on Our Resources. The Climate Change Response Council within the Office of the Secretary is renamed the Energy and Climate Change Council (Council). The Council will execute a coordinated Department-wide strategy to address renewable energy efforts and to increase scientific understanding of and development of effective adaptive management tools to address the impacts of climate change on our natural and cultural resources. The Energy and Climate Change Council will be composed of the Secretary (Chair), Deputy Secretary (Vice-Chair), Counselor to the Secretary (Vice-Chair), Assistant Secretaries, Bureau Directors and the Solicitor. The Council will help coordinate activities within and among the Department’s agencies and bureaus to develop and implement an integrated strategy for responding to renewable energy efforts and climate change impacts involving the resources managed by the Department. The Department’s Energy and Climate Change Council will also coordinate its energy and climate change activities with all relevant Federal Departments and agencies including, but not limited to, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Energy and Climate Change, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the National Science and Technology Council, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Energy and Climate Change Council will implement Department-specific energy activities as described in Secretarial Order # 3285 (Amendment No. 1), and implement climate change activities through the following mechanisms:

1. Climate Change Planning Requirements. Each bureau and office of the Department must consider and analyze potential climate change impacts when undertaking long-range planning exercises, setting priorities for scientific research and investigations, developing multiyear management plans, and making major decisions regarding potential use of resources under the Department’s purview. These requirements were set forth in Secretary’s Orders No. 3226 and 3285, and remain in effect. The organizational changes made by this Order will enable the bureaus and agencies to fulfill these planning requirements.
2. DOI Climate Science Centers. Management decisions made in response to climate change impacts must be informed by science and require that scientists work in tandem with those managers who are confronting climate change impacts and evaluating options to respond to such impacts. Pursuant to P.L. 110-161, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been developing regional science centers to provide climate change impact data and analysis geared to the needs of fish and wildlife managers as they develop adaptation strategies in response to climate change. These centers are currently known as “regional hubs” of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, and are being developed in close collaboration with Interior agencies and other federal, state, university, and non-governmental partners.

   The Energy and Climate Change Council will work with USGS and other Department bureaus to rename these regional science centers as DOI Climate Science Centers (Centers) and broaden their mandate to encompass other climate-change-related impacts on Departmental resources.

   These eight Centers will synthesize and integrate climate change impact data and develop tools that the Department’s managers and partners can use when managing the Department’s land, water, fish and wildlife, and cultural heritage resources.

3. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. Given the broad impacts of climate change, management responses to such impacts must be coordinated on a landscape-level basis. For example, wildlife migration and related needs for new wildlife corridors, the spread of invasive species and wildfire risks, typically will extend beyond the borders of National Wildlife Refuges, BLM lands, or National Parks. Additionally, some bureau responsibilities (e.g., Fish and Wildlife Service migratory bird and threatened and endangered species responsibilities) extend nationally and globally. Because of the unprecedented scope of affected landscapes, Interior bureaus and agencies must work together, and with other federal, state, tribal and local governments, and private landowner partners, to develop landscape-level strategies for understanding and responding to climate change impacts. Interior bureaus and agencies, guided by the Energy and Climate Change Council, will work to stimulate the development of a network of collaborative “Landscape Conservation Cooperatives.” These cooperatives, which already have been formed in some regions, will work interactively with the relevant DOI Climate Science Center(s) and help coordinate adaptation efforts in the region.

Sec. 4 Additional Departmental Action to Mitigate Climate Change. In accordance with Secretarial Order No. 3285, the Department has prioritized development ofrenew-able energy on public lands and offshore waters to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. This Order establishes two additional projects to mitigate climate change: the DOI Carbon Storage Project, and the DOI Carbon Footprint Project. Additional mitigation projects will be encouraged and supported by the Energy and Climate Change Council.

1. The DOI Carbon Storage Project. This project is being implemented under P.L. 110-140, “The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007,” which gives the Department statutory responsibility to develop carbon sequestration methodologies for geological (i.e., underground) and biological (e.g., forests and rangelands) carbon storage. The USGS has the lead in administering the Carbon Storage Project, but will work closely with other bureaus and agencies in the Department and external partners to enhance carbon storage in geologic formations and in plants and soils in a manner consistent with the Department’s responsibility to provide comprehensive, long-term stewardship of its resources. The DOI Carbon Storage Project is vital for successful domestic and global geological and biological carbon sequestration efforts.
2. The DOI Carbon Footprint Project. The project will develop a unified greenhouse gas emission reduction program, including setting a baseline and reduction goal for the Department’s greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. The Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget will have the lead in administering the DOI Carbon Footprint Project, with the cooperation of all of the Department’s agencies and bureaus.

Sec. 5 American Indians and Alaska Natives. Climate change may disproportionately affect tribes and their lands because they are heavily dependent on their natural resources for economic and cultural identity. As the Department has the primary trust responsibility for the Federal government for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and tribal lands and resources, the Department will ensure consistent and in-depth government-to-government consultation with tribes and Alaska Natives on the Department’s climate change initiatives. Tribal values are critical to determining what is to be protected, why, and how to protect the interests of their communities. The Department will support the use of the best available science, including traditional ecological knowledge, in formulating policy pertaining to climate change. The Department will also support substantive participation by tribes in deliberations on climaterelated mechanisms, agreements, rules, and regulations.

Sec. 6 Implementation. The Deputy Secretary is responsible for ensuring implementation of all aspects of this Order. This responsibility may be delegated as appropriate. This Order does not alter or affect any existing duty or authority of individual bureaus.

Sec. 7 Effective Date. This Order is effective immediately and will remain in effect until its provisions are converted to the Departmental Manual or until it is amended, superseded, or revoked, whichever occurs first.

/s/ Ken Salazar
Secretary of the Interior

S0#3289Al 2/22/10

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