"Bernhardt Order Gives States Veto Authority Over LWCF"

"The Interior Department is seeking to make sweeping changes to how Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars can be spent in what critics say is tantamount to a rewrite of the Great American Outdoors Act.

It's the latest chapter in the ongoing saga over the administration's rocky implementation of its signature conservation law enacted in August.

A new order from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, published this afternoon, would, among other things, essentially give state and local jurisdictions veto power over how communities spend and match grants through the LWCF, which funds access to recreation in states and federal land acquisitions."

Emma Dumain and Jennifer Yachnin report for E&E News November 13, 2020.