"A little-known law soon could restrict top acting officials across the federal government and possibly leave the Trump administration's coming environmental and energy policy decisions legally vulnerable.

In the crosshairs are acting officials who have been serving in Senate-confirmed positions at agencies like U.S. EPA and the departments of Energy and the Interior that have no nominee waiting in the wings.

Those officials — including the acting heads of the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service — are allowed to serve only 300 days under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act if their positions have been vacant since Inauguration Day.

That clock runs out next Thursday."

Hannah Northey and Kevin Bogardus report for Greenwire November 9, 2017. [2]