Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Rapidly-drying Arizona looks to Mexico for water
------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, June 12, 2023
Boats in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico / Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])
In light of dwindling water resources from drought, climate change, and overuse, Arizona is considering ([link removed]) a $5 billion plan to desalinate seawater in Mexico and pipe it to Phoenix. The project would suck salt out of seawater, a process that requires tremendous amounts of energy, and send the desalinated water about 200 miles to Phoenix, climbing over 2,000 feet along the way.
This consideration comes just two weeks after Arizona announced ([link removed]) that the rapidly-growing Phoenix area doesn't have enough groundwater to support future housing that has already been approved.
The proposed desalination project would cut through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a 500-square-mile area along Arizona's southern border. The monument is a UNESCO ([link removed]) biosphere reserve—one of the few in the southwest—with a fragile ecology that supports thriving plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert.
In order to power the desalination plant, IDE Technologies, the company behind the proposal, would have to build one of America's largest solar farms near Phoenix, as well as a transmission line to move that power to Mexico. The transmission line, in addition to the water pipeline, would require a 325-foot-wide right of way corridor.
**
BLM Restoration Landscapes: Snake River Plain
------------------------------------------------------------
In celebration of the Bureau of Land Management’s $161 million investment in Western landscape restoration projects ([link removed]) , Look West is highlighting a different " ([link removed]) Restoration Landscape ([link removed]) " ([link removed]) each day for 21 days. Today’s landscape is the Snake River Plain in southwest Idaho. An investment of $10 million will help restore native grasses, sagebrush and other shrubs critical to the health of the region and its wildlife, including greater sage-grouse, raptors, mule deer, elk, and antelope.
Quick hits
** ‘A portion of paradise’: How the drought is bringing a lost US canyon back to life
------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian ([link removed])
** Some Western Slope creeks are so clean, groups are working toward Outstanding Waters designations
------------------------------------------------------------
Aspen Journalism ([link removed])
** A portrait of the Colorado River: The hardest working river in the West
------------------------------------------------------------
Deseret News ([link removed])
** Opinion: To prevent extinction for the next 50 years, we need to invest in collaboration
------------------------------------------------------------
Denver Post ([link removed])
** More companies setting ‘net-zero’ climate targets, but few have credible plans, report says
------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press ([link removed])
** How far you have to travel to see a sky free of light pollution
------------------------------------------------------------
Axios ([link removed])
** Nevada Tribes continue to seek repatriation of ancestral remains
------------------------------------------------------------
Nevada Independent ([link removed])
** Bryce Canyon National Park celebrates 100th birthday
------------------------------------------------------------
ABC4 ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Whereas science looks at them as artifacts and specimens [with] no connection. To us, spiritually, they’re still very very real and their spirits are still there. And it’s important to get them back in the ground where they belong so that the spirits can continue on their journey.”
—Ted Howard, former chairman of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada Independent ([link removed])
Picture this
** @ArchesNPS ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
June is #GreatOutdoorsMonth ([link removed]) which means this is a great month for… getting outdoors! What is your favorite way to get outdoors?
NPS Photo/ Jacob W. Frank
============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Medium ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
Copyright © 2023 Center for Western Priorities, All rights reserved.
You've signed up to receive Look West updates.
Center for Western Priorities
1999 Broadway
Suite 520
Denver, CO 80202
USA
** View this on the web ([link removed])
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
