Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Senate committee considers good public lands bills
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Thursday, July 13, 2023
Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining; screenshot from energy.senate.gov ([link removed])

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's subcommittee on public lands, forests, and mining heard a slate of pro-conservation legislation ([link removed]) yesterday. The bills considered include protections for the Dolores River ([link removed]) , the Thompson Divide ([link removed]) and additional areas of Colorado ([link removed]) , Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands ([link removed]) , and the Olympic National Forest in Washington ([link removed]) . The subcommittee also heard testimony on a bill that would ([link removed]) discourage speculative
leasing of public lands ([link removed]) that are unlikely to ever produce oil and gas.

“It’s great to see so many conservation bills moving in the Senate. Western voters consistently say they want their elected officials to protect the most vulnerable landscapes, and these bills would do just that. Chairman Manchin and Majority Leader Schumer should quickly advance these bills out of committee and to a floor vote,” said Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala ([link removed]) .

While these bills are moving in the Senate, they face an uphill battle in the House. The House Natural Resources Committee, which will hear these bills or their House companions, are focused on eroding protections for public lands rather than creating them.

“If Congress isn’t going to do its job for the West, President Biden should be ready to step up and use the Antiquities Act to protect American landscapes, as he’s already done at Camp Hale, Avi Kwa Ame, and Castner Range. Westerners want to see public lands protected, and they don’t care whether it’s Congress or the president doing the job,” Rokala added ([link removed]) .
Quick hits


** Anger builds after controlled burn badly damages California sequoias
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** Wolverines are the ‘embodiment of wilderness’. Can they make a comeback?
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The ([link removed]) Guardian ([link removed])


** La Cienguilla residents, pueblo officials pan idea of shooting range at Caja del Rio
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])


** Interior Department official with key role in Colorado River talks is stepping down
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])


** A derailment and a tornado add to Wyoming’s coal-by-rail worries
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WyoFile ([link removed])


** As farms and ranches face development threats, feds renew push to preserve open space
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Wyoming Public Radio ([link removed])


** The link between the Permian Basin's fossil fuel industry and earthquakes
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])


** Cleanup continues along the Yellowstone with thousands of pounds of asphalt collected
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Billings Gazette ([link removed]) | Montana Free Press ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” Most people think about elk and moose and pronghorn and mule deer and they see them in places like Yellowstone... They don't recognize that, yeah, they're there in the summertime. But in the wintertime, they're often on private working lands.”
—Robert Bonnie, under secretary for farm production and conservation at USDA, Wyoming Public Radio ([link removed])
Picture this


** @LakeClarkNPS ([link removed])
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Nantl'ili t'una; the Dena'ina word for Lupine, meaning “bee's plant".

The beautiful blue-purple hues of Lupine can be spotted all about Lake Clark National Park & Preserve as summer is now full swing. With abundant rain, the wildflowers are as full and bright as ever!

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