Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Campaign calls on Congress, Biden to designate Oregon's Owyhee Canyonlands as a national monument
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Friday, September 8, 2023
Owyhee River, Bureau of Land Management Oregon and Washington | Flickr ([link removed])
A new campaign, Protect the Owyhee Canyonlands ([link removed]) , launched this week calling for the protection of Oregon's Owyhee Canyonlands as a national monument before the end of 2024. The campaign is urging Congress to act on legislation ([link removed]) introduced for the third time in four years by Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkeley. If Congress fails to act, the campaign is requesting that President Biden use the Senators' proposal as a blueprint for a national monument designation using executive authority granted to the president under the Antiquities Act of 1906.
According to the campaign, the Owyhee Canyonlands is the largest ([link removed]) conservation opportunity in the American West. The proposed legislation would protect ([link removed]) over one million acres of federal public lands, safeguarding the landscape and parts of the Owyhee River from industrial development and the impacts of climate change. Currently, only five percent ([link removed]) of the Owyhee Canyonlands is permanently protected. Conserving the remaining 95 percent would help Oregon catch up to other Western states ([link removed]) in terms of public lands protected in the last decade.
If President Biden designates the Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument, he would make significant progress toward his goal ([link removed]) of protecting 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. At over a million acres, the designation would be President Biden's largest national monument designation to date.
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Environmentalists sue Utah for failing to protect the shrinking Great Salt Lake
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On Wednesday, conservation groups filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) saying the Utah government directly contributed to the lake's aridification by authorizing excessive water use for agriculture and industry. The plaintiffs are suing on the basis of the public trust doctrine, a legal principle that says states are responsible for protecting public resources like shared water. The dried lakebed also poses serious health risks—toxic chemicals like arsenic, lead, and mercury are trapped in the lakebed. As more of the lakebed becomes exposed and dries, those chemicals are carried into the air by wind.
** Quick hits
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Study: Oil and gas is 'deforming' New Mexico's land, study says, as drilling set to grow
Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
Biden approved a big oil project. Now, he's cracking down on drilling
New York Times ([link removed])
Opinion: 'Zombie' well numbers are up on wild lands
Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])
Colorado politicians echo calls for full BLM review of Utah oil train terminal expansion
Colorado Newsline ([link removed].)
EPA fines Suncor for producing fuel with too many pollutants, orders company to pay $600K for clean lawn equipment
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Opinion: Why you should give a damn about America’s dams
The Hill ([link removed])
Fat Bear Week camera helps rescue hiker on Alaska mountain
Washington Post ([link removed])
NPS warns Yellowstone National Park travelers to beware of ‘unpredictable’ elk
Travel + Leisure ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” For the ancestors of the Owyhee and their future generations, we cannot wait any longer to protect this sacred land. The time is now.”
—Wilson Wewa, Paiute Elder, Storyteller, Spiritual Leader, and Culture Keeper, Protect the Owyhee Canyonlands ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@YellowstoneNPS ([link removed])
WARNING: Stay away from bull elk in Yellowstone National Park especially during fall mating season, which has begun! Learn more: [link removed] ([link removed])
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