February, in brief

Key news from February:

• The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe is calling on President Joe Biden to protect more than 390,000 acres of the Tribe’s homelands located in Imperial County, California as the Kw'tsán National Monument. The land within the proposed monument area is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management and contains incredible cultural, ecological, recreational, scenic, and historic values that the Tribe is asking be preserved for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.

• Utah Governor Spencer Cox and the state's top lawmakers called off an agreement with the federal government to swap out 130,000 acres of land managed by the Utah Trust Lands Administration (formerly known as SITLA) that lie within Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah. The trade would have transferred valuable federal land and mineral resources to the state in exchange for the parcels inside the monument. Utah lawmakers approved the trade last May, and it was introduced in Congress. But the agreement failed to pass the U.S. House and Senate, which means it is not legally binding. Utah leaders are justifying calling off the deal by saying the Interior Department's not-yet-released management plan for the monument doesn't meet their wishes.

• The Bureau of Land Management will use $41 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for ecosystem restoration. This funding will support 74 projects in 16 states, according to the agency. Half of the funding will go toward BLM’s Restoration Landscapes, which will help address threats to wildlife, recreation visitors, and communities on public land. Around $6 million will go toward restoring and protecting prioritized sagebrush landscapes across four states—part of the Interior Department’s new Sagebrush Keystone Initiative. See more funding details here.

• Arizona lawmakers filed a lawsuit against President Biden over his decision to designate Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The lawmakers claim the designation is an unlawful "land grab" that exceeds the authority granted to the President by the Antiquities Act. Since President Theodore Roosevelt first invoked the Antiquities Act to establish Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908, every single challenge to a president’s authority under the Antiquities Act has failed in courts.

• A federal appeals court ended a nationwide ban on new federal coal leases, but it's not clear that new leasing will resume any time soon. The moratorium originated during the Obama administration, was rescinded by then-Interior secretary Ryan Zinke during the Trump administration, and was reinstated by a court in 2022. A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the 2022 ruling was moot since the Zinke order had been effectively rescinded by President Biden's Interior secretary, Deb Haaland. While the mining industry called the latest ruling a victory, it does not require the Biden administration to resume coal leasing. A coalition of Tribal and environmental groups called on the Biden administration to put an end to the federal coal leasing program entirely.

What to watch for in March:

• Will President Biden designate or expand a national monument?
• Will the Wyoming legislature authorize the National Park Service to purchase the Kelly Parcel?
• Will the BLM release a Bears Ears National Monument management plan?
• Will the final draft of the BLM Oil and Gas rule be released?
• What public land policies will Western states pass as they wrap up their legislative sessions?

Kate and Aaron are joined by pollsters Lori Weigel and Dave Metz to discuss the 14th Annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West poll. The poll surveys voters in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado on their environmental views. This year, it found support for conservation of nature is higher than ever.

Kate and Aaron are joined by Justin Meuse, Director of Government Relations for Climate and Energy at the Wilderness Society, to talk about a proposal from the Bureau of Land Management to prioritize around 22 million acres of public land for utility scale solar development across the West. They discuss why planning matters, how much solar development to actually expect if this plan proceeds, and how you can get involved.

Driven by high uranium prices, domestic uranium mining has resumed at three locations in the U.S. after an eight-year hiatus. Kate and Aaron are joined by Amber Reimondo, Energy Director at the Grand Canyon Trust and Scott Clow, Environmental Programs Director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, to discuss how that will impact the Grand Canyon and Tribal communities on the Colorado Plateau.

"Smoking gun" documents show oil industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954

The Guardian
 

Nature has value—could we literally invest in it?

New York Times
 

BLM's dual mission to pursue solar energy development and protect landscapes

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
 

Report: National monuments in the West boost local economies and ecosystems

KUNR
 

Mark Udall: Biden administration's commitment to public lands can unite us

Denver Post
 

Public universities across the West benefit from extraction on stolen land

Grist
 

The planet needs solar power. Can we build it without harming nature?

New York Times
 

Report: Nearly half of the world’s migratory species are in decline

Associated Press
 

Farmers and Tribes reach historic Klamath River deal

E&E News
 

ExxonMobil is suing investors who want faster climate action

NPR

“As others see the land as just land and dirt, we, the Quechan people, see the land in our DNA... We come from the air, the water, the land. It's who we are, and protecting these lands preserves our past while safeguarding our future.”

—Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe President Jordan Joaquin, E&E News