March, in brief

Key news from March:

• The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service released a draft management plan for Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah in collaboration with five sovereign Tribal nations with historic and cultural ties to the region. The draft resource management plan includes five alternatives and the federal agencies have identified Alternative E as their preferred option, which they say “maximizes the consideration and use of Tribal perspectives on managing the landscape.” Alternative E prohibits recreational shooting, allows livestock grazing almost everywhere, and designates areas where off-highway vehicle use is allowed.

• In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden highlighted investments in efforts to confront climate change and transition to clean energy. Though he did not mention the law by name, Biden focused in particular on funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for renewable energy and the jobs created by that spending. Biden chided lawmakers who voted against those investments but now claim credit for them, saying, "If any of you don't want the money in your districts, just let me know." Biden also pointed to the administration's environmental justice efforts for "fence-line communities smothered by the legacy of pollution." Also receiving a brief mention: Biden's commitment to conserving 30 percent of America's lands and waters by 2030. Biden has designated five new national monuments, protecting over 1.5 million acres, but it has now been well over 200 days since he last designated a new national monument.
• The BLM released its draft Sage-grouse Resource Management Plan in which the agency's “preferred alternative” will restore some restrictions on drilling and other activities across the nearly 67 million acres of the birds’ remaining habitat across ten Western states. The new plan aims to provide certainty and stability for land managers, states, and industry while stopping the long-term decline in sage-grouse populations across the West.

• The BLM finalized its Methane Waste Rule, bringing years of legal and administrative wrangling to a close. The final rule requires oil and gas companies to reduce venting and flaring of methane, fix leaks, and reimburse taxpayers when companies waste this powerful greenhouse gas rather than capturing it and sending it to American homes. Efforts to curb methane waste on public lands have been in legal limbo since the Obama administration issued a rule in 2016. That rule survived a challenge under the Congressional Review Act, only to see the Trump administration largely undermine it with a new rulemaking in 2018. While that new rule was thrown out by the courts in July 2020, the original Obama rule was also vacated by a judge later that same year, leaving outdated regulations from 1979 in place. BLM estimates that the new rule will increase revenue by $51 million a year, while providing another $18 million in added benefits from a reduction in methane emissions.

• The Supreme Court rejected two cases that could have curtailed the president’s power to establish new national monuments. The two cases centered on President Obama's expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The timber companies involved argued the expansion was a misuse of the Antiquities Act, because it blocked timber harvests that Congress required on some of the same lands. The cases also asked whether the Supreme Court could restrict the president’s ability to set aside existing public lands to protect natural, cultural, or scientific features. Only Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch indicated interest in hearing the Cascade-Siskiyou cases. It takes the vote of four justices to decide to hear a case. Notably, Justice John Roberts did not vote to hear the case, despite indicating interest in curtailing the Antiquities Act in the past.

What to watch for in April:

• Will President Biden designate or expand a national monument?
• Will the final draft of the BLM Oil and Gas rule be released?
• Earth Day is on April 22. Will you volunteer at any clean-up or restoration efforts?

Road to 30 Postcards: Proposed Chuckwalla National Monument

The Center for Western Priorities is excited to share the ninth film in our Road to 30: Postcards campaign featuring the Chuckwalla National Monument proposal in Southern California’s Eastern Coachella Valley. 

The proposed Chuckwalla National Monument would protect approximately 660,000 acres just south of Joshua Tree National Park. The proposal is named for the chuckwalla lizard, one of the species found in the region. Establishing the monument would help ensure more equitable access to nature for local communities, and safeguard biodiversity, wildlife habitat, and wildlife migration corridors. 

The lands proposed for protection include the homelands of the Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan, and Maara’yam peoples (Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Mohave, Colorado River Indian Tribes/CRIT Mohave, Quechan, and Serrano nations). The area continues to hold cultural, natural, and spiritual significance for Indigenous peoples today. A national monument designation could provide an opportunity to honor Tribal sovereignty through a collaborative effort with federal agencies to establish co-management or co-stewardship of the monument. 

In addition to Tribal nations, the monument proposal is supported by current and former local elected officials, including California Representative Raul Ruiz, M.D., cities and municipalities, dozens of businesses, chambers of commerce, and local community members. The coalition supporting the proposal is urging President Joe Biden to use the Antiquities Act to designate Chuckwalla National Monument. There is also a legislative proposal to protect approximately 17,000 acres of public lands that are adjacent to the east side of Joshua Tree National Park. 

Hear from three people who know and love this region and want to see it protected: Altrena Santillanes, Tribal Council Secretary for the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians; Conchita Pozar, a local community leader and conservation advocate; and Frank Ruiz, the director of the California Desert and Salton Sea program for California Audubon.

Kate and Aaron are joined by three members of the reporting team behind, Lithium Liabilities, a groundbreaking investigation into how lithium mining could affect the West’s water supply. Emma Peterson, Morgan Casey, and Lauren Mucciolo are part of a large team of editors, photographers, and reporters who worked on the investigation at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.

Kate and Aaron are joined by author Betsy Gaines Quammen to talk about public lands and extremism. Betsy has written two books about extremism in the West. Her first, American Zion, looks at the connection between Mormonism and extremism. Her second book, True West, which came out last year, digs into the myths that define the West.

BLM ramps up conservation focus on public lands

E&E News
 

AI is taking water from the desert

The Atlantic
 

There's a reason Exxon Mobil's CEO says its emissions are your fault

Grist
 

A new satellite will track methane pollution from the oil and gas industry

New York Times
 

Report: Orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells threaten cultural resources in the Southwest

Archaeology Southwest
 

Could building on public land address the housing crisis? It depends

High Country News
 

The U.S. needs wildland firefighters more than ever, but the federal government is losing them

ProPublica
 

Opinion: We must work across party lines to steward our public lands

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
 

California Tribe becomes the first to manage land with National Park Service

Associated Press
 

This Colorado rancher sees a world where conservation can turn a profit

Colorado Sun

“Oak Flat is like Mount Sinai to us—our most sacred site where we connect with our Creator, our faith, our families and our land.”

—Wendsler Noise of Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit fighting to protect the area, Grist