** Interior lawyer with no park experience named to lead Grand Canyon
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Monday, April 6, 2020
View from Mather Point in Grand Canyon National Park | W. Tyson Joye, National Park Service ([link removed])

On Friday, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt appointed agency lawyer Ed Keable ([link removed]) as superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park. The move is highly unusual, as Keable has no park management experience, yet will now be in charge of one of the nation's busiest and most complex parks.

"What in the world qualifies him to be a superintendent?" said Phil Francis ([link removed]) , a former national park superintendent and chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks. "In my experience, I have never known a person to be appointed to be a superintendent of a major park who didn't have significant National Park Service experience... This is extremely rare, and while I don't know this individual, on the face of it it seems improper."

Keable faces a host of hot button issues, including efforts to develop a major resort ([link removed]) near the Grand Canyon's South Rim. The town of Tusayan, which was denied development permits ([link removed]) in 2016 after National Park Service objections, hired Secretary Bernhardt's former firm to lobby Interior on the exact day ([link removed]) he was sworn in. Since then, the town has paid $520,000 in lobbying fees to advance the project and recently resubmitted ([link removed]) its development application.
Quick hits


** Oil industry seeks to lease 150,000 acres near Arches, Canyonlands National Parks
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Zion National Park closed after days of local leaders, governor pleading for shutdown
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed]) | St. George News ([link removed]) | KSL ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed])


** Bernhardt extends appointment of controversial acting BLM director by one month
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Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])


** Oil price war, coronavirus sow chaos in the Western oil patch
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** Fire managers scrap prescribed burns across the West amid coronavirus concerns
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Wyoming coal production falls to lowest level in decades, with further declines likely
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])


** Energy development continues in Montana despite public health concerns
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Montana Public Radio ([link removed])


** New Mexico regulators consider allowing oil drillers to temporarily shut down wells without financial penalty
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Americans deeply value our public lands and yet the administration has appointed a man to be in charge of them who does not believe public lands should exist”
—Tracy Stone-Manning ([link removed]) of the National Wildlife Federation on acting BLM director William Perry Pendley
Picture this


** @BLMNational ([link removed])
The @BLM_MTDKs ([link removed]) 's Cow Island in the Upper Missouri River Breaks, was an important river ford and steamboat landing location. Lewis and Clark first passed through the area in May of 1805 with the Corps of Discovery. #ArmchairAdventure ([link removed])
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