Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** America to Trump: Hands off our national monuments
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Thursday, January 16, 2025
A moonlit arch over Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. Photo credit: Bob Wick / BLM ([link removed]) .
With President-elect Donald Trump about to take office, America’s national monuments are once again ([link removed]) in danger. Project 2025 ([link removed]) , the policy handbook written by former Trump officials, clearly lays out a plan to roll back national monument protections and eliminate the Antiquities Act ([link removed]) , which presidents from both parties have used for over a century to protect some of America’s most iconic landscapes.
Early in his first term, President-elect Trump attempted to illegally reduce the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments ([link removed]) , a decision largely motivated by oil and gas, coal, and uranium interests. This move was wildly unpopular at the time, even with Utah voters. A CWP analysis of over 650,000 comments posted to regulations.gov found that 98 percent of comments expressed support ([link removed]) for keeping or expanding national monument designations.
A new blog post ([link removed]) from Center for Western Priorities' creative content and policy manager Lilly Bock-Brownstein demonstrates how year after year ([link removed]) , voters across the political spectrum say they want more emphasis placed on conservation than energy production, along with more protections for public lands. Specifically, they support presidents of both parties using the Antiquities Act to protect special landscapes as national monuments.
Despite widespread political divides, Americans can agree on one thing ([link removed]) : they want their public lands to remain protected for future generations, and they won’t appreciate the assault on public lands likely to come in the next administration.
Biden signs order to open federal land to data centers
President Joe Biden issued an executive order ([link removed]) on Tuesday that directs the departments of Energy and Defense to lease sites to the private sector for a build-out of "gigawatt-scale" data centers. According to the White House ([link removed]) , the move is in response to a boom in artificial intelligence and is intended to protect national security and bolster clean energy by requiring tech companies to use renewables, nuclear, or fossil fuels with carbon capture to support AI data centers' electricity needs.
The construction of new data centers to support growing AI needs will require a lot of power: The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates data centers could account for 12 percent of the country’s electricity use by 2028 ([link removed]) . While Biden's order couples the build out of data centers and their associated electricity usage with new clean energy generation, President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for more oil and gas drilling ([link removed]) to power data centers. At a press conference last week, Trump called data center technology a “hot item” and said he would seek expedited environmental reviews for business leaders ([link removed]) like Hussain Sajwani,
a real estate developer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, who plans to invest $20 billion to build data centers in eight states.
** Quick hits
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Burgum raked in millions from real estate, other investments
New York Times ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | NPR ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])
BLM moves to shield Nevada's Ash Meadows from mining
Las Vegas Review Journal ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
Sen. Heinrich: Our public lands are not for sale
The Hill ([link removed])
Chris Wright, Trump's pick for Energy secretary, acknowledges fossil fuels cause climate change
Associated Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
America to Trump: Hands off our national monuments
Westwise ([link removed])
Biden signs order to open federal land to data centers
Associated Press ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
Opinion: Montanans want our wildlands protected, not prioritized for oil and gas
Billings Gazette ([link removed])
Deb Haaland reflects on four years as Interior secretary
KRQE News ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” No matter who is in charge in Washington, D.C., they are not above the law and not above their obligations to protect our lands and waters. In the lease sales being planned for this year and beyond, I am looking to the BLM to uphold the standards and values set forth by the oil and gas rule and to follow the law.”
—Aubrey Bertram, staff attorney and federal policy director at Wild Montana, Billings Gazette ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@nationalparkservice ([link removed])
This week’s full Moon was also known as the Wolf Moon, because wolves are more likely to be active this time of year, and their howling is often heard in January. 🐺🌕
Also, the moon moved in front of the planet Mars, temporarily hiding it from view. This event is known as a lunar occultation. Mars appeared as a bright red dot near the Moon’s edge before disappearing behind it, then re-emerging on the other side.
Image: The full moon descends behind a colorful mountain slope with clouds forming beneath the ridge at @hawaiivolcanoesnps ([link removed]) NPS/J.Wei
#WolfMoon ([link removed]) #FullMoon ([link removed]) #WinterNights ([link removed]) #WinterNightSky ([link removed]) #NationalParks ([link removed])
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