Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Burgum could trash America’s public lands to settle petty political scores
------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Bears Ears National Monument. Bob Wick, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
Last week, in his first day on the job, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued six secretarial orders, the most detailed of which directs the Interior department to “review and, as appropriate, revise all withdrawn public lands,” a huge category that includes millions of acres of American lands protected by previous presidents as national monuments.
In a new blog post ([link removed]) from the Center for Western Priorities, Policy Director Rachael Hamby explains that President Donald Trump remains fixated on undoing anything done by former President Biden, including national monument designations, even though erasing them won’t bring down Americans’ energy bills.
Some of the monuments on Trump's political hit list include Bears Ears in Utah, Camp Hale–Continental Divide in Colorado, Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, and the recently designated Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands national monuments in California.
Hamby notes ([link removed]) that if Trump or Burgum move to reduce or erase national monuments that don’t contain significant oil and gas or mineral resources, it will confirm that the goal of the administration's monument review was never to bring down energy costs for Americans, but to score political points and prop up extractive industries at the expense of Western communities and the healthy landscapes, clean water, and clean air that we all depend on.
Oil and gas lobbyist nominated to lead Bureau of Land Management
President Donald Trump nominated ([link removed]) Kathleen Sgamma, a professional oil and gas lobbyist, to run the Bureau of Land Management. Sgamma has worked for nearly 20 years on behalf of oil and gas companies to help them strip away protections for public lands in the West. She also wrote the oil and gas section of Project 2025 ([link removed]) .
“This appointment will hand the keys to our public lands over to oil and gas companies,” said ([link removed]) Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby. “Sgamma will seek to lease every inch of our lands for drilling, no matter their recreational, scenic, ecological, or cultural value. Her appointment is a direct threat to Western communities and wildlife that depend on healthy landscapes, clean air, and clean water.”
** Quick hits
------------------------------------------------------------
Trump picks oil and gas lobbyist to lead Bureau of Land Management
New York Times ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed]) | Axios ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | CPR News ([link removed]) | Utah News Dispatch ([link removed]) | Inside Climate News ([link removed]) | WyoFile
([link removed]) | Denver Gazette ([link removed]) | Denver Post ([link removed]) | Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Trump is freezing money for clean energy. Red states have the most to lose
New York Times ([link removed])
Congress agrees on one thing: Expanding access to the outdoors
Grist ([link removed])
‘Do less with less’: Utah Reps. Maloy, Kennedy hope to see new public land management under Trump
Utah News Dispatch ([link removed])
Opinion: Congress should oppose anti-science, anti-public lands bill
Bend Bulletin ([link removed])
Record-breaking growth in renewable energy in U.S. threatened by Trump
The Guardian ([link removed])
Column: You already know Elon Musk. You need to know Harold Hamm
HE ([link removed]) ATED ([link removed])
Joy rider who damaged rare plants in Death Valley dunes remains at large
New York Times ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
------------------------------------------------------------
” We’re talking about the ecosystem as a whole, our public lands being public, the water staying clean, and our kids being able to ride the same bike trail that I rode. Someone that doesn’t agree with that is, like, really far out there. I haven’t met them.”
—Jessica Turner, president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, Grist ([link removed])
** Picture This
------------------------------------------------------------
@usinterior ([link removed])
Harriet Tubman was born near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland. The refuge’s landscape formed the life and experience of the American hero, who risked her life to help many enslaved people escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
Photo by Ernesto Freire
============================================================
** Website ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Medium ([link removed])
Copyright © 2025 Center for Western Priorities, All rights reserved.
You've signed up to receive Look West updates.
Center for Western Priorities
1999 Broadway
Suite 520
Denver, CO 80202
USA
** View this on the web ([link removed])
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
