Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Trump offers up one simple trick to violating the Clean Air Act
------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, March 28, 2025
The Comanche coal-fired power plant in Colorado. Photo by Jeffrey Beall ([link removed]) , CC BY-SA 2.0 ([link removed])

The Trump administration offered to streamline exemptions ([link removed]) for coal- and oil-burning power plants that want to keep releasing toxic chemicals, including mercury, into the air. The Environmental Protection Agency cited an obscure section of the Clean Air Act that gives the president authority to exempt facilities from rules if the technology needed to meet those rules isn't available, and if the president finds it's in the interest of national security.

The EPA provided a detailed guide ([link removed]) to companies that want to pollute, including a template they can use to request approvals, and a dedicated e-mail inbox ([link removed]) for the requests. "The president will make a decision on the merits," the notice says.

The EPA offer is just one of the ways the Trump administration is trying to throw a lifeline to the dying coal industry ([link removed]) .

Here's what else you might have missed this week:

* The Trump administration said it was considering selling off public land ([link removed]) as far as ten miles away from towns with as few as 5,000 residents, a recipe for suburban sprawl
* The Bureau of Land Management gave the public just five days ([link removed]) to comment on a lithium project in Oregon
* President Trump halted a program to plug orphaned oil and gas wells ([link removed])
* Arches National Park closed access to the Fiery Furnace area ([link removed]) because of DOGE staffing chaos
* DOGE's park cuts are already affecting summer vacation bookings ([link removed]) in gateway communities across the country
* A judge reinstated Alaska's state-owned oil leases ([link removed]) in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
* A resolution backing Utah's land grab got no support ([link removed]) in the Montana legislature


** Quick hits
------------------------------------------------------------

Meet the lawyers, lobbyists, and industry insiders running the Interior department

Public Domain ([link removed])

Trump orders Interior secretary to restore racist statues and monuments

Associated Press ([link removed]) | HuffPost ([link removed]) | USA Today ([link removed]) | Deadline ([link removed]) | Los Angeles Times ([link removed])

Alaska Natives want the U.S. military to clean up its toxic waste

Grist ([link removed])

Bridges and tunnels in Colorado are helping animals commute

New York Times ([link removed])

Hickenlooper introduces bill to rehire NPS and USFS employees

KOAA ([link removed]) | KREX ([link removed])

Thanks to DOGE, national park visitors should prepare for the unexpected this year

National Parks Conservation Association ([link removed]) | National Parks Traveler ([link removed])

Commentary: Energy Secretary Chris Wright is not a 'climate realist.' He's a climate arsonist

Colorado Newsline ([link removed])

More than 300 elected officials tell Interior secretary to protect public lands

National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | Mountain PACT ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
------------------------------------------------------------

”

It’s not a matter of if we’ll get cancer, but when. We feel that they have turned their back on us. We wanted our lands to be turned back in the same condition when they turned over.”

—Yupik Alaska Native Viola Waghiyi, Grist ([link removed])


** Picture This
------------------------------------------------------------

@usfws ([link removed])
Weekend forecast: 100% chance of fun! 🦊🦊 These smol sentinels of the tundra survive on cyclical Arctic resources (like mom's patience). Arctic foxes raise their young in complex dens that delve from six to 10 feet deep! The pups first emerge from the den at a few weeks old, and grow through the summer, playing and exploring near the tunnels before they range further from the den and eventually become nomadic adults.

📷 Lisa Hupp/USFWS

============================================================
** 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])