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


** How the mining industry benefits from close ties to the Trump administration
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Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Alaska's Bristol Bay, Todd Radenbaugh via Flickr ([link removed]) /CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ([link removed])

The mining industry has close ties to the Trump administration—and is already seeing the benefits. The administration has reportedly ([link removed]) tapped David Copley, a former executive at the Colorado-based mining company Newmont, to lead the new National Energy Dominance Council's (NEDC) efforts to increase domestic mining and mineral processing. The NEDC was created by President Donald Trump through an executive order ([link removed]) in February with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appointed as chair, and has been given a leading role alongside the Interior department in implementing Trump's recent executive order on minerals ([link removed]) .

The minerals executive order has already helped Northern Dynasty Minerals, the sole owner of the controversial Pebble Mine project in Alaska's Bristol Bay. Northern Dynasty was a client of Ballard Partners, where Trump's current chief of staff, Susie Wiles worked as a lobbyist, including on behalf of Northern Dynasty. And current Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previously served as chair of Cantor Fitzgerald, which helped raise more than $123 million ([link removed]) to help Northern Dynasty move the Pebble Mine forward. Following the signing of the minerals executive order, Northern Dynasty's stock price increased significantly, according to reporting by Sludge ([link removed]) .

The order is already affecting on-the-ground projects as well. Since the order was signed on March 20, the Bureau of Land Management is already attempting to fast-track at least one mine ([link removed]) —the McDermitt lithium project in Oregon—by quickly releasing an environmental assessment and initially giving the public a mere five days (two of which were a weekend) to review and comment on it, though BLM later extended it to 30 days after intense public backlash ([link removed]) .

Speaking of close ties...

...Katharine MacGregor, Trump's nominee for Deputy Interior Secretary who also served in that role during the first Trump administration, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for a confirmation hearing today ([link removed]) .


** Quick hits
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Nuclear power is officially a clean energy source in Colorado. Not everyone is pleased

Colorado Sun ([link removed]) | Vail Daily ([link removed]) | CPR News ([link removed])

Montana lawmakers reject resolution to back Utah in land-transfer lawsuit

Montana Free Press ([link removed])

Yellowstone’s gateway town fears for its future amid Trump funding cuts

Grist ([link removed])

Idaho agency requests time to modify permits for Stibnite gold mine to address new pollution concerns

KTVB ([link removed])

Why the Interior department is a top target for DOGE

E&E News ([link removed])

Trump said auto emissions don’t affect the environment. That’s not true

New York Times ([link removed])

Montana’s youth climate activists aren’t stopping at their landmark court win

High Country News ([link removed])

Opinion: D.C.'s silence on Montana's public lands is deafening

Missoula Current ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” Gardiner is a company town and Yellowstone is the mill. If somebody starts screwing with the mill, we have no choice but to be concerned.”

—Richard Parks, Gardiner Resort Area District chair, Grist ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@usfws ([link removed])
Is this javelina the bird equivalent of a food truck? This green jay is taking taking advantage of a prey buffet, both the pests that live on the javelina itself, and the insects that are exposed through the javelina's foraging along the ground. These two were spotted spending time together at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

Javelinas (pronounced ha-ve-lee-na) are also called collared peccaries, and look like pigs but are not closely related. They can be found across the American Southwest. The only place to see green jays in the US is South Texas.

Photo: Steve Hillebrand

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