Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Trump signs order to resurrect coal on public lands
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Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Coal site in Utah; BLM photo ([link removed])
President Donald Trump signed four executive orders ([link removed]) Tuesday aimed at reviving the nation’s flailing coal power and mining industries. The administration said it's pushing for more coal to power energy-intensive artificial intelligence data centers in the West.
One order ([link removed]) , titled “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,” requires the Interior secretary to identify coal reserves on national public lands, assess impediments to mining those resources, and propose policies to enable the mining of the coal by either private or public actors. It also designates coal as a “mineral” under a definition created by a previous executive order ([link removed]) , which could lead to expedited permitting for coal mines on national public lands.
Coal production on federal lands fell 50 percent ([link removed]) from its height in 2008 to 2023, the latest year for which federal data is available. A 2023 study ([link removed]) by Energy Innovation found that it costs more to run 99 percent of existing US coal plants than it would to replace them with local wind, solar, and energy storage resources.
Trump admin removes protections for public land in NV and NM
The Trump administration removed protections ([link removed]) put in place under the Biden administration for thousands of acres of national public land in Nevada and New Mexico, opening the land to oil and gas drilling, geothermal development, and hard-rock mining. The change was tacked onto an emergency order ([link removed]) issued last week to allow logging on more than half of national forests. The affected land ([link removed]) includes 310,000 acres in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada and 165,000 acres in the Upper Pecos watershed in New Mexico.
** Quick hits
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Supreme Court halts order to rehire probationary workers fired by Trump
Washington Post ([link removed])
Trump signs executive orders aimed at revitalizing coal industry
Reuters ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed]) | Bloomberg ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | USA Today ([link removed])
Wilderness areas exempt from emergency logging order, USDA says
Bloomberg ([link removed])
Trump’s plans to build AI data centers on federal land
Heatmap ([link removed])
Barrasso, Lummis vote to allow selling federal land to fund Trump budget
WyoFile ([link removed])
Trump federal lands plan echoes Nevada model with few affordable homes
Bloomberg ([link removed])
Opinion: BLM HQ belongs in the seat of government, as Founders envisioned
Colorado Newsline ([link removed])
Rocky Mountain snowpack is contaminated by mercury and other metals, study finds
KUNR ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” Donald Trump is hell-bent on dragging the United States back to the 19th century, complete with robber barons, smokestacks, crippling tariffs, and measles. The free market has already made it clear that renewable energy sources are a cheaper and healthier path to meet America’s energy needs.”
—Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby, USA Today ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@grandcanyonnps ([link removed])
The first bridge across the Colorado River in Grand Canyon (1921) was 420 feet long and suspended 60 feet above river.
At the time, it was the only bridge crossing the Colorado above Needles, CA, (360 miles to the south by river) The bridge would swing in the wind, and only 1 mule could cross it at a time.
The swinging bridge was replaced in 1928 by the present-day Kaibab Suspension Bridge.
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