Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Poll: Westerners want to keep oil and gas safeguards
------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 6, 2025
A pumpjack in Natrona County, Wyoming. David Korzilius, BLM ([link removed]) .
A new poll released by the National Wildlife Federation ([link removed]) finds Western voters overwhelmingly oppose proposals from Congress and the Trump administration that would roll back changes that brought balance to the nation's oil and gas leasing system on public lands.
New Bridge Strategy conducted the poll in eight states, and found that strong majorities in each state ([link removed]) want to keep increased fees that companies pay for oil and gas development on public lands. Majorities of self-identified MAGA voters and nearly three quarters of independent voters are opposed to rolling back those protections, as well as proposals that would expand the use of eminent domain to take private property in order to build oil and gas pipelines, and reduce community input when the government makes decisions about public land use.
Burgum's close ties to "de-extinction" company he promotes
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has close ties ([link removed]) to biotech company Colossal Biosciences, the company that made headlines last month with a dubious claim ([link removed]) that it has revived the long-extinct dire wolf. Public Domain co-founders Chris D'Angelo, Roque Planas, and Jimmy Tobias uncovered records that show Burgum's connections to the company go beyond cheerleading ([link removed]) . While Burgum was governor of North Dakota, the state's development fund gave Colossal a $3 million equity investment. Burgum has attended black-tie events with Colossal's CEO Ben Lamm. In April, Lamm posted a photo ([link removed]) of him and Burgum at the annual gala for the Explorer's Club. Burgum's former commerce
commissioner now serves as an unpaid adviser to Colossal, and Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto, who ran the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during Trump's first term, is a member of Colossal's conservation advisory board.
At an all-hands meeting of the Interior department last month, Burgum heaped praise on Colossal ([link removed]) , suggesting that "de-extinction" technology had made the Endangered Species Act unnecessary.
** Quick hits
------------------------------------------------------------
Investigation ongoing for ‘unprecedented’ Chevron spill that contaminated waterway and mule deer habitat
CPR News ([link removed])
Six years after reform, fights persist over oil and gas drilling near Front Range homes
Denver Post ([link removed])
Despite reports, BLM's Rock Springs plan lives on—but Congress could kill it, and others
WyoFile ([link removed]) | CPR News ([link removed])
Could Trump actually save Colorado's dying coal industry?
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Park Service suspends air-quality monitoring at all national parks
Washington Post ([link removed])
The latest DOGE hit job: energy data
ProPublica ([link removed])
Developers, conservationists clash over bill to sell Nevada public land for housing
Nevada Current ([link removed])
The Great Salt Lake is drying. Can Utah save it?
New York Times ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
------------------------------------------------------------
” In a future where gene editing is increasingly prominent in biodiversity conservation — and companies like Colossal might create chimeric organisms with traits of endangered species but no direct connection with their inspiration — the risks of such ambiguity are growing. Would the release of a tankful of desert pupfish lookalikes meet the recovery goals for the species, one of the world’s most endangered fish? Would the propagation of transgenic, disease-resistant whitebark pines counteract the loss of their original lineage to the blister rust that now plagues the species? For now, the Endangered Species Act and the policies that shape its interpretation have little to say on the subject.”
—Ethan Linck, High Country News ([link removed])
** Picture This
------------------------------------------------------------
@glaciernps ([link removed])
This is George Bird Grinnell on one of his last trips to Grinnell Glacier in the 1920s. Grinnell was an early proponent for the creation of Glacier National Park.
The earliest known mention of the park’s name is found in a 1906 exchange between Grinnell and glacial geologist, François E. Matthes. He wrote, “the park proposed would contain roughly 1500 sq. miles, containing upward of 50 ice-bodies and over 200 lakes. It might fitly be called Glacier Park.”
============================================================
** Website ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** TikTok ([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])
