Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** SCOTUS order clears path for land manager layoffs
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Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Three park rangers in front of a National Park Service sign at North Cascades National Park; National Parks Gallery/Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])
The Supreme Court has overturned a lower court decision ([link removed]) that paused tens of thousands of layoffs across the federal government, including at the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and other public land management agencies.
Technically, the order ([link removed]) simply says the Trump administration can proceed with firings while the legal challenge to its "reduction in force" plan continues. But in practice it means President Donald Trump can proceed with large scale layoff and restructuring plans ([link removed]) , even if judges later determine they exceed presidential power.
In a public dissent ([link removed]) , Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the president’s executive order would “lead to enormous real-world consequences,” including “the dismantling of much of the federal government as Congress has created it.”
Prior to the court order, Interior was on the verge ([link removed]) of laying off 1,500 employees at the National Park Service, 1,000 employees at the U.S. Geological Survey, and 100 to 150 employees at the Bureau of Reclamation. The National Park Service has already lost a quarter ([link removed]) of its permanent staff this year. At the Agriculture Department, which houses the Forest Service, Secretary Brooke Rollins has said her team is ready ([link removed]) to deploy a major reorganization as soon as the injunction lifts, including thousands of layoffs and relocations.
First 16-day NEPA review finalized
The Bureau of Land Management approved the expansion ([link removed]) of an oil transloading facility in Utah after an expedited review under President Donald Trump’s “national energy emergency” declaration ([link removed]) .
The expansion of the facility will ramp up the amount of waxy crude oil that producers can transport out of the Uinta Basin by 80,000 barrels per day ([link removed]) . The BLM gave the owner of the facility permission to expand after a 16-day review with no public input process. The facility applied for an expansion in 2023, but the company failed to provide the BLM ([link removed]) with needed information for the environmental analysis, so the agency terminated the review process.
** Quick hits
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Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass layoffs
Washington Post ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed]) | Government Executive ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
Palisade wants to be ready to comment on fast-tracked oil train project
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ([link removed])
Opinion: Surrendering Alaska’s largest public land tract to Big Oil
Midland Daily News ([link removed])
Mike Lee says selling off public lands will solve the West’s housing crisis. History says otherwise
ProPublica ([link removed])
See what trail cams captured about Borderlands wildlife
High Country News ([link removed])
As the Colorado River shrinks, desert towns grow
Land Desk ([link removed])
What an 8-mile stretch of dirt road says about the meaning of America’s public lands
Washington Post ([link removed])
She covered Trump’s Interior chief at Fox News. Now she’s his flack
Public Domain ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” This is not the first time that a President has wanted to restructure the Federal Government. Even the most cursory examination of history readily reveals that, over the past century, Presidents have worked with Congress—rather than around it—when seeking to significantly reorganize the agencies that comprise the Executive Branch.”
—Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@Interior ([link removed])
Congratulations. You've traveled America's Loneliest Road to reach one of its quietest, wildest national parks. Now you're following the loneliest stream to the loneliest alpine lake. Great Basin National Park level unlocked. Photo by Michael McCook
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