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


** Trump admin demands even more spending cuts at BLM
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Wednesday, August 6, 2025
The Uncompaghre Wilderness in Colorado, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is demanding even more spending cuts at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In an email ([link removed]) to BLM senior leadership, OMB directed BLM to cut spending on a number of specific programs, including renewable energy and management of cultural resources and wilderness on BLM lands. The email also singled out land acquisitions ([link removed]) , including those made using Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars.

The OMB directive applies to spending for the remainder of the current fiscal year, which ends in September. But targeting renewable energy and land acquisitions is consistent ([link removed]) with other recent policy actions. The Trump administration has issued a number of executive and secretarial orders intended to put an end to wind and solar development on national public lands, and President Donald Trump's proposed budget for the next fiscal year calls for deep cuts to various land management programs at BLM, including those responsible for national monuments and wildlife habitat.

New mapping tool shows exactly which BLM lands are marked for disposal

A new interactive mapping tool ([link removed]) developed by onX and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership shows which parcels the Bureau of Land Management has identified as "suitable for disposal." The mapping tool draws on data from 160 individual resource management plans across 17 Western states, showing a total of nearly 6.1 million acres eligible for sale or disposal.


** Quick hits
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Rosebud coal mine expansion approved in Montana, sparking environmental debate

NBC Montana ([link removed]) | Montana Free Press ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])

Copper mines close in on Apache sacred site, and the forest protected to mitigate the damage

Inside Climate News ([link removed])

Trump, lawmakers propose big cuts for Western renewable energy labs, research

Colorado Newsline ([link removed])

EPA moves to cancel $7 billion in grants for solar energy

New York Times ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])

Wyoming lawmakers are still stumped on what to do with coal

Wyoming Public Media ([link removed])

Colorado's entire bipartisan Congressional delegation calls on Trump to fund Colorado River drought-response projects

Colorado Sun ([link removed])

Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument: A decade of conservation success

Lake County News ([link removed])

USDA is saving cattle by hazing wolves with audio of arguments from 'Marriage Story'

The Guardian ([link removed]) | Rolling Stone ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” The federal government is supporting a mine that supplies the dirtiest, most toxic power plant in the nation and driving up the cost of electricity with expensive coal in the name of a fabricated energy emergency.”

—Anne Hedges, Montana Environmental Information Center, Montana Free Press ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@u.s.forestservice ([link removed])
🌅🔥 Desert sunsets hit different.

Out here on the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico, the land offers a unique silence, and each sunset feel like a moment frozen in time.

This setting sun peeks through a whipple cholla in the Santa Fe Foothills. To find the best spots for your next adventure, contact your local national forest. USDA Forest Service photo by Javonne Goodman.

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