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


** Assault on national public lands continues
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Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Grand Teton National Park via Flickr ([link removed])

Earlier this month, the House Natural Resources Committee conducted a field hearing at Grand Teton National Park ostensibly focused on funding for national parks, where members of Congress heard calls for increased funding for maintenance and for reversal of DOGE staffing cuts. Meanwhile, the Trump administration continued what conservation advocates characterize as an "assault" on national public lands ([link removed]) .

While Western voters were expressing their support for protections and funding for national public lands, the Trump administration was busy with a number of policy actions that undercut conservation ([link removed]) , including a proposal to rescind the Public Lands Rule; a proposal to rescind the Roadless Rule; and a secretarial order attempting to limit the use of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Congress is also attempting to use the Congressional Review Act to wipe out land management plans, a scheme that would unleash "legal and regulatory chaos" according to ([link removed]) Center for Western Priorities deputy director Aaron Weiss.

"The administration is saying that public lands should be managed primarily for the good of powerful drilling, mining and development interests," said ([link removed]) Alison Flint, senior legal director at The Wilderness Society. "They’re saying that public lands' role in providing Americans the freedom to enjoy the outdoors, and conserve beloved places … is a second-class consideration."

"These threats to public lands are very much alive," said Lauren Bogard ([link removed]) , senior director of advocacy at the Center for Western Priorities, at a Keep Parks Public ([link removed]) event in Jackson, Wyoming, earlier this month.


** Quick hits
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BLM offers more than 130,000 acres of public land in Colorado for oil and gas drilling

Colorado Sun ([link removed])

Lawmakers are using an arcane oversight rule to permanently dismantle federal land protections

Grist ([link removed])

New Mexico's $1.6 billion oilfield orphans

Capital & Main ([link removed])

Will national parks be open if the government shuts down?

National Parks Traveler ([link removed])

New Mexico Tribal leaders push to protect Chaco Canyon

Source NM ([link removed]) | Albuquerque Journal ([link removed]) | Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])

As Trump targets national parks that 'disparage Americans,’ advocates warn history is at stake

KQED ([link removed])

Editorial: What part of 'Leave our public lands alone' don't Idaho's congressmen understand?

Idaho Statesman ([link removed])

Opinion: How Trump is manipulating energy markets

The Hill ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” Repeal of the [public lands] rule puts the thumb on the scale in favor of those other uses and completely shuts out conservation from the conversation. And once you open that door to such uses as mining and drilling, it’s difficult to close it. Often, there’s just no going back, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”

—Idaho Statesman editorial board ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@usinterior ([link removed])
The beautiful turquoise waters at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge form the largest remaining oasis in the Mojave Desert. Crystal Spring, 15 feet deep and flowing at 2,800 gallons a minute, stays a steady 87°F year-round.

Home to 26 species found nowhere else on Earth, including rare desert fish like the Ash Meadows Amargosa pupfish, this Nevada refuge is a globally significant biodiversity hot spot.

Photos by @usfws ([link removed])

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