** White House will not identify fast-tracked land projects
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Wednesday, July 8, 2020
The White House has announced ([link removed]) that the public lands infrastructure projects being fast-tracked as part of its pandemic response will not be made public. The infrastructure projects are those identified in the wake of President Trump's June executive order ([link removed]) that calls on agencies to weaken required environmental reviews of projects to be built during the current pandemic.
The order cuts a hole in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which the Trump administration has separately attempted to undermine ([link removed]) —an attack opposed by 94 percent of public comments ([link removed]) . Efforts to avoid the requirements of the law are likely to leave projects on shaky legal ground. Such legal weakness was highlighted this week when three major pipeline projects went down ([link removed]) as a result of legal challenges and an uncertain regulatory environment.
"I think not making the list public suggests that they may actually recognize the huge legal risks they are assuming in ignoring long-standing environmental review requirements without adequate justification, and that they are apparently just hoping that the public won’t notice," said Elizabeth Klein, deputy director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at the New York University School of Law.
The effort to keep fast-tracked projects secret is only the latest in a string of Trump administration actions aimed at reducing transparency and ignoring public input ([link removed]) . The Interior Department has undertaken an unprecedented attack on the Freedom of Information Act ([link removed]) in an attempt to undermine government transparency, meddled with Resource Advisory Councils ([link removed]) intended to provide public input on land management, and ignored public input ([link removed]) on 8 of 10 major rules proposed by the Trump administration, even when 99 percent of public comments opposed the rules.
Quick hits
** Thousands of fossil fuel companies have taken at least $3 billion in U.S. taxpayer pandemic aid
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The Guardian ([link removed])
** Opinion: Addressing New Mexico's abandoned oil and gas wells is more urgent during COVID-19
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
** Wyoming proceeds with bid on massive parcel of land, mineral rights, much of which is in Colorado
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Associated Press ([link removed])
** Energy decline in Wyoming started before COVID-19 hit, new analysis shows
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** Public lands agencies propose new analysis of Yellowstone National Park bison management
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Livingston Enterprise ([link removed])
** White House will not publicly identify land projects fast-tracked for virus recovery
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Bloomberg ([link removed])
** Opinion: Investment in the outdoors can bring jobs, health, conservation
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S ([link removed]) an Francisco Chronicle ([link removed])
** In an about-face, Interior abandons plan to return grizzlies to Cascades
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E&E News ([link removed])
Quote of the day
We should not be wasting taxpayer dollars on an industry that’s in a tailspin of its own making, especially when it seems intent on bringing the whole planet down with it.”
—Jesse Coleman, Documented researcher, on government payouts to the fossil fuel industry | The Guardian ([link removed])
Picture this
** @I ([link removed]) nterior ([link removed])
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Monsoon season @BryceCanyonNPS ([link removed]) brings the rain & wind that helped carve this curious landscape of striped rocks & towering hoodoos #Utah ([link removed])
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