Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Trump plan shrinks protections for wetlands and streams
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Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Stream in Bryce Canyon National Park; Source: Jeffrey Eisen/Pexels ([link removed])
The Trump administration is proposing drastic changes ([link removed]) to the definition of "waters of the US" (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act, significantly limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to prevent pollution and destruction of wetlands and streams. Around 80 percent of known wetlands ([link removed]) in the contiguous US would lose protections under the proposal, according to an impact analysis ([link removed]) conducted by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.
“It's probably the most limiting, the most narrow, interpretation of the reach of jurisdiction that I’ve seen so far,” Larry Liebesman, a former Justice Department attorney, told E&E News ([link removed]) .
The Supreme Court's ruling in Sackett v. EPA in 2023 limited the Clean Water Act's scope to wetlands with a continuous surface connection to a "relatively permanent" body of water. The Trump administration's proposed definition ([link removed]) requires wetlands to contain surface water for at least the "wet season" to be considered WOTUS, while streams must possess a "bed and banks." In Arizona, for example, only 2.4 percent ([link removed]) of wetlands would likely be covered under the Trump proposal.
After the proposal is published in the Federal Register, the EPA will solicit public comments ([link removed]) for 45 days before finalizing the rule.
Utah announces plan to build 'nuclear hub'
Utah Governor Spencer Cox unveiled plans Monday ([link removed]) to build a nuclear energy hub in Brigham City. The initiative includes a training center and a manufacturing plant to produce components for small modular reactors (SMRs), with at least two reactors proposed in the area. The effort is part of Cox’s “Operation Gigawatt” ([link removed]) to increase energy production in Utah. A fully operational nuclear power plant wouldn't emerge until the early 2030s ([link removed]) under the plan.
** Quick hits
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Opinion: New Mexico knows Trump’s BLM nominee. Back away
Washington Post ([link removed])
What happens when wolves leave Yellowstone
WyoFile ([link removed])
Can an imperiled frog stop oil drilling near Denver suburbs?
Capital & Main ([link removed])
Column: Trump's nominee to head the BLM may be his most extreme yet
More Than Just Parks ([link removed])
Following Montana, Utah seeks federal partnership to increase logging in national forests
E&E News ([link removed])
Inside Tribes’ never-ending battle to protect subsistence fishing in Alaska
Native American Rights Fund ([link removed])
After Trump cuts at Interior, seeds sit in the warehouse
High Country News ([link removed])
Scientists can now track individual monarch butterflies. It’s a revelation
New York Times ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” After Kathleen Sgamma withdrew from consideration earlier this year, the president could have selected a capable Westerner with bipartisan credibility. Instead, he chose a man whose chief qualification appears to be an unbroken record of losing.”
—Patrick M. Brenner ([link removed]) , president and chief executive of the Southwest Public Policy Institute.
** Picture This
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@azstateparks ([link removed])
It's finally tent camping season in the low desert, and we are so here for it! ⛺️🌵🙌
📍 @PicachoPeakStatePark ([link removed])
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