Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Top Interior official faces corruption allegations over Thacker Pass water deal
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Wednesday, January 7, 2026
Karen Budd-Falen speaks at the 2024 Western Ag and Environmental Law Conference; Source: U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Drew Viguet ([link removed])
Self-described "cowboy lawyer" ([link removed]) Karen Budd-Falen, now the third-highest official ([link removed]) within the Interior department, faces allegations of corruption ([link removed]) linked to fast-tracked permitting of the controversial Thacker Pass lithium mine. While serving in the first Trump administration as the deputy Interior solicitor responsible for wildlife, Budd-Falen's husband struck a ([link removed]) $3.5 million water-rights deal ([link removed]) with developers of the mine.
Without Interior's approval of the mine, the mine developer could have terminated the deal ([link removed]) . In November 2019, Budd-Falen had lunch with the mine's executives, according to documents obtained by Public Domain ([link removed]) . Interior fast-tracked the mine’s approval in 2020, while Budd-Falen was a top-ranking official. Despite this direct connection, Budd-Falen’s official financial disclosures between 2018 and 2021 failed to mention the $3.5 million deal. ([link removed])
“It’s not clear that Karen Budd-Falen knew she had a conflict, but it’s clear she should have known, and that the public should have known,” Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, told the New York Times ([link removed]) . “It’s also clear that she should not have met with Lithium Nevada.”
Now, serving as associate deputy secretary of the Interior, Budd-Falen again wields vast power over the nation's public lands while maintaining a large portfolio of potential conflicts. Her financial disclosures ([link removed]) , which the Interior department released only after requests from reporters, show that she and her husband hold Wyoming ranch land valued up to $5 million as well as thousands of dollars in Exxon Mobil and Tyson Foods stock.
** Quick hits
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Venezuela takeover has Wyoming oil industry bracing for negative impacts
WyoFile ([link removed])
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calls for American oil production in Venezuela
Fox Business ([link removed]) | Fox News ([link removed])
Interior official did not disclose husband’s ties to a Nevada lithium mine
Deseret News ([link removed])
Tribes stake their claim on the Colorado River, and help conserve it
Utah News Dispatch ([link removed])
Colorado’s wolf pipeline is collapsing. Is a pause in lethal control needed?
Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Apache leader walks 60 miles to court hearing that will decide fate of Oak Flat
Native News Online ([link removed])
An age-old monument faces modern threats
High Country News ([link removed])
Wildfire smoke is a national crisis, and it's worse than you think
Grist ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” The United States of America clearly violated procedures and laws and ignored not only the Native Americans, but also the state of Arizona and the people of this country. Their decision to give full exemptions from the law [at Oak Flat] has opened the door forever for corporations to follow suit.”
—Wendsler Nosie, Sr. ([link removed]) (San Carlos Apache), founder of Apache Stronghold
** Picture This
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@Interior ([link removed])
Dry January? The Bohemian waxwing did not get the memo.
These sleek songbirds spend winter in large flocks, plucking berries that can naturally ferment in cold weather. Nature has its own happy hour.
Photo by Lisa Hupp / @USFWS ([link removed])
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