** Interior quietly ends pandemic royalty cuts
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THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2020
Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])

The Interior Department has quietly ended its controversial guidance on handing out COVID-related royalty cuts to oil and gas companies drilling American public lands. The change, which was first noticed by the Center for Western Priorities, was confirmed by the department in a statement to E&E News ([link removed]) .

It's still unclear how many companies got royalty cuts ([link removed]) —Interior hasn't released any data from New Mexico, the state with the most federal oil and gas production.

CWP's Policy Director Jesse Prentice-Dunn noted that Interior Secretary David Bernhardt "used the COVID pandemic as an excuse to give favors to the oil industry he used to work for. Now it appears his department is quietly trying to sweep this shameful chapter under the rug."

Confirmation of the royalty policy change came as the Bureau of Land Management announced a suite of relaxed regulations for oil and gas producers ([link removed]) , granting a long-standing wish of the oil industry, which asked to write its own rules ([link removed]) three years ago.
Quick hits


** Could Montana's Smith River be ruined by a new copper mine?
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The Guardian ([link removed])


** Projections show more decline for oil as NM lawmakers consider budget impacts
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KOB-TV ([link removed])


** Regulators tap solar to replace NM coal plant
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** EPA head says science-limiting rule will apply to Clean Water, Clean Air acts
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The Hill ([link removed])


** Trump administration moves to relax regulations for oil and gas drilling
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])


** Bill to restore tribal control of National Bison Range clears first Senate hurdle
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Montana Free Press ([link removed])


** Conservation groups challenge Trump administration's evisceration of NEPA
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The Hill ([link removed])


** Opinion: To protect 30% of US land and water by 2030, we need more monuments, not fewer
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Bloomberg ([link removed])
Quote of the day
The problem is they are still applying non scientific criteria to deciding what the best available science is and that's never going to work no matter how many ways you slice it. It just doesn't make sense.”
—Andrew Rosenberg, Union of Concerned Scientists
The Hill ([link removed])
Picture this


** @mypubliclands ([link removed])
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Happy #TravelTuesday ([link removed]) from Carrizo Plain National Monument, one of the best kept secrets in California. Only a few hours from Los Angeles, the Carrizo Plain offers visitors a rare chance to be alone with nature and view one of the clearest night skies and the galactic core in southern California. Soda Lake, normally a dry lakebed, is one of the dominant geographic features of the Carrizo Plain. It is the largest remaining natural alkali wetland in Southern California and the only closed basin within the coastal mountains. As its name suggests, Soda Lake concentrates salts as water evaporates, leaving white deposits of sulfates and carbonates that look like baking soda. Photo by Jesse Pluim, BLM. #RecreateResponsibly ([link removed]) #TravelTuesday ([link removed])

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