** Trump administration finalizes plan to drill Alaska wildlife refuge
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Tuesday, August 18, 2020
The Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, U ([link removed]) .S. Fish and Wildlife Service ([link removed])
Yesterday, the Trump administration approved a plan ([link removed]) to open up 1.5 million acres of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling. The plan ([link removed]) opens the refuge's Coastal Plain, overturning 6 decades of protections for the largest remaining wilderness in the United States, which is sacred to indigenous tribes. The plan's approval is the latest event in a decades-long debate over drilling in the region, which culminated in a 2017 Trump tax bill provision ([link removed]) to open ANWR to drilling.
Drilling in the region would threaten polar bears and caribou in addition to exacerbating the threat of climate change, which already disproportionately affects high latitudes. Opponents say that the move ignores accepted science ([link removed]) : Interior's own environmental impact review found that drilling would harm polar bears, and the department downplayed the risks of climate change in its review.
Proponents of the program claim that it will create new jobs. However, financial institutions have recently expressed resistance ([link removed]) to financing drilling in ANWR or the Arctic, and development in the region would be expensive. Additionally, with the oil industry in shambles, it is unlikely that many in the industry will take a risk on unexplored properties with little underlying data.
Ex-oil lobbyist Interior Secretary Bernhardt has pushed drilling since before he took the reins at Interior, where he has continually provided handouts to the industry ([link removed]) . In a statement ([link removed]) , Center for Western Priorities executive director Jennifer Rokala said, "Essentially, Bernhardt is approving a plan to despoil America’s wildest landscape for oil that we will be using less of in coming decades, all for the benefit of his former and future clients."
Quick hits
** Report shows the great outdoors are good for the economy
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Denver Post ([link removed])
** Donald Trump, Kanye West, and a weird western bird are all somehow involved in a major conservation battle
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Mother Jones ([link removed])
** Senator Tom Udall lays out the case for centering the Interior Department in U.S. climate response
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New Mexico Political Report ([link removed])
** Initiative seeks access to landlocked public lands
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News Tribune ([link removed])
** The Great American Outdoors Act will support national parks. It's also our chance to make the outdoors more equitable
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St. George News ([link removed]) | MinnPost ([link removed]) [Opinion] ([link removed])
** Historic transfers of Yellowstone buffalo to tribes across the country
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Jackson Hole News&Guide ([link removed])
** Colorado faces unusually intense wildfire season as smoke prompts respiratory health warning
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Colorado Public Radio ([link removed]) | Denver Post ([link removed]) | 9News ([link removed])
** Opinions: Do cows help or harm Western landscapes?
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V ([link removed]) ail Daily ([link removed]) | Writers on the Range ([link removed])
Quote of the day
There's no good time to open up America's largest wildlife refuge to drilling, but it's absolutely bonkers to endanger this beautiful place during a worldwide oil glut."
—Kristen Monsell, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, E ([link removed]) &E News ([link removed])
Picture this
** @ ([link removed]) NatlParkService ([link removed])
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Slow down right meow! Always drive the posted speed limit and slow down if you see an animal. See more driving tips at [link removed]… ([link removed])
Lookout! It’s the fuzz! Bobcat on patrol while perched on traffic sign at
@BadlandsNPS ([link removed])
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