** So much for coal’s comeback
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2020
Coal stockpile at Kayenta Mine, Wikimedia Commons ([link removed])

Nearly four years after President Trump promised to “put our miners back to work,” the decline of American coal has only accelerated—despite the administration's attempts to stop it. Documents obtained by the New York Times show how the administration attempted but failed ([link removed]) to stop the closure of the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona, offering $1 billion worth of help by agreeing to an industry plan to relax air-quality requirements.

Historian Peter Shulman, the author of Coal and Empire ([link removed]) , told the Times that “Trump’s pledges to coal miners were rhetorical appeals to hard-working, blue-collar Americans like when Nixon put on a hard hat after a meeting ([link removed]) with labor union leaders back in 1970. But there was no policy Trump could have implemented that would have changed this situation with coal.”


** EPA OKs new attack on tribal sovereignty
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The Environmental Protection Administration handed oversight of environmental regulations on tribal lands to the state of Oklahoma ([link removed]) this month, following a Supreme Court ruling that found much of eastern Oklahoma was tribal land ([link removed]) . Immediately after that ruling, Oklahoma requested the authority using a provision of a 2005 transportation bill that gave the state the power to oversee environmental issues in Indian country.

Cherokee National Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. told The Hill that the move is both an attack on tribal sovereignty and creates the potential for the state to allow polluting projects on tribal land over objections from tribal nations.

The EPA's decision “ignores the longstanding relationships between state agencies and the Cherokee Nation,” Hoskin Jr. said. ([link removed]) “All Oklahomans benefit when the Tribes and state work together in the spirit of mutual respect and this knee-jerk reaction to curtail tribal jurisdiction is not productive.”
Quick hits


** Bernhardt says oil drilling plan near Chaco won’t be delayed
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Farmington Daily Times ([link removed])


** After judge tells Trump his officials are serving illegally, he does nothing
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New York Times ([link removed])


** Delays and disappointment two years after Colorado’s clean-energy push
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Colorado Newsline ([link removed]) (Part 1) | Colorado Newsline ([link removed]) (Part 2)


** EPA gives Oklahoma power over tribal environmental decisions
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The Hill ([link removed]) | KOCO ([link removed])


** O'odham-led demonstration blocks highway north of Arizona-Sonora border
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Arizona Public Media ([link removed])


** An inaccurate census has major implications for Indian Country
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High Country News ([link removed])


** More than 60 Democrats ask feds to reconsider Tongass logging plan
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The Hill ([link removed])


** Opinion: We need to ‘see’ buffalo before we can restore them
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High Country News ([link removed])
Quote of the day
We were lied to. Every time we turned around they kept telling us coal miners they would save our jobs. That is what we heard from Trump. But the mines keep closing.”
—Marie Justice
former president, United Mine Workers of America and Navajo tribe member, New York Times ([link removed])
Picture this


** @usfws ([link removed])
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Owl bet you had to take a second look at this photo to see the great horned owl!

Great horned owls are silent predators that often camouflage into habitats with their cryptic colorings. Camouflage, as well as their quiet wing beats, allow them to catch prey off guard. Looks like some bunnies will only be getting tricks and no treats this Halloween!

Photo: Great horned owl at Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming by Tom Koerner/#USFWS ([link removed])

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