** The next national monuments that can help conserve 30% of America by 2030
------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, May 27, 2021
North Fork Owyhee Wild & Scenic River. Photo credit: Greg Shine, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])

The Center for Western Priorities released a new report ([link removed]) that examines the important role that new national monuments can play in the goal to conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030, while preserving our natural and cultural heritage ([link removed]) for current and future generations. The storymap ([link removed]) examines five locally-driven conservation proposals across Nevada, Texas, Oregon, and Arizona ([link removed]) , each with grassroots support. If Congress doesn't act to protect these iconic and culturally significant places they ought to be prime opportunities for the Biden administration
to designate as national monuments.

"For over a century, presidents from both political parties have used the Antiquities Act to protect some of America’s most iconic landscapes and historic sites," said ([link removed]) Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala, "The Biden administration has the opportunity to build a conservation legacy by listening to local voices and acting boldly to establish new national monuments."

Despite the Trump administration’s 2017 national monuments review ([link removed]) that resulted in the shrinking of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, national monuments are widely popular across the West: 84% ([link removed]) of Westerners support creating new national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and tribal protected areas, and 77% ([link removed]) support restoring protections to lands in the West which contain archaeological and Native American sites, even if they also have oil, gas, and mineral deposits.


** A turning point for Big Oil?
------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday was a big day for the oil industry as three of the world's largest oil corporations faced a reckoning over climate change ([link removed]) : A civil court in the Netherlands ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 45% below 2019 levels before the end of the decade; an activist hedge fund seeking to shift Exxon Mobil away from fossil fuels and toward renewables won two board seats at the annual shareholder meeting; and climate-concerned shareholders at Chevron's investor meeting voted to force the company to develop a plan to cut the emissions generated from the use of its product, making the company ultimately responsible for the pollution caused by the use of its product. Clark Williams-Derry, an oil analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said ([link removed])
“This really is the start of a new era for Big Oil. You can’t shrug this off as having had a bad day. This is all three largest supermajors taking it on the chin from shareholders or the courts.” In addition ([link removed]) , Ford announced it will produce 40% electric vehicles by 2030, and it has received 70,000 orders for the Lightning EV truck.
Quick hits


** U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposes listing the lesser prairie chicken under the Endangered Species Act
------------------------------------------------------------

Washington Post ([link removed]) | Kansas City Star ([link removed]) | NBC Dallas-Fort Worth ([link removed]) | Albuquerque Journal ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed])


** A turning point for Big Oil?
------------------------------------------------------------

HuffPost ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) [Shareholders] | E&E News ([link removed]) [Court ruling]


** Report: Locally-driven conservation proposals that can help conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters
------------------------------------------------------------

E&E News ([link removed]) | Westwise ([link removed]) [blog] | Report ([link removed]) [storymap]


** U.S. Forest Service seeks budget increase to prepare for an expected active fire season
------------------------------------------------------------

OPB ([link removed])


** House lawmakers urge Senate to pass major public lands bill to meet Biden's 30x30 conservation goal
------------------------------------------------------------

E&E News ([link removed])


** Biden administration defends Trump-era oil and gas drilling project in Alaska's North Slope region
------------------------------------------------------------

New York Times ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])


** Data may be the key to fixing equitable access challenges for public parks
------------------------------------------------------------

E&E News ([link removed])


** Opinion: The outdoors is where climate, health & jobs meet
------------------------------------------------------------

The Hill ([link removed])
Quote of the day
The situation we face today is real and urgent. The Colorado River is at a crossroads. The reality we knew was coming has arrived."
—John Entsminger ([link removed]) , general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
America's history of uprooting and relocating groups of people is long and abhorrent. The stories preserved at Manzanar National Historic Site tell of the hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans who were wrongly imprisoned in confinement camps during WWII. #AANHPI ([link removed])

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Medium ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
Copyright © 2021 Center for Western Priorities, All rights reserved.
You've signed up to receive Look West updates.

Center for Western Priorities
1999 Broadway
Suite 520
Denver, CO 80202
USA
** View this on the web ([link removed])

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])