** Drilling booms across West, despite climate warnings
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Thursday, August 12, 2021
Pronghorn antelope near drilling rigs in Wyoming | Theo Stein, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ([link removed])

Since President Biden ordered the Interior Department to pause new oil and gas lease sales and review the broken system governing drilling on our public lands, drill rig counts have tripled ([link removed]) in Wyoming. In fact, tracking data ([link removed]) from Baker Hughes shows that, since Biden took office, rig counts have increased in every major oil producing state in the Rocky Mountain West—New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.

Similarly, oil and gas companies have stockpiled 9,841 approved, but unused ([link removed]) , permits to drill on public lands—an all-time high. Because oil companies are sitting on roughly 14 million acres of idle leases and thousands of permits, a recent study by the Conservation Economics Institute found that, even if no new leases are ever issued, they could drill for decades ([link removed]) in New Mexico and other Western states.

The surge in drilling comes as scientists at the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are warning we must ramp down ([link removed]) the development of fossil fuels to avoid extreme impacts of warming. Additionally, scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey recently found that fossil fuels extracted from public lands account for nearly one-fourth ([link removed]) of all carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. Taken together, these findings make it clear that the Biden administration must act swiftly to reform how we manage our public lands, prioritizing clean energy and conservation.
Quick hits


** Wildfire risk is growing as more Americans move into harms way
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NPR ([link removed])


** How wildfire restored a Yosemite watershed
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Berkeley News ([link removed])


** Pacific Northwest prepares for another record-breaking heatwave
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** The Quinalt Tribe has lived on the Washington coast for thousands of years. Now climate change is forcing it uphill
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Seattle Times ([link removed])


** Colorado congressman touts future of outdoor recreation
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Forbes ([link removed])


** The national parks reservation system is off to a bumpy start
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Outside Magazine ([link removed])


** Iconic American landscapes, seen through the lens of Bob Wick
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The Atlantic ([link removed])


** New Mexico oil and gas industry could drill for nearly 2 decades without new public lands leases
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Carlsbad Current-Argus ([link removed])
Quote of the day
A destabilizing climate poses countless tests for public lands. It alters the natural qualities that were a primary reason for holding and protecting these lands. The glaciers and Joshua and sequoia trees in the national parks named for them are disappearing.”
—John Leshy ([link removed]) , professor emeritus at the University of California, Hastings College of Law in San Francisco
Picture this
Saint Mary Lake in Glacier National Park
Photo by Jacob W. Frank | National Park Service ([link removed])

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