Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Biden admin to scrap Trump drilling plan for National Petroleum Reserve
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Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, B ([link removed]) ureau of Land Management ([link removed])
The Bureau of Land Management announced yesterday that it will revert to Obama-era plans for management of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska ([link removed]) (NPR-A), throwing out an eleventh-hour Trump administration plan that would have opened up 82 percent of the reserve to oil and gas drilling.
By returning to the 2013 plan, the Biden administration effectively takes 7 million acres ([link removed]) off the table for future oil and gas leasing.
An official notice from the Bureau of Land Management stated ([link removed]) , "This decision reflects the Biden-Harris administration's priority of reviewing existing oil and gas programs to ensure balance on America's public lands and waters to benefit current and future generations."
The Trump administration's plan included the controversial decision ([link removed]) to approve future oil development in and around the long-protected Teshekpuk Lake wetlands complex, an important habitat site ([link removed]) for migratory birds, caribou, and other Arctic wildlife.
The Biden administration has also suspended oil leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ([link removed]) , a largely untouched key habitat area on the opposite side of Alaska’s Arctic, in the northeast corner of the state.
The Center for Western Priorities' Deputy Director Aaron Weiss said in response to the announcement ([link removed]) , "This is an important reversal of one of the most damaging decisions to come out of the Trump administration’s final days.... Now the Biden administration must look to the future, creating management plans that ensure all of America’s public lands, from Alaska to New Mexico, are part of the climate solution. President Biden has the opportunity to press ‘reset’ on conservation and reassert America’s role as a global leader on climate change."
Quick hits
** Ruinous Colorado fire had its roots in climate change, more destructive fires likely, experts say
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Associated Press ([link removed]) | Colorado Sun ([link removed]) [opinion] | Outside ([link removed])
** The first offshore wind lease sale under Biden is coming soon. Will the fishing industry intervene?
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Feds tighten Colorado River flow at Glen Canyon Dam as ever-shrinking Lake Powell nears critical level
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])
** Opinion: Utah’s recreational lands deserve better protections, Interior needs oil and gas program reforms
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])
** Watchdog report connects January 6th insurrection to anti-conservation movement
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Public News Service ([link removed])
** A tiny town’s coal legacy brings movies, tourists and environmental problems like contaminated runoff and flooding
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Opinion: If Biden is serious about climate change, then the desert deserves his attention
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Arizona Daily Star ([link removed])
** Epic crowds collide with labor shortages at Western ski areas; Park City ski patrol union votes to authorize strike
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Colorado Sun ([link removed]) [crowds] | Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed]) [ski patrol]
Quotes of the day
” With any snow on the ground, this [fire] absolutely would not have happened in the way that it did. It was really the grass and the dry landscape that allowed this fire to jump long distances in a short period of time.”
—Keith Musselman, a snow hydrologist in Boulder, Colorado, A ([link removed]) ssociated Press ([link removed])
” There’s no natural source of ignition at this time of year. There’s no lightning. It’s either going to be infrastructure-related, or it’s going to be human-caused.”
Jennifer Balch, a fire scientist with the University of Colorado, Boulder, A ([link removed]) ssociated Press ([link removed])
Picture this
** @I ([link removed]) nterior ([link removed])
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We know this coyote at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in Texas doesn’t look thrilled, but trust us, it is.
Why? Because Texas national wildlife refuges expanded by 7,000 acres in 2021! With the busy holidays, you might have missed the good news. [link removed] ([link removed])
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