Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Biden to oil CEOs: ‘Use it or lose it’
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Friday, April 1, 2022
White House / PBS NewsHour ([link removed])

President Biden put oil and gas CEOs on notice ([link removed]) regarding their stockpile of millions of acres of idle oil leases, calling on Congress to pass “use it or lose it” legislation that would fine companies for locking up public lands without producing oil on them.

The president's remarks came as he announced the U.S. would release one million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move that immediately sent oil prices tumbling ([link removed]) .

Biden noted that oil companies have been “pretty blunt” in explaining why they wouldn't ramp up production despite Russia's war on Ukraine.

“They don't want to increase supply because Putin's price hike means higher profits. One CEO even acknowledged that they don't care if the price of a barrel of oil goes to $200 a barrel, they're not going to step up the production,” Biden said ([link removed]) , adding “This is not the time to sit on record profits. It's time to step up for the good of your country.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated ([link removed]) such a policy was on the table in Congress. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico also took aim at speculative leasing, where oil companies buy leases with little to no oil potential.

“We do have a problem with both unused leases that could be produced and unused leases that were leased completely speculatively, where we don’t think there’s any resource,” Heinrich told E&E News ([link removed]) . “That’s taking other resources and other uses off the table in those areas in a way that’s not really fair to the rest of the community.”
Quick hits


** Biden invokes Defense Production Act to boost electric vehicles; could reform of 1872 mining law be next?
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E&E News ([link removed]) | The Verge ([link removed]) | CNN ([link removed]) | CNBC ([link removed])


** Biden announces huge release of strategic oil reserves, puts oil companies on notice
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Washington Post ([link removed]) | CNN ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) | PBS NewsHour ([link removed]) | The Independent ([link removed]) | NPR ([link removed])


** EPA declines to regulate drinking water contaminant found in Lake Mead
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CBS News ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | New York Times ([link removed])


** BLM to end free camping in Colorado's Rabbit Valley
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The Journal ([link removed]) | KMGH ([link removed]) | Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** America's oldest national park ranger retires at 100
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San Francisco Chronicle ([link removed]) | ABC 7 ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | NBC Bay Area ([link removed]) | The Guardian ([link removed]) | Richmond Standard ([link removed])


** Man banned from federal lands in Arizona after leading illegal 139-person hike around Grand Canyon
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National Parks Traveler ([link removed]) | KOLD ([link removed])


** Indigenous families seek justice for boarding school abuses
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ABC News ([link removed])


** Opinion: ‘Shameless’ oil and gas companies use Russian war to demand more public land
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Missoula Current ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” To be a part of helping to mark the place where that dramatic trajectory of my own life, combined with others of my generation, will influence the future by the footprints we’ve left behind has been incredible. Being a primary source in the sharing of that history – my history – and giving shape to a new national park has been exciting and fulfilling. It has proven to bring meaning to my final years.”
—National Park Service Ranger Betty Reid Soskin ([link removed])
Picture this


** @NationalMallNPS ([link removed])
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To preserve the Lincoln Memorial statue for another century, we're announcing a plan to rotate the massive stone figure 180°, so the backside will face the entrance & shield the front from exposure. A rotating turntable option was rejected. Learn more: [link removed] ([link removed])

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