** November, in brief
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Pink hues paint the sandstone in gorgeous light at Labyrinth Rims/Gemini Bridges Special Management Recreation Area. #Utah ([link removed]) | @Interior ([link removed])


** Key news from November:
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* A new proposal ([link removed]) under consideration by the Trump Administration would allow private companies to play a larger role in national parks, transferring public assets and heritage to private industry ([link removed]) . The National Park Service also quietly announced it disbanded ([link removed]) the Zinke-era parks advisory panel stacked with industry representatives.

* Washington, D.C.-based Bureau of Land Management employees received reassignment letters ([link removed]) , kicking off a 30-day clock for each employee to accept a forced relocation, resign, or face potential termination. Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley said he would relocate ([link removed]) to Grand Junction if he is formally nominated.

* According to a batch of over 900 pages of emails ([link removed]) , Interior Secretary David Bernhardt frequently let agency ethics officials know which decisions he preferred from their office.

* In energy news, Arizona's Navajo Generating Station—the largest coal plant in the West—shut down ([link removed]) after 45 years in operation. The Navajo Nation also announced ([link removed]) it will no longer financially back the purchase of coal mines.

* Although the BLM removed some parcels in sage-grouse habitat from upcoming oil and gas lease sales in several ([link removed]) states ([link removed]) following a court order, the agency is inconsistently pulling lands from these sales. More than 100,000 acres of public lands in sage-grouse habitat are still available
([link removed]) for lease in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.

* The Trump administration announced a draft plan that would open millions of acres ([link removed]) in the Alaskan Arctic to oil and gas drilling.

* A state audit revealed ([link removed]) that Utah's oil and gas regulators failed to enforce environmental and safety rules for decades. Although regulators identified many instances in which standards were violated, they could not identify a single fine ever issued against an oil and gas operator in the last 24 years.

* The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted to fully and permanently fund ([link removed]) the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is unclear if, or when, Majority Leader McConnell would schedule a vote before the full Senate.


** What to watch for in December:
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* The Trump administration is expected to roll back land protection ([link removed]) s for millions of acres of California desert by reversing the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan to make way for energy development.

* BLM employees being relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado have until the middle of December to agree to move ([link removed]) or face termination.

* The last short-term spending bill funds the federal government through late December ([link removed]) . If another spending bill isn't agreed upon, national parks could be closed, or kept open without staff like last year ([link removed]) .

Best Reads of the Month


** Debt is fueling Colorado's oil and gas industry
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Denver Post ([link removed])


** Opinion: What do Western voters want in 2020? We asked them
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Arizona Daily Star ([link removed])


** Interior Department to allow some offshore drillers to pay lower, or even no royalties to taxpayers
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Associated Press ([link removed])


** Column: Secretary Bernhardt's previous lobbying raises questions about sweetheart deal for his former client
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial board issues call to stop Twin Metals mine
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Minneapolis Star-Tribune ([link removed])


** Air quality is better everywhere except the West, thanks to wildfires
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Bitterroot Magazine ([link removed])
From the Center for Western Priorities:
[link removed]
Funding America's Public Lands Future ([link removed])
A new report ([link removed]) from the Center for Western Priorities lays out a bold vision for the future of conservation funding ([link removed]) and land management across the United States. Not only do agencies have massive backlogs, but agencies within the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture face increasing challenges in the years ahead, including climate change, development, and increasing visitation.
[link removed]


**
Westwise Blog:
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** Developing the California Desert ([link removed])
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** The Trump administration is poised to roll back land and wildlife protections in the name of “energy dominance”
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**
Go West, Young Podcast:
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[link removed]
Steve Ellis on the BLM “relocation” ([link removed])

We talk to 38-year civil service veteran Steve Ellis about what’s happening inside Bureau of Land Management headquarters ([link removed]) as the Trump administration sends letters forcing most employees to relocate their families or quit.
[link removed]
What Western voters want in 2020 ([link removed])

We take a deep dive into the Center for Western Priorities’ Winning the West ([link removed]) poll to find out what Western voters want to hear from candidates in the 2020 election. Download the full poll results ([link removed]) or highlights presentation ([link removed]) .

Quote of the month


** Bernhardt’s fingerprints aren’t detectable on the Westlands contract. But the miasma of corruption within the Interior Department has become so thick that almost every major decision today, even those that look innocent on the surface, makes one wrinkle one’s nose. This is why a failure to stringently police public ethics can be so corrosive — nothing escapes the stench.”

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** —Michael Hiltzik, Columnist, Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
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**
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Picture this

[link removed]


** America’s most important parks program: How the Land and Water Conservation Fund works.
Read the Report ([link removed])
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