Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Bureau of Land Management employees to unionize following relocation upheaval
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Friday, May 27, 2022
BLM National Office in Washington D.C., B ([link removed]) LM ([link removed])
Bureau of Land Management employees voted 136 to 20 ([link removed]) to join the National Treasury Employees Union. The new union will include roughly 200 workers based in Washington and regional offices across the country.
By forming a union, employees will gain more control over major changes to the agency. This decision comes after several years of intense upheaval for BLM employees. In 2019, President Trump relocated the BLM headquarters ([link removed]) from Washington to Colorado. The majority of the relocated employees chose to quit or retire instead of moving across the country, causing a severe staffing shortage. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced this year that the BLM headquarters will return to Washington ([link removed]) while keeping a Western office in Colorado.
With an estimated 2,000 vacancies ([link removed]) at the agency, union advocates are hopeful this move will attract more employees to BLM.
** Supreme Court rejects red states’ bid to block Biden accounting metric
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The Supreme Court denied an attempt ([link removed]) to block the Biden administration's use of an important climate accounting metric. The metric known as social costs of greenhouse gases ([link removed].) is a set of values that help the government calculate the climate costs of its actions. It sets a dollar amount for the damages caused per ton of greenhouse gas emissions. Attorneys representing some Republican states challenged the use of this metric, claiming their states are harmed when it is used to evaluate oil and gas leasing on their lands. On Thursday, the Supreme Court denied the application to block the use of social costs in the administration's
decision-making.
The social cost estimate for carbon is currently $51 per ton of emissions ([link removed]) , compared to about $1 per ton under former President Donald Trump.
Quick hits
** Why a federal agency can’t stop this copper mining project from polluting Arizona streams
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Arizona Republic ([link removed])
** Environmental groups release new oil and gas threats map
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New Mexico Political Report ([link removed])
** Welcome to Colorado. Do you have a reservation?
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Colorado Sun ([link removed]) | Aspen Times ([link removed])
** Who owns the oil industry’s future stranded assets? If you own investment funds or expect a pension, it might be you
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The Conversation ([link removed])
** How 18 years, two Utah senators, and nearly $220 million help the Navajo
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Deseret News ([link removed])
** Utility gets approval to build 416-mile power line across U.S. West to connect wind farms to electric customers
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Associated Press ([link removed])
** Who’s after rare metals in the Klamath Mountains?
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High Country News ([link removed])
** Report finds facility where 145 wild horses died is short-staffed, in violation of federal policies
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” It's now up to the tribes that we represent, conservation groups, community groups, concerned citizens. Those are the folks now that have to bring the suits, expend the resources to enforce the law and do the job that the federal government itself should be doing.”
—Stu Gillespie, attorney for Tohono O’odham Nation, Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the Hopi Tribe, A ([link removed]) rizona Republic ([link removed])
Picture this
** @u ([link removed]) sinterior ([link removed])
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The jagged peaks at Alabama Hills National Scenic Area in California are blushing. The optical phenomenon is known as alpenglow and occurs when the sun reflects off mountains, making them glow in warm tones of pinks and reds during sunrise or sunset.
Photo by Michele James
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