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A portion of the Castner Range blanketed by Mexican poppies. Photo courtesy of Mark Clune.
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Key news from July:
- After saying he couldn't reach a deal with his fellow Democrats and the White House on climate action, Sen. Joe Manchin announced that he and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have agreed on a sweeping bill that addresses inflation, health care costs, and climate change—promising to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The bill contains major reforms to the federal onshore oil and gas leasing program, but also locks in 10 years of more leasing.
- The Biden administration's first onshore oil and gas lease sales took place at the end of June. Companies scooped up around 60 percent of 120,000 acres offered in Wyoming and all 521 acres offered in New Mexico, proving the increased royalty rate sought by the Bureau of Land Management in this sale isn't an issue in states with promising oil fields. Meanwhile, leases offered in states like Colorado, Nevada, and Montana drew barely any interest, proving the BLM was right to remove sensitive public land and land with low oil production potential from this lease sale.
- The Biden administration released a long-awaited environmental review of ConocoPhillips' massive proposed Willow oil project on Alaska's North Slope. Environmental advocates had hoped the Bureau of Land Management would indicate an intent to stop the project, in light of President Biden's climate goals. The official document did not indicate a preferred path forwards. But journalist Adam Federman noticed that the original version of the environmental review, posted Friday evening, indicated that the Bureau of Land Management preferred 'Alternative E’—a slightly scaled-back plan that would reduce the project's overall footprint while still releasing 278 million metric tons of carbon over a 30 year period.
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tossed out a Trump-era rule that weakened the agency's authority to identify lands and waters where declining animal and plant species could receive protection, essentially shrinking species' critical habitat. By reversing the Trump-era rule, FWS is officially reverting to the rule that was previously in place in which critical habitat is considered “essential for the conservation of the species.”
- The community of El Paso, Texas, continues to call for access to Castner Range, a 7,000-acre former military weapons testing range in the heart of one the largest urban areas in the country. There is broad support for the community-led effort to designate Castner Range, including over 116,000 signatures collected for a letter of support to encourage Biden to protect Castner Range.
- New economic numbers show why boom-and-bust extraction doesn't mean economic stability for Western states. Despite getting a share of the windfall profits that oil CEOs have raked in thanks to high gas prices, oil producing states are dragging the rest of the country down in overall economic output. Pew Stateline reports that the states with the largest declines in gross domestic product are all oil and coal states, including New Mexico, Montana, Alaska, and Oklahoma. Wyoming had the largest drop in GDP in the first quarter, a 10% decrease.
- The Biden administration announced that the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense departments will revive the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR) in order to intensify its efforts to expand access to recreation on public lands. The council is tasked with creating "more safe, affordable, and equitable opportunities for Americans to get outdoors."
- A wildfire, fueled by timber and brush, and exacerbated by the effects of climate change, threatened centuries-old giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park. According to the National Park Service, more than 85 percent of the acreage of giant sequoia groves in the Sierra Nevada burned between 2015 and 2021. In the previous century, just 25 percent of that acreage was affected by wildfire.
What to watch for in August:
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From the Center for Western Priorities:
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Winning the West 2022
Voters strongly support conservation efforts in the West but are increasingly frustrated with lack of action
Regardless of political party, Western voters in swing states like Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico told us in a recent poll that the outdoors are central to their way of life. They identify with the region’s outdoor spaces and deeply value access for hiking, hunting, fishing, and camping.
Overwhelming majorities say that national public lands, parks, and wildlife issues are not only important to them, but that these issues will play an influential role in how they choose to vote.
At the same time, voters are now expressing frustrations, believing politicians in D.C. are out-of-touch and not delivering on what they promised on the outdoor and public lands issues Western voters care so much about.
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New poll shows voters strongly support conservation efforts in the West but are increasingly frustrated with lack of action
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The president has tools to address climate change — he just needs to use them
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Kate and Aaron run down the surprise climate legislation unveiled this week and talk about what it means for public lands, as well as whether or not the package can actually make it to President Biden’s desk. Then, Evergreen Action‘s chief of staff Lena Moffitt joins Kate and Aaron to talk about what President Biden can do through executive action to fight climate change.
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On this episode of The Landscape, Leah Sottile joins Kate and Aaron to talk about the connections between the Bundy family standoffs and the January 6th insurrection, as well as her new book, “When the Moon Turns to Blood,” a wild and tragic case of two murdered children and religious extremism out of Idaho.
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Pollster Lindsay Vermeyen joins Aaron and Kate to talk about CWP’s new Winning the West poll numbers. The poll, which was conducted in Western swing states in May 2022, found that Western voters still care a lot about conservation, despite everything else going on in the world right now. Notably, it found that Westerners are not satisfied with President Biden’s actions to conservation Western public lands so far, and that a majority of Westerners want Biden to use his executive authority to designate new national monuments.
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At Oak Flat, courts and politicians fail tribes
High Country News
The largest Audubon group yet is changing its name, rebuking an enslaver
Washington Post
On the Colorado River the feds carry a big stick. Will the states get hit?
KUNC
The crude marriage of oil drilling and bitcoin mining gets weary eye from Colorado county
Denver Post
Opinion: Designate Castner Range as a national monument
El Paso Times
At Yosemite, saving some trees means cutting others down
New York Times
38,000 acres of private timberland in Montana just became part of the national wildlife refuge system
Montana Public Radio
Nevada artists mobilize to protect Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument
Hyperallergic
How the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe survives with as little as 10% of its hard-won water supply
Denver Post
Was Yellowstone’s deadliest wolf hunt in 100 years an inside job?
The Intercept
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“A successful co-management model is all about transparency, and having a consensus in sharing of ideas and ways of knowing. We are taught to take care of the land. It’s more of an act of love, not an act of a job.”
—Women of Bears Ears co-founder Cynthia Wilson (Diné), on tribal co-management of Bears Ears National Monument
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Welcome to Arizona's Vermilion Cliffs National Monument! Here at White Pocket, you will discover awe-inspiring slickrock where windswept layers of orange, yellow, and white formations were created over time by mineral deposits and shaped by the elements. Please help preserve the geologic formations so that present and future generations can enjoy them today and for years to come.
📸 Courtesy of Elliot McGucken
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