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


** Biden administration deploys $560M to clean up over 10,000 orphaned oil wells
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Friday, August 26, 2022
Pump jacks in Wyoming. Source: BLM Flickr ([link removed])

The Department of the Interior has awarded ([link removed]) $560 million to plug orphaned oil and gas wells across 24 states, the largest single investment in oil field cleanup in history. This funding is part of the $4.7 billion orphaned well program ([link removed]) that was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law ([link removed]) . Over 10,000 high-priority wells will be cleaned up with this funding.

Orphaned wells leak methane, contaminate ground water, and create health hazards for neighboring communities. As of 2021, there were over 129,000 known orphaned wells on state and private land.

“President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is enabling us to confront long-standing environmental injustices by making a historic investment to plug orphaned wells throughout the country,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in a statement. ([link removed]) “At the Department of the Interior, we are working on multiple fronts to clean up these sites as quickly as we can by investing in efforts on federal lands and partnering with states and Tribes to leave no community behind.”

This investment is part of the $1.15 billion Phase One of the national orphaned well program. An initial $33 million ([link removed]) was used recently to plug nearly 300 orphans on federal lands.
Quick hits


** Biden administration deploys $560M to clean up orphaned oil wells
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E&E News ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | NM Political Report ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])


** Utah sues Biden administration over move to restore national monuments
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Reuters ([link removed]) | Capital Press ([link removed])


** BLM begins Bears Ears planning process just after Utah sues to revoke monument’s restoration
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Hotter summer nights affect everything from death rates to crop yields to firefighting
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High Country News ([link removed])


** BLM to pause on new oil, gas leasing in Colorado's North Fork Valley
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Crested Butte News ([link removed])


** Western city water agencies pledge drought savings, some demand more
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** FDR built a 'Great Wall of Trees.' Could Biden do the same?
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Tommy Caldwell: Supporting outdoor recreation has never been more crucial
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Denver Post ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” But if we want to continue to have water to support the millions who rely on it, if we hope to take care of the Grand Canyon and its river, if we want to even have a choice about what flows look like in the future, we need to stabilize this system. We can’t continue to deny the reality of simple numbers, and we can’t rely on year after year of hurried emergency measures to get us by. That’s not planning, that’s triage.”
—Jocelyn Gibbon, policy consultant and river guide, American Rivers ([link removed])
Picture this


** @Interior ([link removed])
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Happy 106th birthday to the @NatlParkService ([link removed]) !
For more than a century, the passionate and dedicated people of the National Park Service have cared for our country’s natural, cultural and historic treasures for future generations to enjoy.

Photo by Rebecca King

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