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


** Environmental restoration offers hope to ravaged Western economies
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Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Abandoned oil infrastructure in San Juan County, Utah; Credit: arbyreed, Flickr ([link removed])

Once upon a time, extractive industries drove booming economies across the rural West. Now they are abandoning the region ([link removed]) , leaving behind a ravaged landscape, decaying wells, jobless workers, and a big hole in county and state budgets.

Local officials have tried to fill that void with tourism and clean energy but neither are a substitute for high-paying drilling and mining jobs. Now, there is a new industry on the horizon ([link removed]) that could actually restore the region’s economy—one that employs displaced roughnecks, miners, and loggers to clean up their former employers’ messes and repair the landscape.

Last year’s federal infrastructure bill is jump-starting this restoration economy by allocating over $20 billion for cleaning up old wells and abandoned mines ([link removed]) . Money is already rolling out for orphan well clean up, including $560 million for high-priority wells in 24 states ([link removed]) . There are hundreds of thousands of abandoned, orphaned, and inactive wells that can leak methane and other harmful materials on public lands across the West, as well as over 60,000 abandoned mine sites ([link removed]) —including 500 uranium mines
([link removed]) on the Navajo Nation.


** Collin O'Mara on the Inflation Reduction Act
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National Wildlife Federation President Collin O'Mara joins Aaron and Kate in the latest episode of CWP's podcast ([link removed]) , The Landscape, to talk all things Inflation Reduction Act, including: what's in it, how the bill came together behind the scenes, how his group and others got Senator Joe Manchin on board with some of the bolder provisions in the bill, whether it's ultimately a good or bad thing, how it should be implemented, and—last but certainly not least—what to watch for as the permitting side deal comes into focus.
Quick hits


** Report: Western wildfires are increasingly destroying structures
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KUNR ([link removed])


** Nevada monument will help drive outdoor recreation industry growth
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Reno Gazette Journal ([link removed])


** Over 1,000 New Mexico oil and gas wells sit idle amid sky high prices
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KUNM ([link removed])


** Judge issues permanent injunction on oil and gas leasing pause on federal lands, waters
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The Center Square ([link removed])


** Indigenous farmers reclaim time-honored techniques
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High Country News ([link removed])


** Opinion: Critics of land conservation easements have twisted the concept
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** Timber company asks court to gut expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
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Courthouse News ([link removed]) | Capital Press ([link removed])


** Bible demands action on climate change, Evangelicals say in new report
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Washington Post ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” We need to make some compromises, and we need to decide what exactly the Upper Basin states have left of their allocations. And it may be they don’t have anything depending on how much water is available.”
—Mark Squillace ([link removed]) , a University of Colorado law professor
Picture this


** @JoshuaTreeNPS ([link removed])
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SO YOU SEE, JOSHUA TREE ISN'T "JUST A BARREN DESERT", ALL DESERTS ARE ACTUALLY COMPLEX ECOSYSTEMS FULL OF LIFE. YOU HAVE THE JOSHUA TREES THEMSELVES, PLUS 800+ OTHER PLANT SPECIES, 400+ WILDLIFE SPECIES, AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THE GEOGRAPHY-

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