** August, in brief
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Aerial view of an outlying canal that feeds the Arizona Canal. Source: Library of Congress public domain archive ([link removed])


** Key news from August:
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* Support is building for President Biden to use the Antiquities Act to designate new national monuments. Colorado elected officials sent a letter to President Biden ([link removed]) urging him to protect landscapes identified in the CORE Act to create Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument. In Nevada, 77 percent of voters support a designation ([link removed]) for Avi Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain) ([link removed]) , a sacred place for local Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, the community of El Paso, Texas, continues to call ([link removed]) for access to Castner Range
([link removed]) , a 7,000-acre former military weapons testing range in the heart of one of the largest urban areas in the country.

* President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act ([link removed]) into law, locking in $369 billion in climate-related spending. While the bill represents the largest investment made by the United States to combat climate change, it also mandates oil and gas lease sales on public lands and waters, further underscoring the need for the Interior Department to act quickly ([link removed]) to implement the law in a way that provides maximum protection to threatened landscapes and species across the West.

* Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes filed a lawsuit ([link removed]) over President Biden's decision to reinstate the boundaries of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, claims the president violated the Antiquities Act of 1906 ([link removed]) by reinstating the monuments. The Antiquities Act gives the president the authority to designate national monuments and has been used by both Republican and Democratic presidents. There is ample precedent for landscape-scale national monuments, in which the entire landscape is considered an “object of interest,” such as the Grand Canyon. The courts have in the past also refused to hear cases over landscape-scale monument designations, and the Supreme Court has refused to hear cases
([link removed]) regarding the legality of protecting natural, rather than solely man-made, objects using the Antiquities Act.

* The Department of the Interior 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 groundwater, and create health hazards for neighboring communities. As of 2021, there were over 129,000 known orphaned wells on state and private land.

* The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced the water shortages along the Colorado River passed a dire threshold for the first time that will require unprecedented cuts to water use in Arizona and Nevada. ([link removed]) The cuts only apply to the lower basin states, though the Interior Department could still order cuts from the upper basin states ([link removed]) of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming to meet the system-wide water use reduction target of 2 to 4 million acre-feet annually to avoid a collapse of the entire Colorado River system. While declining to specify where and how further cuts must be made by the states, the announcement from the federal government underscored both how dire drought conditions have become in the Colorado River basin and the challenge of getting competing
states to cut vital water supplies ([link removed]) that sustain cities, agriculture, and hydropower for millions of people living in the Southwest.


** What to watch for in September:
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* Will President Biden invoke the Antiquities Act to protect his first national monument? Camp Hale-Continental Divide ([link removed]) , Avi Kwa Ame ([link removed]) , and Castner Range ([link removed]) have strong community support for designation as national monuments.
* President Biden could keep up the momentum on climate action and take additional executive action ([link removed]) to reduce emissions further.
* National Hispanic Heritage Month ([link removed]) starts on September 15, a great time to honor Hispanic connections to the outdoors.
* Center for Western Priorities will release a new short film as part of the Road to 30 Postcards series ([link removed]) .

From the Center for Western Priorities:


** New ad urges candidates to connect with voters on outdoor issues
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The Center for Western Priorities released ([link removed]) a new video ad ([link removed]) urging political candidates to connect with voters on outdoor issues because pro-public lands conservation positions are key to winning the West.

The ad comes on the heels of CWP's Winning the West 2022 poll ([link removed]) which makes it clear that the outdoors is central to Western voters, their way of life, and how they vote. Ninety percent of Western voters say that national public lands, parks, and wildlife issues are important to them, and 81 percent of voters say that these issues will play an influential role in how they choose to vote. The finding holds true across party lines with 87 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of Independents, and 73 percent of Republicans reporting that conservation issues will impact their vote.

Watch the "Escape" ad ([link removed]) and extended directors cut ([link removed]) online now.

[link removed]


** Running for office? Your voters are outdoors, and you should be, too
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In a Colorado Sun op-ed ([link removed]) , Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala makes the case that conservation is a winning issue in the West.

A new Winning the West poll ([link removed]) from the Center for Western Priorities shows that outdoor and public lands issues are critical to motivating Western voters in the swing states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. According to the poll ([link removed]) , 81% of voters in these states say that conservation issues will play an influential role in how they choose to vote. The finding holds true across party lines with 87% of Democrats, 81% of Independents, and 73% of Republicans ([link removed]) reporting that these issues will impact their vote.

Public land conservation always polls well out West, but what’s different this year is voters’ evident frustrations around elected officials’ lack of action on these issues they care so much about. According to the poll ([link removed]) , 77% of Western voters are concerned that politicians in Washington do not understand the way of life in the West and that the decisions being made in D.C. hurt the economy and quality of life in Western and rural areas. Voters want action on public lands conservation, wildfire prevention, and drought resilience.

Despite a moment of high gas prices (which have declined significantly from their June peak) the majority of Western voters still want to protect public lands from oil and gas development. According to the Winning the West poll ([link removed]) , 68% of Westerners are concerned about environmental disasters like oil spills that threaten to destroy critical land and water resources, and another 64% agree that oil and gas development on public land should be only allowed with strict limitations and regulations to ensure that our land, wildlife, water, and public safety are protected first and foremost.

The advice to candidates is simple. Get outside and find your voters.
[link removed]


** The nuclear industry has a deadly planning problem ([link removed])
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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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[link removed]


** What the Senate climate deal could mean for public lands ([link removed])
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** The deal would modernize the federal oil and gas program but lock in years of new leasing
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[link removed]

Author Nate Schweber joins Kate on The Landscape ([link removed]) to talk about his new book This America of Ours ([link removed]) , which chronicles the lives of forgotten 20th century conservation heroes Avis and Bernard DeVoto. The literary couple thwarted a plot to privatize millions of acres of public land, then successfully fought off an attempt to dam the Green River inside Dinosaur National Monument, all with the power of the pen.
[link removed]
Collin O’Mara joins Aaron and Kate ([link removed]) 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.
Best Reads of the Month


**
Alaska’s Willow Project promises huge amounts of oil—and huge environmental impacts
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High Country News ([link removed])


** National Monuments are a missing piece in Biden’s equitable conservation agenda
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Center for American Progress ([link removed])


** Longitudinal study shows huge benefits of bison grazing
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National Geographic ([link removed])


** Why it took Congress five decades to act on climate
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New York Times ([link removed])


** Opinion: It's time for Congress to protect the Dolores River
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** The climate bill promises thousands of new oil leases—but drillers might not want them
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Grist ([link removed])


** Can a massive effort to replant cacti in the Sonoran Desert restore an ecosystem ravaged by fire?
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bioGraphic ([link removed])


** As many as one in six U.S. tree species is threatened with extinction
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Washington Post ([link removed])

Quote of the month


** “This is a planetary emergency, and this is the first time the federal government has taken action that is worthy of the moment. This is the biggest climate action that any country has ever taken, and now I can look my kids in the eye and say we’re really doing something about climate.”
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** ——Senator Brian Schatz ([link removed])
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Picture this
[link removed]


** @nationalparkservice ([link removed])
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“He’s my best friend, he’s my pal, he’s my homeboy, my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good time boy.” - Laszlo

Sometimes it’s nice to find solitude in nature. Other times, it’s good to take a best friend, a pal, someone you’ll think twice about before pushing down to outrun a bear.

Two bears embrace one another on a cloudy morning in Katmai National Park & Preserve, Alaksa. NPS/Lian Law

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