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


** BLM announces leasing plans as it falls behind on updating oil & gas rules
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Monday, January 9, 2023
Oil and gas development in the Wind River Mountains. Photo: BLM Wyoming, Flickr ([link removed])

On Friday, the Bureau of Land Management announced plans to lease nearly 21,000 acres ([link removed]) of national public land in Montana and North Dakota to oil and gas companies. It also released an environmental review ([link removed]) for the upcoming May 2023 sale in New Mexico. The announcements come as the Interior Department falls further behind on its obligation to write rules implementing the new leasing system created by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Biden administration’s Fall 2022 regulatory agenda, belatedly released last week ([link removed]) by the Office of Management and Budget, revealed that rules updating the oil and gas leasing system ([link removed]) are only at the Proposed Rule Stage. If the department doesn’t publish a draft rule within the next few weeks, any final rule will likely be published so late ([link removed]) that it’s at risk of getting thrown out in 2025 under the Congressional Review Act.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Deputy Director Aaron Weiss: “The Interior Department is playing a dangerous game right now. It’s irresponsible of the Bureau of Land Management to rush to lease hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands before it fully implements the Inflation Reduction Act. There is no provision in the IRA that requires Interior to hold these massive lease sales without proper safeguards in place. The department must shift its resources to get new rules on the books ASAP.”

The Inflation Reduction Act ([link removed]) requires the Interior Department to hold lease sales before approving new wind and solar rights-of-way, but the law does not set a timetable for either. Because the IRA also implemented a $5-per-acre fee for new nominations of parcels, it is in the best interest of taxpayers for the department to hold off on any lease sales until all of the parcels being leased are subject to the fee.

In addition to the sales announced Friday, the Bureau of Land Management is also planning lease sales in Wyoming ([link removed]) , New Mexico ([link removed]) , Nevada ([link removed]) , and Utah ([link removed]) . In total, the agency has proposed leasing nearly 500,000 acres of public land across the West in 2023.
Quick hits


** The fate of Thacker Pass lithium mine is in a federal judge's hands
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NPR ([link removed]) | Nevada Independent ([link removed])


** Outdoor Retailer returns to Salt Lake, but is it 'dead on arrival?'
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])


** Yellowstone National Park's lead wolf biologist retires after 28 years
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Bozeman Daily Chronicle ([link removed])


** Hundreds of abandoned California oil and gas wells to be plugged, but thousands remain
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The Press-Enterprise ([link removed])


** Volunteers turn to fence removal to re-wild antelope habitat
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Nevada Independent ([link removed])


** BLM announces leasing plans as it falls behind on updating oil & gas rules
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NBC Montana ([link removed]) | Roswell Daily Record ([link removed]) | BLM press release ([link removed]) | CWP statement ([link removed])


** A third of Yellowstone elk habitat is not protected from development
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Public News Service ([link removed])


** 1,000 acres of sacred land returned to Karuk Tribe
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KOBI-TV ([link removed])
Quote of the day
” This is just the beginning, you know. We're going to be building larger coalitions not just with this issue on Thacker Pass, but the issues all across America where lands are being desecrated.”
—Chairman Arlan Melendez of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, NPR ([link removed])
Picture this


** @USFWSSoutheast ([link removed])
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🎶 I'm blue, da ba dee da ba di 🎶

...or ARE you?!

#Birds ([link removed]) that appear blue, like this blue jay, are *actually* not. We see them as blue due to the refraction of light on their feathers.

There is no blue pigment in their feathers, it is a trick of the 👀

📸: Frank Miles/USFWS

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