** Western wetlands at risk
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2020
Salt cedar wetland in New Mexico, USFWS ([link removed])
The Trump administration's rollback of environmental protections for streams, rivers, and wetlands will hit the West especially hard. The Los Angeles Times reports ([link removed]) that federal data show 81% of streams in the Southwest will lose protections. In Arizona and New Mexico, more than 95% of each state’s waterways and wetlands could be left unprotected from pollution, because so few streams and rivers in the region flow year-round.
Elected officials are gearing up for a legal fight against the new rule. “My administration is committed to protecting New Mexico’s precious waters and will consider all legal options to prevent this rule from going into effect. This is far from over,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham said ([link removed]) . Colorado Governor Jared Polis called the new rule ([link removed]) an attempt “to gut federal clean water protections,” and vowed “to reject attempts by the Trump administration to gut proven ways to protect our health and environment.”
** NRA got special favors from Interior official
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An investigation by Jimmy Tobias at The Guardian found a former National Rifle Association lobbyist, Benjamin Cassidy ([link removed]) , gave special access to the firearms lobby soon after he took a top job inside the Trump administration. Emails show Cassidy helped an NRA official obtain a position on Interior's International Wildlife Conservation Council, which promoted trophy hunting and importing. Cassidy also kept the NRA apprised of a plan to limit target shooting inside Arizona's Sonoran Desert National Monument.
The final plan followed the NRA’s request to leave 90% of the monument open to shooting.
Last April, Interior's inspector general opened an investigation into whether Cassidy violated federal ethics rules. Shortly after that, he left the department to join the hunting advocacy group Safari Club International—a former client of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
Quick hits
** Trump administration wants to drill on Moab’s famed Slickrock trail
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Salt Lake Tribune ([link removed])
** Science ranks grow thin with administration’s war on expertise
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Washington Post ([link removed])
** Bernhardt gets snippy with Twitter critics
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E&E News ([link removed])
** Western waterways hit especially hard by new EPA rule
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed]) | Arizona Republic ([link removed]) | Pueblo Chieftain ([link removed]) | Desert Sun ([link removed]) | NPR ([link removed])
** Arizona BLM knew about high lead levels at recreational shooting sites for years, didn't warn public
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Phoenix New Times ([link removed])
** Coal industry on Navajo Nation on track to end in 2031
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Associated Press ([link removed])
** Poll shows overwhelming support for wolf reintroduction in Colorado
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])
** Opinion: Birds in the California desert are dying
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The Hill ([link removed])
Quote of the day
It’s basically a free-for-all for building. The same is true for mining. For them, obviously, it makes it cheaper. But for everybody else, we’re going to bear that cost.”
—Brett Hartl, Center for Biological Diversity ([link removed]) , on the EPA's new water pollution rules
Picture this
** @Interior ([link removed])
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A seemingly endless maze of cliffs & canyons, @GrandCanyonNPS ([link removed]) will overwhelm you with its size & beauty #Arizona ([link removed]) #FindYourPark ([link removed])
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