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It’s been 100 days since President Joe Biden promised to protect an area in southern Nevada called Avi Kwa Ame. According to anonymous sources who spoke to the Washington Post, scheduling difficulties are causing the delay.
They say the White House contacted Nevada lawmakers about scheduling the announcement during Biden’s visit to Las Vegas next week, but Nevada Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto, who both support the monument designation, couldn't make it because the Senate is in session next week. Sources say the Biden administration is now exploring whether to hold a designation ceremony at the White House, rather than in Nevada, to accommodate Rosen and Cortez Masto.
Presidential budget invests in public lands and the West
The Biden administration's budget for fiscal year 2024 includes $18.9 billion for the Interior Department, an increase of $2 billion, or 12 percent, over the fiscal year 2023 enacted budget. If appropriated by Congress, that funding will help address climate challenges, like drought and wildfire, take care of public lands, expand renewable energy on federal lands and waters, and strengthen Tribal nations.
The administration's proposal specifically increases funding for Colorado River stabilization projects as well as wildland firefighting capacity. It also includes an increase of $75 million over the 2023 budget for the National Park Service. This funding will help restore parks impacted by fire and drought as well as fund climate vulnerability assessments to better identify, plan for, and mitigate impacts on park resources.
The proposed budget also makes significant investments in programs to expand renewable energy at the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and it includes $12 million for the creation of a new Tribal Land and Water Conservation Fund land acquisition program.
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I’m out here screaming in the woods because we have less than a week to stop Willow, which is a proposed oil drilling project in Alaska that would put an already fragile ecosystem and the Indigenous communities that rely on it at further risk. Plus, we cannot keep opening new fossil fuel projects if we want to address climate change.”
