February, in Brief
What you may have missed and need to know
Key news from February:
- The Trump administration released resource management plans for the reduced Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, opening the areas President Trump removed from the monuments to mining, drilling, and logging. Legal scholars say the plans likely violate federal law.
- The tenth annual Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Conservation in the West Poll surveyed voters in eight states and found that a full 80 percent of voters consider stances on water, air, wildlife, and public lands to be important in their decisions whether or not to support an elected official.
- Trump administration released a proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2021 that calls for a dramatic 16 percent funding cut for the Interior Department, recommending a 97 percent cut to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The budget also provides $150 million in funding for the Department of Energy to create a domestic uranium stockpile.
- A vote in the House Natural Resources Committee granted Chairman Raúl Grijalva the authority to issue subpoenas for information from the Interior Department and its agencies.
- In energy news, the Bureau of Land Management moved forward with plans to resume coal leasing on public lands, releasing a narrow review of just four leases, saying the move would have no significant environmental impact.
- After widespread public outrage, the BLM announced it would not offer oil and gas leases overlapping with Utah’s Slickrock Trail.
- President Trump signed a ceremonial order in California lowering water levels in the San Francisco Bay Delta and directing more of the state’s water to agricultural regions of the state, including Westlands Water District, the largest former client of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
What to watch for in March:
- Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is expected to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee about the proposed FY2021 Interior Budget.
Best Reads of the Month:
Coal plants are closing across the West — here are the companies sticking with coal
Oil and gas methane emissions drastically underestimated, study shows
Trump administration’s public lands giveaway to oil companies is four times the size of California
Westerners demand climate action, public lands protection
Trump’s proposed $1.5 billion uranium bailout triggers rush of mining plans near Grand Canyon
From the Center for Western Priorities:
The West’s top three oil and gas producing states reported 8 spills a day in 2019
In recent years, oil and gas production has soared around the West, impacting land, clean air and water, and local communities. A new analysis by the Center for Western Priorities finds that oil and gas companies reported 2,811 spills in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico in 2019, nearly eight per day. Across the three states, drillers reported spilling 23,600 barrels of oil and 170,223 barrels of produced water — salty wastewater often laced with toxic chemicals.
Westwise Blog:
Outdated oil and gas royalty rates are costing taxpayers billions each year
On the 100th anniversary of the Mineral Leasing Act, analysis shows reform is desperately needed
Trump Administration’s latest budget reflects anti-conservation values
The plan would decimate public land agencies, open the door for more drilling and mining
Carrying the torch for the next 50 years of conservation
A tribute to the life and contributions of former Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall
Go West, Young Podcast:
10 years of the Conservation in the West Poll
This episode features highlights from a symposium celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Conservation in the West Poll from the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project.
A conversation with Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado about her wilderness protection bill that’s headed for the House floor, as well as the challenges of performing congressional oversight in the Trump era.
Quote of the month:
In politics, voters have wants and they have needs. Smart politicians speak to the things voters consider needs. In the West, having a healthy environment isn’t a want. It is a need — essential. It requires more than just a passing mention from people who are running for office. It requires a sincere and sustained focus… Voters in the West are going to be paying a lot of attention and really scrutinizing candidates this year to see if there is somebody who is really serious about protecting land, air, water and wildlife.”
— Dave Metz, FM3 Research
Pollster for the 10th Annual Conservation in the West Poll, The Denver Post
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