September, in brief
What you may have missed and need to know
Key news from September:
- The Senate voted to confirm Daniel Jorjani to be the Interior Department Solicitor. Interior’s Inspector General recently announced that Jorjani is being investigated, and Senator Ron Wyden has requested the Department of Justice to investigate if Jorjani committed perjury during his confirmation hearing.
- Acting BLM Director William Perry Pendley testified before Congress on the agency’s relocation plans, leaving many lawmakers without the answers they needed. Internal documents suggest Pendley misled Congress on the BLM relocation plans. Pendley also released a 17-page list of companies, individuals, and organizations he would recuse himself from to avoid making decisions that would create conflicts of interest.
- The Senate agreed on a proposed federal budget that does not include funding for the BLM headquarters move. Reports surfaced that the new headquarters will share an office building in Grand Junction, Colorado with numerous oil and gas companies. The plans will spread employees that work with Congress across the West and shrink the agency’s environmental review team.
- William Perry Pendley recused himself from litigation involving the President’s reduction of national monuments in Utah. However, he remains listed as an attorney on a Utah county lawsuit against the monuments.
- Against the advice of its own scientists, the Interior Department is moving forward with a proposal to raise the height of Northern California’s Shasta Dam, marking another win for one of Secretary Bernhardt’s former lobbying clients, the politically powerful Westlands Water District.
- A top government watchdog concluded the Interior Department broke the law by diverting funds from national park entrance fees to keep parks open, but understaffed, during the latest government shutdown.
- Interior Secretary David Bernhardt quietly signed a directive allowing electric bikes on any public trail currently open to bicycles, including those in national parks. Several national parks also announced certain back roads would be opened to ATVs and UTVs. Both shifts were initiated without any public input. The administration has recently taken steps to muzzle park superintendents and stop them from airing concerns to the public about changes in and around parks.
What to watch for in October:
- Under the administration’s order, William Perry Pendley will only serve as acting BLM director until September 30. It’s possible Pendley will be formally nominated to become permanent BLM director.
- Secretary Bernhardt will be attending the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Colorado, where he will be speaking.
- The Center for Western Priorities will be releasing its Winning the West 2019 poll this Thursday.
Best Reads of the Month:
Report finds industry influence in Interior Department’s effort to mine “critical” minerals
Project on Government Oversight
Trump administration leading public lands liquidation in Alaska
Abandoned oil and gas wells could cost U.S. taxpayers $46 million to $333 million in reclamation costs
Could a president ban all fracking in the U.S.?
Opinion: Trump wants to spoil Alaska’s pristine environment, but we can’t let it happen
Editorial: Trump administration to drillers, miners, and loggers — This land is your land
From the Center for Western Priorities:
The Wilderness Society and the Center for Western Priorities released new geospatial analysis today, offering a data-driven look at low-cost oil and gas leasing on public lands in the West. The oil and gas industry currently leases 17.7 million acres of public lands in ten Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming — locking up lands for development and preventing them from being actively managed for conservation and recreation. According to our analysis, 32 percent of all public lands and minerals actively leased for oil and gas were sold for just $2.00 per acre or less — totaling 5.7 million acres. Visit the story map by clicking HERE
Westwise Blog:
- Trump pick for top Interior lawyer stalled after perjury allegations
Former Koch advisor Daniel Jorjani has dismal track record leading department’s ethics, transparency programs - Congressman Grijalva and friends on why the Sonoran Desert is worth protecting
Highlights from the Center for Western Priorities’ live podcast in Tucson, Arizona - Story Map: America’s Public Lands Giveaway
Oil and gas companies are paying bargain rates to acquire and sit on millions of acres
Go West, Young Podcast:
Live in Montana
We wrap up the Go West, Young Podcast summer road trip in Missoula, Montana, just in time for National Public Lands Day.
Sen. Jon Tester returns
In the latest episode of CWP’s Go West, Young Podcast, Senator Jon Tester of Montana talks about the need to permanently fund the Land & Water Conservation Fund, how public lands became a key issue for Montana voters, and the need to address climate change sooner rather than later.
Live in Tucson with Rep. Raúl Grijalva and friends
In the latest stop on our summer road trip, Go West, Young Podcast stops in Tucson, Arizona for a conversation with House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva, Sonoran Institue CEO Stephanie Sklar, and NativesOutdoors founder Len Necefer.
Quote of the month:
This is not just a political fight, an ideological fight, this is a fundamental fight about those shared values that we have, those areas that have been conserved for generation… suddenly we find ourselves trying to hang on to what we have, instead of growing the equity of the American people’s holdings which is their public lands and their waterways, and their coastlines and their oceans.”
— Chairman Raúl Grijalva, on the importance of protecting public lands, Westwise
Picture this:
Since Congress updated the leasing process in 1987, 42.1 million acres, or 60 percent of all oil and gas leases issued, have been purchased for the minimum bid or noncompetitively.
[Click here to view the story map]
