G2. Local Greens

File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

File:  ltr to Congress, 76 scientists 2012.pdfResource Type: Letters

Arctic Refuge Drilling Fails Again — Why Congress Must Repeal the Leasing Mandate 

On Friday, June 5, the Trump administration held its third oil and gas lease sale on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. For the third time, the results told the same story: no major oil company bid and the financial promise used to justify drilling in one of America’s last great wild places remained unfounded. 

Caribou on the Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge (Photo credit: Pam Miller)

Nine bids came in and just two entities placed them (AIDEA and Hex Energy). Total revenue was only $3,741,528 — less than 0.4% of the nearly $1 billion Congress claimed Arctic Refuge drilling would generate to offset the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. 

After three tries, across three lease sales, the cumulative return still hasn’t even reached 1% of what was promised. Arctic Refuge oil

What We Did to Get Here 

This moment didn’t happen in a vacuum. It is the result of years of sustained, coordinated advocacy — from Gwich’in Nation leaders, from conservationists, from faith communities, from everyday people across the country.

In the lead-up to Friday’s sale, our coalition mobilized on every front: 

More than 335,000 public comments were submitted from 22 different groups, directed at the administration, Congress, and the corporations that were being asked to participate in this sale.

126 national organizations signed on to a letter opposing the lease sale. So did 12 conservation and sportsmen’s organization CEOs, members of Congress, and faith and business leaders through the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

The Gwich’in Steering Committee wrote directly to oil and gas CEOs requesting a meeting to hear directly from people whose homeland, whose food sovereignty, and whose cultural survival are at stake.

Community hearings in Portland, Seattle, Fairbanks, and Houston gave voice to the thousands of people who understand that the Arctic Refuge coastal plain — what the Gwich’in call the Sacred Place Where Life Begins — is not a line item in a budget reconciliation bill. It is a living landscape. It is the calving ground of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. It belongs to all of us, and most urgently, to the people who have called it home for thousands of years.

Community Hearing event in Portland, OR

Op-eds ran in the Anchorage Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and the Columbian. The film The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness screened in Leavenworth, Washington, days before the sale. Members of Congress — including Sens. Markey and Merkley and Reps. Huffman and Vasquez — spoke out publicly and forcefully in statements. Others like Rep. Vasquez and Sen. Heinrich showed up powerfully on social media. 

Why The Results Matter 

The financial argument for drilling in the Arctic Refuge has now failed three consecutive times. The world’s largest banks — Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo — walked away from financing Arctic Refuge drilling years ago. Major insurers declined to underwrite it. Oil companies with the technical and financial capacity to operate in one of the world’s most demanding environments looked at the cost structures, the accelerating permafrost instability, and the long-term demand outlook and passed. 

The only two bidders who showed up were a state development authority and a little-known company placing a handful of bids. 

As AWL Executive Director Kristen Miller put it in our statement: 

Economic gain was a false justification to permanently sell off the most ecologically and culturally significant landscapes in the United States. The American people don’t want this, the oil industry doesn’t want this, and our public lands deserve so much better.

But We Can’t Stop Here 

Friday’s sale was a market failure and a moral embarrassment, but the legal mandate that required it to happen is still on the books. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act included a provision requiring the administration to hold lease sales in the Arctic Refuge coastal plain, regardless of market demand, taxpayer return, or the clear and consistent opposition of the Gwich’in Nation. 

That means another sale could happen. And another after that. 

That is why passing the Arctic Refuge Protection Act matters so much. Repealing the leasing mandate is the only way to ensure that these results are the last time we have to fight this fight.

Permanent protection for the coastal plain is what the Gwich’in Nation has asked for, what the ecological science demands, and what the market has now made undeniably clear.  

What Comes Next 

We need a Congress willing to repeal the leasing mandate. We need an administration committed to honoring the Gwich’in Nation’s rights and the public’s clear preference for protection over drilling. And we need to keep the pressure on, because the next opportunity to make permanent change will come, and we will be ready. 

Gwich’in members in front of the Capitol (Photo credit: Michael Block for the Arctic Defense Campaign)

Three failed lease sales. One clear conclusion: the Arctic Refuge coastal plain deserves permanent protection. Help us finish the job.

Take Action

 

Cover photo credit: Danielle Brigida, USFWS

The hard work and dedication from our Mormon Slough Restoration Association, volunteers, community members, local partners and Restore the Delta Staff, by Flood and Land Restoration Manager Artie Valencia, was covered in a recent article by Lois Henry in SJV Water.

Our Mormon Slough restoration efforts are driven by a broad coalition including local organizations, Stockton residents, scientists, environmental experts, and Tribal leaders. As a 100% community driven project, voices of the community matter at every step. 

BLOCK QUOTE: “Valencia said the Mormon Slough project is a prime example of how a locally driven project can advance both community needs and broader Delta Conservation goals…”

The article highlights how since late last year, staff and volunteers have held over 70 community meetings, knocked on more than 3,000 doors and gathered feedback from Stockon residents on the possibilities behind restoring the Mormon Slough. Last month, dozens of community members gathered for our first visioning meeting, giving their input on potential designs and plans for the waterway.

To read more on the history of ths slough and our restoration efforts, you can read the article here. 

You can also get involved by joining us at our next visionion meeting on July 25 from 10am-2pm at The Sycamore (630 E Weber Ave, Stockton, CA 95202). This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments and lunch will be served at the meeting. 

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PHILADELPHIA, PA (June 12, 2026) –  As the Greater Philadelphia region prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors for FIFA World Cup matches and America 250  celebrations, Clean Air Council has launched an interactive digital map to help visitors and residents reach major events without driving. 

This map highlights event locations and shows public transit and biking options, helping you avoid traffic and parking hassles, reduce pollution, and explore Philly car-free. 

The map is hosted on the Clean Air Council’s website at gophillygo.cleanair.org.

“No one wants to spend their summer sitting in traffic and paying for expensive event parking,” said Titania Markland, Clean Air Council Sustainable Transportation Program Manager. “Traveling car-free to the Philadelphia region’s many events this summer is a win for attendee experience, your wallet, and the environment. We are excited to launch GoPhillyGo: Car-Free Routes to make car-free travel planning easy and fun.”

“The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is pleased to help fund this effort to make traveling around our region without a car this summer, and beyond, a bit easier, for visitors and residents alike,” said Stacy Bartels, Manager of TDM Strategy and Marketing. “Fewer cars on the roads means less traffic congestion and air pollution, which is good for everyone.”

The fun doesn’t stop at summer’s end. Clean Air Council plans to keep the map updated with events and travel information year-round to promote a sustainable, car-free lifestyle. For more information and to access the map, please visit: gophillygo.cleanair.org.

Kate and Aaron talk to Jayson O’Neill, a longtime public lands watchdog and Montanan who previously led the Western Values Project and now heads up a campaign called Save Our Parks. Jayson explains how the Trump administration is using the National Park Service to funnel money into Trump’s vanity projects in DC, as well as how President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum subverted America250, an organization chartered by Congress to celebrate America’s upcoming 250th birthday.

News

• National Park Entrance Fees Are Funding Trump’s D.C. Projects – New York Times
• Americans’ national parks passes will pay for Trump’s July 4 plans, documents show – Washington Post
• Mike Lee’s fast-track attempt to scrap this national monument’s management plan has failed – Salt Lake Tribune
• Judge orders Trump administration to restore signs changed at national parks – CNN

Resources

• Save Our Parks website
• Analysis: Reporting signs that “disparage” American history – CWP
• Watch this episode on YouTube

Produced by Aaron Weiss, Lauren Bogard, Kate Groetzinger, and Lilly Bock-Brownstein
Feedback: podcast@westernpriorities.org
Music: Purple Planet
Featured image: Photo of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool filled with algae; Source: Ali Khan/Wikimedia

The post How Trump and Burgum hijacked the Park Service and America’s birthday party appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Editor’s Note: That’s my friend and favorite mechanic Adam Griego in the bottom photo reaching across from prisoner to prison guard. He’s been involved in all kinds of prison reform projects and prisoner reentry into society. He’s also helped set up a facility for homeless people living in cars to spend the night.  While doing all  this he owns and runs a garage and is an expert Subaru  mechanic. He invites everyone to come to the showing of  this documentary at the Museum of International Folk Art.

June 16, 2026 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUWA Statement on approval of Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness – 6.16.26  Action by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is unnecessary and unlawful 

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org

Salt Lake City, UT – Last Friday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a decision authorizing private airplanes to take off and land in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness by designating the previously unauthorized Keg Knoll backcountry airstrip as open for aircraft use. The airstrip is located on the west side of Labyrinth Canyon and north of Canyonlands National Park. Below is a statement from SUWA Wildlands Director Neal Clark and additional information.  

“Wilderness is a finite resource and should be managed in a way that protects the reasons it’s designated in the first place—the preservation of natural soundscapes, solitude, wildlife habitat, and non-motorized recreational opportunities,” said Neal Clark, Wildlands Director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). “Unfortunately, the Trump administration BLM seems unable to say no to activities that are fundamentally incompatible with wilderness, including motorized aircraft use. Degrading the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness so a handful of private pilots can land their planes at one more backcountry airstrip is a disservice to the landscape and public lands users seeking a wilderness experience. We’ll be exploring every possible way to right this decision and protect the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness from the impacts of private aircraft use.”

Additional information: 

The Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness was designated by Congress in 2019, as part of the Dingell Act. While the Wilderness Act gives the BLM some discretion to allow (or prohibit) continued use at airstrips that were legally established prior to wilderness designation, it does not allow the agency to authorize aircraft use when the airstrip was not legally open prior to the wilderness designation.   

The BLM Price Field Office’s 2008 management plan—the land use plan in effect when the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness was established—specifically lists five “existing and currently used backcountry airstrips” for continued noncommercial and limited commercial aviation use; Keg Knoll is not on the list. And for good reason, as it was unused and reclaiming at the time. The agency’s 1999 wilderness inventory of Labyrinth Canyon confirms as much, noting “abandoned airstrips” in the Keg Knoll area. 

SUWA’s members sent over 3,000 comments in opposition to the decision.  

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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org. 

 

 

The post SUWA Statement on approval of Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness – 6.16.26  appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

By: Restore the Delta

The explosion of Artificial Intelligent (AI) across the country isn’t happening in a vacuum but instead goes hand-in-hand with impacts to water resources and utility bills.  Despite the enormous strain on both our electrical grid and finite water resources, California has established little to no regulatory oversight. In fact, last year, Governor Newsom rejected legislation that would have provided some oversight, stating that the legislation would potentially curtail “the very innovation that fuels advancement in favor of the public good”. As Asm. Papan’s AI Bill package on AI water use – AB 2619 and AB 2469 – moves through the legislature, the question remains whether Governor Newsom will again reject efforts to establish oversight and transparency. 

These protective measures are more necessary than ever. According to a recent Fortune article,  49,000 Lake Tahoe residents are scrambling to find a new power source because their utility company is redirecting electricity capacity to data centers powering the AI boom. Technology over people is happening in real time, with little to slow the onslaught of impacts. 

The Delta, at the heart of California’s water system, is another prime target for the development of AI. To assess the impacts to our ecosystems and communities, Restore the Delta released our new white paper, The Environmental Justice Implications of Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.

Even before the release of our White Paper, AI was making waves in the Delta. When we began this work, possible data center locations in Oakley were being discussed. In March 2026, the Bridgehead Industrial Project, a 164-acre site near the San Joaquin River, originally included data center use before the developer pulled it after significant public pushback. The following month, Oakley became the first Bay Area city to impose a temporary moratorium on new data centers, buying time to study the industry’s energy and water demands.

Just to the north, California Forever’s proposed Suisun City annexation plan has raised alarms that its zoning would allow data centers across nearly all land designations without meaningful public review, despite being marketed primarily as a housing and jobs project.

The Delta is already under extraordinary pressure. The watershed is severely overallocated, numerous native fish populations are in steep decline, and South Stockton and Kings Beach carry some of the highest pollution burdens in the state. AI is yet another existential threat, endangering the long-term viability of the Delta.

A typical 100 megawatt data center consumes approximately 2 million liters of water per day, the equivalent use of about 6,500 households. Unlike residential water use, roughly 80% of that water is lost to evaporation rather than returned to local water systems. Data centers also require uninterrupted 24/7 power, making them unable to reduce usage during peak demand, the exact moments when our grid is most stressed.

The situation in Lake Tahoe illustrates what happens when planning lags behind development. The energy supplier for that region told the local utility it has less than a year to find another power source. The Delta faces a version of that same complexity, multiplied by competing demands from the Delta Conveyance tunnel, carbon storage projects, and new urban development. California is still in the early stages of creating policies specifically designed to address AI infrastructure’s water consumption, constant energy demand, and cumulative community health impacts. 

The window to shape these decisions is right now, before large scale AI development becomes entrenched in the region. We want policymakers, Tribal Nations, environmental justice advocates, and Delta communities to understand the implications of widescale AI development in order to ask the important questions before permits are approved. Oversight and transparency must catch up to development if we are to adequately protect ecosystems and communities. 

Read the full white paper at restorethedelta.org.

The lawyer who successfully led a landmark challenge on onshore oil and gas at the Supreme Court was appointed an OBE in the King’s birthday honours.

Estelle Dehon KC (third from left) with campaigner Sarah Finch (third from right) and the Weald Action Group legal team outside the Supreme Court after the landmark judgement on climate emissions, 20 June 2024. Photo: DrillOrDrop

Estelle Dehon KC received the honour for services to environmental law.

She is one of the UK’s leading environmental and climate law barristers.

She was named planning and environment silk of the year in the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2024. She has been on every ENDS Report power list of environmental professionals since 2022 and received a climate law and governance global leadership award at the COP27 climate conference. She was also named environmental/sustainability bar champion of the year at the Legal 500 UK ESG Awards 2024, and barrister of the year at The Lawyer Awards 2025.

Ms Dehon, of Cornerstone Barristers, said yesterday:

“I am absolutely bursting with pride and happiness to receive an OBE. And for services to environmental law! I never even dreamed that such a thing could happen. I am both thrilled and profoundly moved that it has and am also deeply grateful to those who nominated me, who clearly dream bigger than I do.”

Ms Dehon secured what became known as the Finch Ruling at the Supreme Court almost two years ago. The result required decision-makers to take into account carbon emissions from burning onshore oil and gas production.

The decision immediately quashed planning permission at the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey. It led to withdrawal of consent for oil production at Biscathorpe in the Lincolnshire Wolds and expansion of the Wressle oil site in North Lincolnshire.

The ruling also influenced decisions on the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields in the North Sea, permission for a new UK deep coalmine, infrastructure developments and industrial-scale agriculture.

Ms Dehon said:

“With greenhouse gas emissions still rising; adaptation still so slow and the degradation of nature continuing apace while being normalised in political speech, it is easy to be demotivated.

“But the legal community has so much ability to effect positive change. Our voices are heard in places of power across society. Now is the time we must use them.”

Last year, Ms Dehon argued in a legal opinion that proposals by Europa Oil & Gas at Burniston qualified as fracking under North Yorkshire’s planning policy. In 2016, she represented Friends of the Earth at the planning inquiry on Cuadrilla’s fracking plans at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood in Lancashire.

Ms Dehon has been a trustee of the UK Environmental Law Association since 2019 and for three years was a trustee of the Women’s Environmental Network.

Since 2022, she has been co-chair of the Bar Council’s climate crisis working group. In 2023, Ms Dehon founded Cornerstone Climate, a cross-disciplinary centre for climate litigation and advice. She recently led production of The Cornerstone Climate Guide: Key Concepts and Definitions. The guide aimed to promote greater understanding of climate-conscious language and remove barriers to understanding key concepts, legislation and policy.

Oregon groups move to intervene in lawsuit to defend the Climate Protection Program against oil and gas industry attack Ally Harris Mon, 06/15/2026 - 3:19 pm

At regulatory hearing, lawyer and expert discredit Duke Energy’s “blind faith” claims of huge upcoming growth and new climate-wrecking power plants

A prominent clean energy expert has provided written testimony in a regulatory proceeding that challenges Duke Energy’s plans for a massive buildout of failure-prone nuclear plants and climate-wrecking fracked gas. It’s unclear if the North Carolina Utilities Commission will allow this expert to provide verbal testimony in the ongoing hearing in Raleigh. 

The testimony of engineer Bill Powers, P.E., of San Diego also describes the huge potential for a path that could quickly phase out fossil fuels and protect citizens from Duke’s massive rate hikes. According to Powers, local solar-plus-storage (SPS) installations could be installed at a fraction of the time and cost of new nuclear units – making it the fastest, cheapest, most equitable tool to move North Carolina off its course toward climate and social chaos. 

As detailed in NC WARN’s Sharing Solar proposal, new local SPS could be put into the rate base for all customers to share the costs and benefits, much like we already pay for dirty energy. Multiple excellent solar companies in North Carolina are positioned to install SPS on roofs, parking areas and unused ground areas at or near where power is used. 

Powers’ testimony for NC WARN centers on the following issues:

1. 1. Duke Energy’s electricity demand forecasts are “poor … consistently inflated and wrong” (pg. 15-16). Duke predicts a massive influx of new electricity demand, which it is using to justify investments in new, dirty power generation. In reality, per capita electricity use in NC has been on the decline for years (pg. 9), and Duke has been able historically to meet peak demand while leaving much of its existing power plant fleet sitting idle (pg. 17).

   2. Duke Energy’s plans for failure-prone, colossally expensive nuclear reactors rely on “blind faith” that past mistakes won’t be repeated (pg. 29). The only two AP1000 reactors – the model of large nuclear plants that Duke hopes to construct – ever completed in the US are the most expensive power plants ever built (pg. 25) due to construction challenges, delays and cost overruns. Duke Energy has already failed 6 times during its attempts to build the AP1000 reactor and has been unable to explain how it can avoid repeating the mistakes that led to previous project collapses (pg. 28).*
      
      
   3. Duke Energy plans the nation’s largest buildout of fracked gas-burning power plants. Duke’s whopping proposed 12.3 GW of new fracked gas generation largely hinges on its ability to transition these new plants to burn “green hydrogen” some time in the 2040s. Powers indicates that green hydrogen remains elusive as a reliable fuel source despite industry efforts over many years (pg. 36).

   4. Solar-plus-storage can serve as a cheaper, more reliable alternative to Duke’s plans for new nuclear reactors and fracked gas-fired power plants. According to Powers, North Carolina has the solar potential for SPS to “operate as baseload, intermediate, and peaking power in the years leading to 2050 … to replace existing coal- and gas-fired generation and displace any new gas-fired and nuclear power as necessary” (pg. 40).

NC WARN attorney Matt Quinn led last week’s in-person proceedings by challenging Duke Energy witnesses on using monopoly customer money to recruit power-guzzling industrial customers to North Carolina. These developments are facing widespread opposition – including community-backed moratoriums on data centers. 

Brought to light by the Utilities Commission’s Public Staff during the hearing, Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris recently boasted to investors, “We have a [recruiting] team in place that their goal, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, is how do we get these things signed quicker?” 

Duke leaders also told investors they plan to drive up profits and power bills by adding an unprecedented $60 billion to the rate system in just the next 4 years in the Carolinas. NC WARN rejects the idea that a monopoly utility should be allowed to spend millions a year boosting its own revenue at the expense of the public. Meanwhile, its actions further entrench the corporation’s stature as one of the world’s worst climate polluters.

NC WARN appreciates that Attorney General Jeff Jackson criticized Duke Energy’s exaggerated growth projections and overreliance on fracked gas, as well as his recommendation that Duke should “plan based on realistic projections and include more affordable, stable sources like solar.” 

*Duke Energy’s filing projects it would be at least 2037 before any new nuclear plant becomes operational, far too late to help with the climate crisis or to power data centers. 

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Now in its 38th year, NC WARN is building people power in the climate and energy justice movement to persuade or require Charlotte-based Duke Energy – one of the world’s largest climate polluters – to make a quick transition to renewable, affordable power generation and energy efficiency in order to avert climate tipping points and ongoing rate hikes. 

The post Clean Energy Expert Shows Quick, Inexpensive Path to Phase Out Fossil Fuels in North Carolina — NC WARN News Release appeared first on NC WARN.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

June 15, 2026

Lawsuit Launched to Challenge Oil Highway That Threatens World-Renowned Nine Mile Canyon 

Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Deeda Seed, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 803-9892, dseed@biologicaldiversity.org

Salt Lake City, UT – The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a notice of intent to sue the Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management for quietly approving a hydrocarbon highway through Utah’s scenic, culturally and historically significant Gate Canyon in the West Tavaputs Plateau region of eastern Utah.  

“This lawsuit targets the Trump administration’s disgraceful plan to transform a quiet, meandering backcountry road into a highway clogged with speeding oil tankers,” said Deeda Seed, Senior Utah Campaigner at the Center. “Blasting through Gate Canyon’s walls threatens the area’s iconic rock art and will be a disaster for nearby animals, including threatened Mexican spotted owls. We’re prepared to go to court to protect this irreplaceable cultural treasure and the animals that call it home.” 

Gate Canyon feeds into Nine Mile Canyon — a world-renowned archaeological area that contains more than 10,000 unique, irreplaceable cultural, historical and archaeological resources.  The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA)filed a similar 60-day notice in April. Both notices say the BLM and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by not considering the project’s threats to Mexican spotted owls, despite the fact that the BLM identified the cliffs near the proposed blasting areas as potential owl habitat. 

“The BLM knew that prior versions of this same proposal were extremely controversial and faced fierce public headwinds,” said Landon Newell, Staff Attorney with SUWA. “This time around, instead of facing the public, they hid their decision from scrutiny, rushing their analysis and approval, all under the guise of Trump’s “Energy Dominance” agenda.” 

The project, known as the “Wells Draw Road Amendment – Gate Canyon,” was proposed by Duchesne County and approved by the BLM on April 28, 2026. It involves the blasting and destruction of cliff walls and other large rock features in Gate Canyon to straighten and pave a 5.3-mile dirt road that winds through the scenic canyon as it climbs from Nine Mile Canyon to the Badland Cliffs region of the southern Uinta Basin.   

The project is intended to provide an alternative route for transporting oil out of the Uinta Basin. The road would accommodate 70-foot oil tanker trucks traveling between the oil fields and transloading facilities in Carbon County, Utah. It is estimated that once the destruction of Gate Canyon is complete as many as 1,000 vehicles could pass through each day — the equivalent of “[a] tanker truck every 7 minutes,” according to news reports.  

This marks the third attempt by the county to destroy Gate Canyon. In 2015 and 2022, the BLM received similar applications to realign Gate Canyon Road, but those projects were abandoned amid significant public opposition.  The BLM quietly posted the latest iteration of the project in March 2026 without issuing public notice or opening a formal comment period. After learning of the project, conservation groups requested that the BLM allow for public participation in the decision-making process. The agency denied those requests and quickly approved the project in April.  

Nine Mile Canyon is often referred to as “the world’s longest art gallery” because of its extensive collection of rock art and archeological sites. Previous BLM studies describe the area as containing “a significant and high density of historic, cultural, and archeological sites joined together in several overlapping historic landscapes” and saying it “is known to contain the country’s highest concentration of rock art panels, remnants of the prehistoric Archaic, Freemont, and Ute cultures . . . The rock structural remains of Fremont homes, granaries, and ‘forts’ are more visible in Nine Mile Canyon than almost anywhere in the Fremont cultural area.” 

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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org. 

 

 

The post Lawsuit Launched to Challenge Oil Highway That Threatens World-Renowned Nine Mile Canyon – 6.15.26  appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

On Friday, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstall exhibits and signs that were removed as part of the administration’s efforts to silence American history in national parks.

The preliminary injunction comes as a result of efforts by a coalition of conservation advocates, which filed a challenge earlier this year to a U.S. Department of the Interior policy that is actively erasing history and science from national parks. The policy seeks to remove any signage that “disparages Americans,” but in practice, the administration removed signs that mentioned topics like slavery, Indigenous history, or climate change.

As part of the administration’s efforts, QR codes were put up at national parks across the country, directing visitors to report any signs that are “negative” about past or living Americans. A recent analysis from the Center for Western Priorities found that 99.9 percent of the comments defended historical accuracy, expressed support for the National Park Service, or pushed back against the order, while only 0.1 percent flagged a specific sign or supported sign removal.

According to U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, removing these signs not only undermines “the integrity of the National Parks; it sets a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization.”

Mike Lee fails to scrap Grand Staircase-Escalante management plan

The U.S. Senate missed the 60-day window that would have allowed lawmakers to scrap the management plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The effort, led by Senator Mike Lee and Representative Celeste Maloy, would have used the Congressional Review Act to reverse a management plan that took years of collaboration among Tribes, state and local governments, stakeholders, and the public.

“This is a major victory for the millions of Americans who care deeply about the Grand Staircase and for everyone who supports our nation’s wildest public lands and want to see them protected,” said Scott Braden, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Quick hits Algae resurfaces in reflecting pool after multimillion-dollar fixes

POLITICO

Judge orders Trump officials to re-install signs and exhibits at national parks on topics like slavery and climate change

Associated Press | CNN | New York Times | NBC News | PBS News | CBS News | SFGATE | Los Angeles Times | Reuters

Feds to open tens of thousands of acres of Colorado wilderness to oil drilling

Colorado Newsline

Trump concedes a battle in his war against wind energy

Heatmap

AI scans for wildfires, but in Arizona, humans are still on watch

Arizona Republic

Senator Mike Lee says there should be consequences for states that sue over the Colorado River

Salt Lake Tribune

Trump leans on MAGA organizer to revive coal

POLITICO

Do chainsaws belong in designated wilderness?

High Country News

Quote of the day

Often referred to as ‘America’s largest classroom,’ National Parks serve in that spirit by telling the stories both of those who write history and those who go unheard.”

—U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley

Picture This @goldengatecanyoncpw

Baby moose are 90% legs and 10% vibes.

Remember, a baby moose often means mom is close by, and she’s not looking for new friends. Give moose plenty of space, leash your dogs, and admire from a distance.

: CPW/ Park Maintenance Brian

 

(Featured image: Metate Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near Escalante, Utah. Photo by John Fowler, Wikimedia Commons)

The post Judge orders Trump officials to reinstall signs about history, climate in national parks appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Reabold Resources has offered to buy Union Jack Oil, both companies confirmed this morning.

Union Jack share price this morning after announcement of a
proposed takeover by Reabold Resources

Statements to investors announced that discussions were underway for Reabold to acquire all Union Jack shares. (Reabold statement and Union Jack statement)

At the time of writing, shares in Union Jack were up 20%. Shares in Reabold were down 1.4%.

Union Jack said the Reabold offer was non-binding and had been made in a letter on 1 June 2026.

Union Jack added:

“The Board has evaluated the Proposed Transaction with its advisers and has provided due diligence access to Reabold. Discussions are ongoing and there can be no certainty that any offer will be forthcoming or proceed, nor as to the terms of any such offer.”

Reabold has until 5pm on 13 July 2026 to announce either a firm intention to make an offer for Union Jack or announce that it does not intend to make an offer.

Reabold said:

“Reabold believes that the combination of the two complementary companies would create a group with greater scale, superior access to capital and other compelling operating efficiencies.”

If the deal went through, Reabold would presumably acquire Union Jack’s 40% investment in Wressle in North Lincolnshire, the largest single stake in the oil field.

The deal would also increase Reabold’s interest in the West Newton oil and gas field in East Yorkshire. It already owns 79.8% of Rathlin Energy, the West Newton operator and has a 16.665% interest in the West Newton licence, PEDL183.

Union Jack has a 16.665% interest in West Newton. It also has a 55% stake in Keddington in Lincolnshire and interests in US drilling at five fields in Oklahoma.

Last week, Union Jack announced it had taken a £1m loan from Egdon Resources, the Wressle operator. Union Jack also revealed that a non-executive director, Graham Bull, had resigned. Mr Ball blamed the “detrimental effect attacks on the Board from certain media organisations” had on him and his family.

In annual accounts, published last month (May), Union Jack warned that government policy had made its UK business “increasingly difficult to progress”.

Earlier this month, the US investment firm, Crypto Cousins LLC, increased its interest in Reabold from 5.6% to 14.309%.

• Last week, UK Oil & Gas plc announced it was selling its stake in the Horse Hill field to energy B for £1m.

Gualala Redwood Timber’s 167-acre Card Timber Harvest Plan (THP 1-26-00021-SON) is located in the floodplain on the west side of the South Fork Gualala River, from confluence of the North and South Forks, down past Buckeye Creek. The plan was submitted to Cal Fire on February 20, 2026, but Cal Fire determined that the plan was unacceptable due to required information which was missing. GRT re-submitted the plan on March 26, 2026.

This is essentially ‘Dogwood West‘ – the Dogwood THP was entirely in the floodplain on the east side of the South Fork (except for a few acres on the south side of the main stem of the Gualala River). The Card THP is entirely in the floodplain on the west side of the South Fork.

The second review team meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 18, 2026.

Card THP map, northern portion

Card THP map, southern portion

Note: CalFire’s standard procedure is to print out the plan documents, scan them, and post the images to their publicly accessible database, CalTREES. As a result, it is impossible to search for text in the documents, because there are no words in the documents posted, only images of words. In order to make the documents more useful, we have used optical character recognition (OCR) on the documents posted below, so that you can search them.

Card Timber Harvest Plan documents

(Re-submitted 3/26/2026)

Card THP Section 1 – [3 MB, 11 pages] Legal description: Cover pages, signatures.

Card THP Section 2 – [14 MB, 103 pages] Operations: Silviculture, yarding, erosion hazard rating, winter operations, roads & landings, watercourse & lake protections, alternative watercourse & lake protections (in lieu of standard rules), biological resources, maps.

Card THP Section 3 – [3 MB, 24 pages] Supporting materials: General site description, analysis of alternatives, discussion and justification of in-lieu and/or alternative watercourse and lake protection practices, cultural resources.

Card THP Section 4 – [20 MB, 156 pages] Cumulative Impacts: Past, present and future projects, assessment of cumulative watershed effects, soil productivity, biological resources, recreational, visual, traffic, greenhouse gas impacts, wildfire risks.

Card THP Section 5 – [20 MB, 147 pages] Attachments: Including soil erosion hazards, Erosion Control Plan, culvert sizing, botanical surveys, geology report, Northern Spotted Owl information, road work.

Card THP Section 6 – [1 MB, 1 page] Archeological information: (confidential)

Agency Comments & Response by Forester

Card THP – Pre-Harvest Inspection Report by North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board [0.3 MB, 6 pages]

Card THP – Pre-Harvest Inspection Report by Department of Fish and Wildlife [0.1 MB, 7 pages]

Card THP – Pre-Harvest Inspection Report by Cal Fire [1.4 MB, 17 pages]

Card THP – Response to Agency Recommendations by Registered Professional Forester [40 MB, 54 pages]

All documents regarding this logging plan are available in the new CalTREES system.

Unfortunately, CalTREES is not easy to use, so FoGR has compiled some
basic instructions for use of CalTREES to help you navigate the system.

To download additional documents for this logging plan,
if you want to follow the back & forth as agencies ask questions and the RPF replies,
visit the Card THP page on the CalTREES website.

Below are instructions on how to submit comments during the public comment period.

To submit your comments on a logging plan, email your comments to: santarosapubliccomment@fire.ca.gov
or send your comments via U.S. Mail to:

Forest Practice
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
135 Ridgway Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95401

In the subject line of your email message, or at the top of your letter,
be sure to reference the THP number and name, for example:
THP 1-26-00021-SON “Card”

DENVER—The Interior department announced Thursday that it is beginning the process of updating its policies regarding designated wilderness, wilderness study areas, and lands with wilderness characteristics.

Interior “is seeking recommendations on potential improvements to wilderness study area and lands with wilderness characteristics policies used by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service,” according to an Interior department press release.

The review will “help determine whether existing policy documents should be updated or clarified to improve consistency, increase transparency and ensure public lands continue to be managed effectively in accordance with applicable laws,” according to the release. Wilderness designations are conferred through acts of Congress that land management agencies must implement as directed, and the degree to which this review will infringe on or undermine congressional authority is unclear.

The Interior department published previews of three separate notices related to this review in the Federal Register on Friday:

• Policy Review: Considering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics in the BLM Land Use Planning Process

• Management of BLM Wilderness Study Areas

• Management of Designated Wilderness Areas

The notices will be officially published in the Federal Register on Monday, kicking off 60-day public comment periods for each review.

The New York Times reported earlier this month that the Agriculture department has drafted an order allowing off-road vehicles on millions of acres of wilderness study areas inside national forests. Interior is also updating its wilderness policies in accordance with the EXPLORE Act’s directive on fixed anchor climbing within wilderness, via a separate review.

The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Communications Director Kate Groetzinger: 

“The Trump administration is laying the groundwork for an attack on America’s wilderness with these reviews. While the notices themselves don’t tell us much about the administration’s intentions, we know President Trump and Interior Secretary Burgum aren’t interested in increasing protections for America’s public lands.

“Wilderness designations are the most powerful tool we have to protect sensitive and ecologically important public lands. We’ll be watching closely for any attempt by the Trump administration to undercut existing or future protections for America’s wildlands.”

Learn more: 

• Interior puts wilderness study areas under scrutiny as “war on wildlands” widens – The Wilderness Society

• Wilderness Designation FAQs – The Wilderness Society

Feature image: Kiger Gorge at Steens Mountain, Oregon; Source: Masako Metz/@mypubliclands

The post Interior lays the groundwork for attacks on wilderness and wildlands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

  In this June 11 webinar, MEIC outlined the major shortcomings in NorthWestern’s IRP, discussed what has been changed since NorthWestern released its Draft IRP in January, and gave tips on how to provide persuasive public comments to the PSC in writing and in person at the PSC’s upcoming public meetings this summer. NorthWestern’s IRP …

The post Webinar: NorthWestern Energy’s IRP Revisited: A Plan for Montana’s Energy Future and How You Can Get Involved appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.