You are here
Western Priorities
Interior’s war on renewables accelerates
On Friday, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order intended to make it more difficult to permit wind or solar projects on national public lands. Secretarial Order 3438 Managing Federal Energy Resources and Protecting the Environment suggests that existing laws “give rise to the question on whether the use of Federal lands for any wind and solar projects is consistent with the law, given these projects’ encumbrance on other land uses, as well as their disproportionate land use when reasonable project alternatives with higher capacity densities are technically and economically feasible.”
The order directs the Interior department to evaluate projects based on “capacity density,” or the ratio of a project’s energy generation potential to its footprint on the landscape, compared to “reasonable alternatives” to the proposed project. By this metric, the order asserts, “wind and solar projects are highly inefficient uses of Federal lands.” The order does not mention consideration of other impacts such as carbon emissions.
Friday’s secretarial order is the latest in a series of policies aimed at crippling renewable energy. On July 7, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14315 which was intended to end any government incentives for renewable energy projects. The Interior department has issued a number of follow-up policies in recent weeks, including a requirement that Secretary Burgum personally review all wind and solar project proposals, and an order directing the department to identify and consider eliminating any policies that encourage wind and solar development.
Trump admin seeking to divert LWCF funds from acquisitions to maintenanceThe Interior department is drafting an order that would take money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and redirect it to maintenance at national parks and other public lands, the Washington Post reports. LWCF is funded by royalties on offshore oil and gas production, and the funds are required by law to be spent on acquisitions of land and easements. “It’s illegal to spend LWCF funds on maintenance and they know it,” said U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “If they move forward, they will be sued and they will lose. It’s not too much to ask to follow the law.”
Quick hits BLM calls new oil and gas rules ‘noncontroversial,’ exempts them from public comment U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management officials in Colorado describe ‘big holes’ in staffing Trump admin proposal would drastically limit public input on logging in Oregon and Washington Trump wants a new border wall. It would block a key wildlife corridor 10 years since Gold King mine spill, locals are still waiting for a solution Arizona, Utah wildfires spur ‘fire clouds’ with erratic weather systemsThe Guardian | Associated Press
Lawmakers table bill to allow nuclear waste storage in Wyoming How one California community is turning an old oil field into protected habitat Quote of the dayYou can have housing, and you can conserve land. You might need to think creatively, but it can be done.”
—Melanie Schlotterbeck, Coastal Corridor Alliance, High Country News
Picture This @rockynpsTo become intimate with the sky, sun, and moon, we climb mountains
–Terry Tempest Williams
Mountains…these towering peaks both inspire us and physically challenge us. Mountains also provide critical habitat for plant and wildlife species. Located in the Southern Rocky Mountains, Rocky Mountain National Park is home to 124 named peaks, 118 of which have peaks that are 10,000 feet in elevation or higher.
The mountains of RMNP provide habitat in the montane, subalpine, and alpine ecosystems. Some of the species you might see while visiting Rocky include elk, Mule deer, bighorn sheep, moose, Yellow-bellied marmot, pika, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Alpine Avens and Rocky Mountain Columbine.
What do mountains mean to you?
Image Credit: NPS Photos
Featured image: Wind energy development in Wyoming, Bureau of Land Management via Flickr
The post Interior’s war on renewables accelerates appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.
Interior delivers on oil industry wish list
The Interior department is delivering on an oil industry wish list submitted to the agency earlier this year. A lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute sent the list to three high-level Trump administration officials in April, noting that her organization drafted it after meeting with President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Public Domain’s Hana Beach and Jimmy Tobias obtained the wish list through a Freedom of Information Act request, and found that of the 40 specific policy changes that API asked for, the Trump administration has already moved to fulfill about half of them.
The changes include removing protections for migratory birds killed by the oil industry; opening pristine wildlife habitat in Alaska to drilling; and rescinding a Biden-era rule that aimed to balance conservation and extraction on public lands.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced four final rules to implement oil and gas provisions in the reconciliation bill passed by Congress, with almost no opportunity for the public to weigh in on how the agency implements the law. For two of the rules, BLM is skipping a public comment period entirely; the other two rules will be final after just a 30 day public comment period.
Quick hits Does Trump’s Interior secretary know what a battery is? BLM retirees urge Burgum to change course on renewable energy Utah scores initial victory in legal battle over what counts as a road Yosemite embodies the long war over national park privatization Tracker shows Interior staff exodus as DOGE operative quitsE&E News (Staff) | Partnership for Public Service | E&E News (DOGE)
This cowgirl is tackling the wild horse problem. Activists want her dead Bears Ears gathering calls nations to defend land, future A rancher’s 50-year fight to save one of the West’s iconic landscapes Quote of the dayAs heat and drought intensify, ranchers in the Southwest are the ones with skin in the game. They have serious motivations to safeguard the health of the lands that sustain their families, and most of them are also lifelong students of the ranching trade, eager to adapt and innovate.”
—Utah rancher Heidi Redd, The Nature Conservancy Magazine
Picture This“If a trail is to be blazed, it is ‘send a ranger.’ If an animal is floundering in the snow, a ranger is sent to pull him out; if a bear is in the hotel, if a fire threatens a forest, if someone is to be saved, it is ‘send a ranger…” – Stephen T. Mather, first Director of the National Park Service
#WorldRangerDay honors rangers around the world who work to preserve and protect important natural and cultural places. It’s also a day to remember and commemorate those who have lost their lives serving on the front line protecting the environment around them. Rangers work in varying positions with some being faced with difficult and dangerous tasks. They are key protectors of parks and conservation. This is done through law enforcement, environmental education, community relations, fighting fires, conducting search and rescues, research, interpretation, and in many other ways.
If you’re in a park today, say hi to a ranger!
Featured image: Oil and gas drilling on BLM-owned land, BLM CaliforniaThe post Interior delivers on oil industry wish list appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.
The Fine Print I:
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) unless otherwise indicated and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s, nor should it be assumed that any of these authors automatically support the IWW or endorse any of its positions.
Further: the inclusion of a link on our site (other than the link to the main IWW site) does not imply endorsement by or an alliance with the IWW. These sites have been chosen by our members due to their perceived relevance to the IWW EUC and are included here for informational purposes only. If you have any suggestions or comments on any of the links included (or not included) above, please contact us.
The Fine Print II:
Fair Use Notice: The material on this site is provided for educational and informational purposes. It may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. It is being made available in an effort to advance the understanding of scientific, environmental, economic, social justice and human rights issues etc.
It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have an interest in using the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. The information on this site does not constitute legal or technical advice.
This site is not the official webpage of the Industrial Workers of the World.