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The first national-level assessment of coastal wetland submergence shows most of them may still be able to migrate inland, highlighting the need for strategic coastal management.

Drought is not the only climate challenge facing cocoa farmers. 

Study explains why Earth’s ‘twin’ lacks rocky satellite.

High Court ruling allows Bille community to argue that Shell is responsible for all relevant oil pollution in the region — including pollution that cannot be traced to one of 106 individually identified spills

A major new dimension has emerged in the long-running litigation over Shell-related oil pollution in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.

On 10 September 2026, Mrs Justice Lambert handed down judgment in Alame & Ors v Shell Plc & Anor [2026] EWHC 2332 (KB).

Much attention has understandably focused on another part of the ruling: allegations that Shell witnesses knowingly relied upon false or misleading factual assertions during the company’s earlier jurisdiction challenge are now to be dealt with as the litigation moves towards trial.

That development was examined in our earlier article, “Shell Nigeria Case Takes a Dramatic Turn: High Court Allows Allegations of Misleading Evidence to Be Tried.”

But the same judgment contains another ruling which may ultimately prove just as significant.

The High Court has rejected Shell’s attempt to prevent the Bille community from advancing what the judgment describes as its “primary” or “all-spills” case.

In simple terms, the claimants will be permitted to argue at the 2027 trial that Shell and its former Nigerian subsidiary are responsible not merely for pollution attributable to 106 specifically identified spills, but for all relevant oil pollution in the Bille region during the period covered by the claims.

That does not mean that the court has decided that Shell is responsible for all such pollution.

It emphatically has not.

What the court has decided is that the claimants are entitled to try to prove that case.

That distinction is crucial.

The case has moved far beyond 106 spills

The Bille litigation concerns oil pollution associated with pipelines, wellheads and other infrastructure in the Niger Delta between 2011 and 2013.

Following earlier procedural battles, the claimants were required to particularise their case in much greater detail.

The resulting pleadings identify 106 individual spills.

But there is a striking detail in the judgment.

Of those 106 spills, 60 had been identified by the defendants and given incident numbers.

A further 46 spills had not been identified by the defendants and were instead identified by the claimants during the forensic process.

Mrs Justice Lambert recorded that the claimants had produced individual annexes dealing with each of the 106 spills and setting out the systemic failures alleged to have caused or contributed to them.

Those alleged failures include matters concerning:

• pipeline and infrastructure integrity;
• leak detection;
• maintenance and repair;
• protection against third-party interference and illegal bunkering;
• spill containment;
• remediation and clean-up.

These remain allegations which Shell is entitled to contest at trial.

But the claimants’ case does not stop with the 106 spills.

The “all-spills” argument

The claimants contend that evidence concerning those identified spills may permit the court to draw wider inferences about pollution in Bille that cannot be attributed to any individually identified incident.

In other words, if contamination is found in an area and cannot be traced to one of the 106 specifically pleaded spills, the claimants want to be able to argue that it nevertheless resulted from another unidentified spill for which the defendants were responsible.

Shell opposed that approach.

The defendants argued that the claimants should be confined to the 106 identified spills and to damage which could be traced back to those specific events.

Had Shell succeeded, pollution that could not be connected to an individually identified spill would potentially have fallen outside the claimants’ case.

Mrs Justice Lambert rejected that restriction.

The claimants are therefore entitled to advance their broader case.

Doughty Street Chambers, whose Joshua Jackson acts for the claimants, summarised the effect of the ruling on 14 September:

the Bille community may argue that Shell is responsible for all oil pollution in the relevant region even where residents cannot identify every individual spill which produced that pollution.

That is a substantial development.

What the judge did — and did not — decide

The ruling should not be misunderstood.

Mrs Justice Lambert has not found that Shell caused every spill in Bille.

She has not found that every area of pollution came from Shell-operated infrastructure.

She has not decided whether sabotage, theft, illegal refining or other third-party activities caused particular spills.

Those are matters for evidence and trial.

The judgment instead deals with whether the claimants are legally and procedurally entitled to put their broader causation case before the court.

The judge concluded that they are.

Her reasoning illustrates why the eventual evidence will matter so much.

If, hypothetically, the evidence relating to the 106 identified spills showed that the defendants were responsible for virtually all of them and there were no credible competing sources for the remaining pollution, that evidence could potentially support an inference concerning unidentified spills.

If, on the other hand, the evidence presented a substantially mixed picture involving different causes and different responsible parties, drawing such a broad inference could become much more difficult.

The claimants therefore have permission to make the argument.

They still have to prove it.

Almost 300,000 documents

There is another important part of the chronology.

According to Doughty Street Chambers, an earlier High Court disclosure order resulted in Shell providing the claimants with almost 300,000 documents by January 2026.

After that disclosure exercise, the claimants were required to provide detailed particulars concerning parent-company liability, fault and causation.

Their expanded pleadings followed.

That sequence matters.

This is no longer a case being argued principally from general assertions about pollution in the Niger Delta.

The approaching trial will take place after a very large disclosure exercise and after years of forensic examination of the underlying events.

The identification by the claimants of 46 additional spills which had apparently not previously been given incident numbers by the defendants provides one indication of what that forensic process has produced.

A second explosive issue sits alongside the pollution case

The same September judgment also dealt with the claimants’ application concerning aggravated damages.

The claimants allege, among other matters, that Shell knowingly relied upon false or misleading factual assertions from witnesses during the jurisdiction proceedings that occupied the English courts between 2016 and 2021.

Shell had been arguing during those proceedings that its Nigerian subsidiary operated independently of the London-based parent company.

The jurisdiction dispute ultimately reached the UK Supreme Court, which in 2021 allowed the Nigerian communities’ claims against Royal Dutch Shell plc — now Shell plc — to proceed in England.

The current claimants now allege that evidence presented during that jurisdiction battle was false or misleading.

They also make allegations concerning the deletion or destruction of relevant evidence.

Again, these are allegations.

There has been no judicial finding that Shell, any Shell witness, or any lawyer deliberately misled a court or improperly destroyed evidence.

Shell contests the allegations.

But Mrs Justice Lambert rejecte

From 106 Known Spills to an Entire Polluted Region: Shell Faces a Much Broader Nigeria Trial in 2027 was first posted on September 16, 2026 at 7:01 pm.
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Latino Conservation Week kicked off this week at Ironwood Forest National Monument near Tucson—one of six national monuments the Trump administration has identified as candidates for size reduction to open the way for mining and drilling.

Ironwood Forest protects 129,000 acres of Sonoran Desert habitat and has served as a buffer against mining expansion since its 2000 designation. ASARCO’s Silver Bell mine has pursued a years-long push to expand into the monument to boost copper production.

“Public lands belong to all of us, not special interests,” said Rebecca Perez, Arizona conservation manager for The Wilderness Society. “Yet this summer, the Trump administration virtually eliminated Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, making them vulnerable to mining and drilling.”

The threats to public lands extend beyond monument boundaries. The Center for Western Priorities’ Keep Parks Public campaign was in Tucson last month for a live podcast recording about damage to cultural sites and fragmentation of wildlife habitat caused by border wall construction. You can listen to the podcast here.

“We all must join together and understand that this is our land,” said Christine Flanagan, president of Friends of Ironwood Forest. “And as public land owners, we need to start acting together like we own this land.”

Events across the United States are being held through Sunday, September 20. Find an event near you.

Quick hits Tohono O’odham fight border wall on sacred, sovereign lands

High Country News

California lawmakers join together in a bipartisan push against proposed Yosemite land transfer

Business Journal

Latino Conservation Week launches with call to protect public lands

Inside Climate News | KVOA

Studies link New Mexico drilling to radiation, air pollution, health risks

High Country News

Yellowstone National Park visits decline for 3rd month

Billings Gazette | AOL

Drought leads to ‘unprecedented’ black bear conflicts in Wyoming

WyoFile

Opinion: Wildfire strategy doesn’t need a winner

The Conversation

Major Forest Service policies could be changing. Here’s what’s at stake

Montana Free Press

Quote of the day

We will not let this destroy our sacred sites, our burial sites, our holy places, the places of our ancestors. We will not let it destroy our environment. We will not let it further divide our people. We will not let it divide our reservation.”

—Tohono O’odham Chairman Verlon Jose, High Country News

Picture This @yellowstonenps

It’s migration time! But not all birds leave Yellowstone – several bird species stay in the park a bit longer and approximately 50 species reside here year-round.

Osprey usually stay through November. These birds are known for their excellent fishing skills – they dive into the water to catch fish with their sharp talons. Barbed pads on the soles of their feet help them grip slippery fish that can weigh up to 50% of their body weight!

Planning to go birding during your Yellowstone visit? Download our bird checklist from our website at: go.nps.gov/YELLbirds (link available in our bio)

 

(Featured image: Ironwood Forest National Monument near Tucson, Arizona. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM California. Flickr)

The post Latino Conservation Week highlights attacks on public lands appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Pooja Kishinani and Satakshi Gupta

An interview with Yuri Tuma, a multidisciplinary Brazilian artist, researcher, and co-founder of the Institute for Postnatural Studies (IPS) a Madrid-based institute working at the intersection of art, culture, and ecology. The IPS uses artistic …

September 15, 2026

Protect Yosemite National Park from Trump’s proposed land giveaway!
Greenaction joins 149 organizations in opposing the Trump administration’s plan!

Click here to Read the letter!

September 15, 2026—Sacramento Bee reporter Chaewon Chung covers the California Teachers Association’s lawsuit against the state over $3.9 billion in delayed Proposition 98 funding—money guaranteed to K-12 schools and community colleges under the state constitution for nearly 40 years. Districts across California are already feeling the squeeze: Sacramento City Unified is confronting a $222 million structural deficit while banking on withheld Prop. 98 dollars just to stay solvent, and Los Angeles Unified has laid off hundreds of employees amid the shortfall. Public Advocates Managing Attorney John Affeldt helped unpack the legal ambiguity at the heart of the dispute and whether the state has flexibility to wait for final revenue numbers before setting school funding, or must budget off projections when the budget is adopted. As Affeldt put it: “Does the governor have the flexibility to wait and see what the final number is, or do they need to set the amount based on best projections at the time the budget’s adopted?—it’s a bit of a gray area.” With CTA’s suit now headed to court, that gray area is about to get tested.

Read the story to learn more.

The post The Sacramento Bee: California teachers union to sue state over $3.9 billion in Prop. 98 funds appeared first on Public Advocates.

According to a new blog post by The Wilderness Society, the Trump administration’s behind-the-scenes push to trade away a piece of Yosemite National Park to a private developer isn’t an isolated move—it’s one of at least seven similar efforts to privatize or dispose of public land.

Examples include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service handing SpaceX a chunk of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Interior’s removal of protections for 2.1 million acres of Alaska public land to clear the way for the Ambler Road mining project, and a federal housing task force identifying Bureau of Land Management land within 10 miles of any town of more than 5,000 people for potential disposal.

The push to privatize part of Yosemite National Park was first reported in late August by NOTUS (now the Washington Sun), which said that Interior is negotiating a swap that would give developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital a private access road to a planned resort in exchange for equivalent-value land elsewhere in California.

The Yosemite deal, The Wilderness Society wrote, sets “yet another chilling precedent of public land decisions made by the administration to directly benefit special interests.“

EPA removes limits on pollution from power plants

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced it will no longer regulate greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas plants. The move finalizes the reversal of a Biden-era rule that estimates it would have saved thousands of lives, and begins the process of completely rescinding all remaining GHG emissions standards for power plants. The EPA said that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants have “no material impact on global climate change,” despite the fact that US electricity generation is responsible for a quarter of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Quick hits EPA erases limits on climate pollution from power plants

New York Times | CNN | The Guardian | Los Angeles Times | Washington Post

Secretary AI: Inside Burgum’s huddles with data center heavyweights

Politico Pro

Environmental groups protest BLM oil and gas auctions in Colorado

Sentinel Colorado

Opinion: What Teddy Roosevelt knew and Trump doesn’t get: Public lands need science

The Equation

The Trump admin says repealing the Roadless Rule will reduce wildfires. A new study casts doubt on that

Salt Lake Tribune

Interior defends Utah monument reductions despite public outcry

KSJD

Yosemite development scheme recalls admin’s other public lands sell-off efforts

The Wilderness Society

What will happen to the Grand Canyon as water levels drop?

High Country News

Quote of the day

America’s public lands are among our nation’s greatest treasures. Protecting them requires more than celebrating them. It requires defending the science, scientific workforce, and public institutions that make stewardship possible.”

—Julian Reyes, Chief of Staff at the Union of Concerned Scientists, The Equation

Picture This @wyomingoutdoorcouncil

The Roadless Rule is in danger. Click the link in our bio and tell the Forest Service you value America’s last wild landscapes before the public comment period closes on Sept. 21.

 

(Featured image: Yosemite Falls at Yosemite National Park in California. webmink, Flickr)

The post Yosemite land swap is part of a bigger pattern of public lands giveaways appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

From CAFOs to data centers, corporate America dodges local control By: Raj Patel and Jim Goodman, Barn Raising Media, Aug. 27th, 2026 oday’s data center proponents argue such projects bring needed jobs and a boost to local economies. Rural America … Continue reading →

The Interior department has disapproved $25 million in funding for projects at national parks, according to internal documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

The cuts will affect over 130 partnership agreements for projects like Native American burial mound protection, an endangered garter snake project, and sled dog care at Denali. The entire batch of projects had already secured funding through congressional appropriations.

Joshua Tree National Park was the most affected. The blocked partnership agreements would have supported at least 16 new jobs, helped recover areas in the park burned in wildfires, and prevented rodents from spreading hantavirus.

According to the documents, “If this work is not completed, the park will be unable to fight wildfire. Fires will be larger and fire suppression will be more expensive.”

Interior spokesperson Aubrie Spady said the move reflects the “administration’s objectives to make life more affordable for Americans, unleash domestic energy production and expand access to our public lands,” but she did not respond to questions about the money being redirected.

“The real question is where did this $25 million go to?” said Elaine Leslie, a former Park Service acting superintendent and wildlife biologist who reviewed the disapprovals list. “$25 million worth of funding was set aside for these projects. Where is it?”

Reflecting Pool contractor blames its flawed repair, not vandals, for failure

Atlantic Industrial Coatings—the contractor that renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool—has told the Trump administration that its own flaws in the repair caused the blue liner to peel. Up until this point, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has continued to claim that vandals were to blame for the liner’s failure.

According to documents obtained by the New York Times, Atlantic Industrial Coatings admitted it did not spray enough primer for the layers of the coating to stick together, and that it used two chemicals that turned out to be incompatible.

Quick hits Contractor blames its own repairs, not vandals, for Reflecting Pool failure

New York Times | Forbes | The Guardian | Axios | New Republic

Inside Trump’s aggressive push to build data centers on public lands

Washington Sun

Trump administration blocks $25 million in funding for national parks

Washington Post | The Hill | Mediaite

Meet the young political appointee boosting Trump’s ‘vanity projects’

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Yellowstone National Park superintendent leaving after 8-year run

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Trump reduced Bears Ears by 91%. What does the law really say?

Deseret News

Mesa Verde National Park to return thousands of Native American artifacts and Indigenous remains to Tribes

Denver Post

Park officials pushed for a Grand Canyon trail to remain closed. Then the floods came

Washington Post

Quote of the day

So, with the Antiquities Act, Congress delegated a one-way authority to the president to protect lands as national monuments. Congress did not delegate the authority to erase national monuments … that were proclaimed or protected by previous presidents. Congress reserved that power for itself.”

—Steve Bloch, legal director and attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Deseret News

Picture This @usinterior

Oh, to be a coyote napping on a warm rock at @saguaronationalpark.

Coyotes are built for desert life. These adaptable canines are most active around dawn and dusk, when Arizona temperatures are a little more forgiving.

They’re also opportunistic eaters, dining on everything from rodents and rabbits to insects, fruit and whatever else the Sonoran Desert puts on the menu.

Photo by Paige Wilton

 

(Featured image: Joshua Tree National Park in California. Tuxyso, Wikimedia Commons)

The post Trump admin blocks $25 million in funding for national parks appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

A majority of Utahns support restoring protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, according to a new poll commissioned by the Grand Canyon Trust. The poll was conducted by New Bridge Strategy and surveyed 500 registered voters.

President Donald Trump slashed the size of both monuments by roughly 90 percent in July and eliminated the Bears Ears Commission, which guided the management of Bears Ears and consisted of representatives from the Hopi, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribes. Roughly 3 million acres of public lands that now fall outside the monument boundaries are open for new mining claims starting today.

The poll results also show that a majority of Utah voters think Native American Tribes should have a strong role in public land management and support a president’s ability to designate national monuments. “These findings demonstrate broad public recognition that Tribal nations must remain meaningfully involved in stewardship and co-management of their ancestral lands,” Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and a member of the Navajo Nation, said in a press conference Wednesday.

Autumn Gillard, a member of the Southern Paiute Tribe and coordinator of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalition, agreed, saying, “When Tribal voices are excluded, land management decisions lose generations of understanding that cannot be replaced by a short study or an administrative review.”

Maroon Bells fees to increase as county prepares to take over management

The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a special use permit to take over management of the Maroon Bells Scenic Area from the U.S. Forest Service in 2027. Forest Service officials justified the decision by stating that the funding available to manage the Maroon Bells Scenic Area has “not kept pace with the rising costs of sustainably operating and maintaining the area.” The special use permit would allow Pitkin County to run everything from day-to-day operations like staffing and maintenance but would still require raising visitor fees to help “support operational expenses.” The county wants to increase the day-use fee at the Maroon Bells from $10 to $30, while campground fees and wilderness permit trailhead parking would more than double. Will Roush, the executive director of Wilderness Workshop, said of the decision, “Transferring essential public lands management functions to counties and private contractors without any Forest Service public process is a dangerous precedent, and everyone who cares about our public lands should be concerned about what this means for their future stewardship and accessibility.” To learn more, read our Westwise blog post about this issue.

Quick hits Why the federal government is losing its war on fire

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Maroon Bells visitation fees to increase as county prepares to take over management

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Poll: Majority of Utah voters want protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante to be restored

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Quote of the day

This president labels his policies ‘America first,’ but on public lands and national parks he’s simply put America last. As someone who was in those rooms making the case, I could not be more disappointed. And it doesn’t need to be this way.”

—Benji Backer, founder and CEO of United By Nature, TIME

Picture This

@nationalparkservice

The National Park Service is honored to formally recognize the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial as an Affiliated Area of the National Park System.

This week, as the nation marks 25 years since September 11, 2001, this designation recognizes the enduring national significance of this place of remembrance and honors the 184 people who lost their lives at the Pentagon and aboard American Airlines Flight 77.

The two-acre outdoor memorial, which opened in 2008, is a solemn place of reflection and remembrance. The memorial features 184 illuminated units, each dedicated to an individual who was killed on September 11, 2001. Together, they create a lasting tribute to the lives lost and the families, friends, and communities forever changed that day.

NPS Photos

Featured image: Bears Ears National Monument – Moon House. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.

The post As mining threat looms, poll confirms Utah voters want monuments protected appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Review of public comments finds oil, mining, grazing, and off-roading groups are asking the Trump administration to gut protections for every tier of the Wilderness system

 

DENVER—A review of public comments finds that drilling and mining associations, ranching groups, and off-road vehicle advocates are asking the Trump administration to weaken protections for congressionally-designated Wilderness, eliminate Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs), and cut off the wilderness designation pipeline on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

BLM solicited input earlier this summer on revisions to three manuals that together govern nearly every acre of land in the agency’s wilderness system and pipeline—those classified as Wilderness, WSAs, and Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs)—effectively inviting industry and motorized-recreation groups to rewrite the agency’s instructions for managing these areas. The comment period for all three closed August 14.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum deceptively framed the review as an effort to “expand access to outdoor recreation while ensuring public lands remain well managed, accessible and preserved for future generations.” According to this review by the Center for Western Priorities, industry and motorized-recreation groups used the comment period to ask for far more than expanded recreational access—many asked BLM to eliminate protections outright, in some cases permanently. If followed, these recommendations would lead to weakened protections for over 10.5 million acres of congressionally-designated Wilderness, the outright elimination of protections for over 11.2 million acres currently designated as WSAs, and the elimination of the LWC category entirely, according to numbers from the Wilderness Society. In total, this could affect over 90 million acres of public land.

The groups:

Western Energy Alliance submitted the most sweeping demands of any commenter. The oil and gas trade group asked BLM to “rescind and replace Manual 6320 [Considering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics in the BLM Land Use Planning Process] in its entirety” and make clear “that BLM cannot and will not move forward with designating LWCs in the future.” On the WSA front, the group argued BLM “should make clear that it has no authority to designate new WSAs,” citing a 2003 out of court settlement with the state of Utah, and said BLM should remove protections from all WSAs “that Congress has chosen not to designate as Wilderness.”

The American Exploration and Mining Association asked BLM to treat LWCs and WSAs as “temporary administrative classifications, not permanent designations” and to eliminate any land with mining potential from future WSA or LWC designations. The Public Lands Council, representing ranchers who graze livestock on public land, recommended “all existing WSAs be immediately evaluated for release.” Colorado Offroad Trail Defenders and a joint filing from the American Motorcyclist Association and One Voice argued BLM’s legal authority to inventory and protect wilderness-quality land lapsed when a one-time, congressionally mandated inventory period ended in 1991, and that the agency has no statutory basis to keep designating new protected areas.

The Utah Public Lands Alliance, an off-highway vehicle industry group, called for “resolving and releasing the remaining WSA estate” and a mandatory, recurring process to review and release LWCs. On the designated Wilderness front, the group submitted a comment letter asking BLM to loosen restrictions on fire management and motorized access in Wilderness areas, while separately accusing the agency of “administrative expansion” of Wilderness areas beyond what Congress authorized, warning against what it called “Wilderness by Adjacency.”

The Arizona Farm Bureau Federation and The American Farm Bureau Federation, asked BLM to release any WSA that has remained in that status for five years or more and to loosen motorized-access restrictions for grazing infrastructure inside areas designated as Wilderness. The Nevada Farm Bureau Federation submitted a proposed rewrite of the Wilderness manual’s grazing section that would authorize expanded motorized equipment use inside Wilderness boundaries.

Statements: 

“This isn’t a bunch of one-off comments. It’s a coordinated push by oil and gas, mining, grazing, and off-road groups to strip protections from the small share of public land where drilling, mining, and motorized recreation aren’t already allowed and to ensure no land gets protected as Wilderness in the future,” said Center for Western Priorities Communications Director Kate Groetzinger. “These comments are asking the BLM to actively ignore the law, which says that only Congress can release Wilderness Study Areas or designated them as Wilderness. They also seek to write their own laws into existence, creating arbitrary time limits and other litmus tests for the release of WSAs. If the administration follows this advice, it will end up in court for years to come.”

“Americans cherish wild public lands for wildlife habitat, clean air and water and the freedom these places provide us to explore,” the Wilderness Society’s Director of BLM Campaigns, Michael Carroll. “But, as expected, the oil, gas and mining industry has treated the administration’s review of these special places as a policy blank check to ask that the BLM open more wilderness-quality lands for development. They are insisting on backdoor changes to agency guidance that would subvert the law and effectively rob future generations of some of the last remaining wild places.”

“Some of the nation’s wildest places are at risk from the Interior Department’s latest ploy,” said Legal Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Steve Bloch. “Southern Utah’s redrock country—a wild landscape beloved by Americans for generations—is especially at risk and in the crosshairs of this effort. This analysis confirms that the Trump administration has not only invited the fox into the henhouse but it’s helping to line up the chickens for slaughter.”

Background: 

The three manuals under review, Manual 6320, covering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs); Manual 6330, covering Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs); and Manual 6340, covering land Congress has formally designated as Wilderness, correspond with different levels of legal protection and status for public lands managed by BLM. LWCs are the least protective: BLM can designate or release them entirely through its own land-use planning process, with no say from Congress. According to the Wilderness Society, BLM has identified roughly 69.6 million acres of LWCs that don’t overlap with existing WSAs.

The overwhelming majority of WSAs were created pursuant to a one-time, congressionally mandated wilderness review. Congress ordered the Interior Department, via the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), to inventory roadless BLM areas over 5,000 acres for wilderness character, with recommendations due by 1993. Only Congress can “release” them, either by designating them as Wilderness or explicitly withdrawing that status through legislation. According to the Wilderness Society, there are 11.2 million acres of WSAs currently administered by BLM.

Under Section 603 of FLPMA, BLM cannot unilaterally eliminate Wilderness Study Area status. FLPMA requires the agency to manage WSAs “in a manner so as not to impair the suitability of such areas for preservation as wilderness” until Congress decides otherwise. That non-impairment mandate stays in force until and unless Congress directs otherwise. The only way a WSA has ever formally lost its protected status is through legislation. BLM has no independent authority to do this through the rulemaking process, a manual revision, or a policy memo.

Designated Wilderness carries the highest protection of these categories and can only be revised or undone by an act of Congress. No group asked BLM to undo a Wilderness designation outright. Instead, industry and recreation groups focused on loosening the management of Wilderness areas, arguing BLM has managed those areas, and in some cases the land around them, more restrictively than federal law requires. According to the Wilderness Society, BLM currently manages 10.5 million acres of Wilderness.

For a map of potentially affected areas, please visit the Wilderness Society’s website.

Context:

Top Interior officials have publicly encouraged ideologically-aligned industries to submit comments on agency proposals, while admitting they largely ignore comments, feedback and petitions from supporters of conservation groups. Last month, Associate Deputy Secretary Karen Budd-Falen told oil and gas, mining, and logging industry leaders that “Public comment matters. Not the postcards that whatever environmental group sends. We always get a million postcards. That counts as one comment.”

Please note the Interior Department also opened comment periods on manuals used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-2575) and the National Park Service (NPS-2026-0100) to propose, designate, and manage Wilderness and WSAs. Comments submitted on these dockets were not included in this analysis.

The post Industry and off-roading groups call for elimination of WSAs and weakened Wilderness protections appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

September 10, 2026—The Mad River Union has a rundown of North Coast activities for California Transit Month, including tonight’s talk by Public Advocates’ Senior Transportation Policy Advocate Laurel Paget-Seekins. Paget-Seekins will present “Protecting Transit’s Role in Multi-Racial Inclusive Democracy” at the McKinleyville Family Resource Center, examining public transit’s historic role in civil rights struggles and the creation of integrated public spaces—AND how the Trump administration’s policies are threatening transit access today. The piece also covers a coalition open letter to Gov. Newsom and gubernatorial candidates on state transit funding, a rider ride-logging contest, and rider ride-alongs with local decision-makers throughout the month.

Read the story to learn more.

The post Mad River Union: Humboldt marks california transit month with advocacy, ride contests and a talk on transit and democracy appeared first on Public Advocates.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia filed two lawsuits in federal court on Wednesday to challenge the Trump administration’s rollback of protections for endangered species and wildlife. The Trump administration has initiated a series of regulatory changes that opened the habitats of imperiled animals to drilling, farming, logging and other commercial activities. Both lawsuits argue that the changes violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act.

The first suit asks the court to strike down a rule that redefined what it means to “harm” wildlife under the Endangered Species Act, a law Congress overwhelmingly passed in 1973 to prevent the extinction of imperiled plants and animals. The Trump administration tossed out the longstanding interpretation of “harm” and instead finalized a rule that said degrading the habitat of an endangered species would no longer be illegal.

The second lawsuit challenges two regulations issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One rule eliminated automatic protections for all species that are newly classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the other allowed the government to consider economic factors, such as lost revenue for businesses, before designating areas as critical habitat for endangered species.

Rep. Zinke to introduce wilderness & recreation bill

Retiring Montana congressman and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced his intent to introduce the ‘A River Runs Through It Act,’ named after the famous Montana novella by Norman McLean. The bill would designate about 130,000 acres of new wilderness and protect parts of the Blackfoot River watershed while opening other areas to logging and motorized use. Another 60,000 acres would be designated for recreation, including snowmobiling, mountain biking, and off-road vehicle use. Zinke said he plans to introduce the bill next week. With roughly 40 working days before the House of Representatives adjourns its 2026 session, the timing will be tight for committee hearings or review by the Senate, though Zinke sounded optimistic and teased the possibility of a larger package of public lands bills before the end of the year. “We want to climb the same mountain,” Zinke told local media during a post-event press conference. “Maybe our paths are a little different in how to get there. But this is a made-in-Montana solution, which is so exciting.”

Quick hits Trump signs order giving Burgum authority to respond to ‘national energy emergencies’

The Epoch Times

States sue over Trump’s cuts to Endangered Species Act

New York Times | Colorado Politics | Stateline | Spectrum News | Reuters | Courthouse News | Salem Statesman Journal | Spokesman-Review

The U.S. is losing its ability to store water when it needs it most

Bloomberg News

New polling shows bipartisan support for conservation is climbing

RE:PUBLIC

Colorado has killed 294 bears this year, more than 3 times the number killed last year

Colorado Sun

Large solar project on Navajo Nation leaves residents skeptical

High Country News

Opinion: While Colorado and the West burn, Washington rearranges org charts

Colorado Sun

A beloved tree fell in Washington and people covered it with thank you notes

Washington Post

Quote of the day

History will not judge us by how many agencies we reorganized or how many political arguments we won. It will judge us by whether we had the courage to invest in the people, science, and institutions needed to protect our forests, our communities, and the firefighters who stand between them. The West is burning. It is time for Washington to stop rearranging org charts and start leading.”

—Scott Fitzwilliams, former supervisor of the White River National Forest, Colorado Sun

Picture This

@nationalparkservice

We’re thankful for the stories, not just the ones found in books.

The stories of the people who shaped our nation. The battlefields, homes, trails, rivers, and landscapes that hold clues to the past. The wildlife and natural processes that show us how connected we are to the world around us. From those preserved at Independence Hall and Gettysburg to the cultural traditions of the Great Smoky Mountains, the landscapes of Zion, and the living history found in parks across the country, your national parks are full of stories waiting to be explored.

Most of all, we’re thankful that we get to share them with you. Because every national park has a story, and there’s always another one waiting to be discovered.

#NationalParkWeek #ThankfulThursday

NPS Photo

Featured image: Bald Eagle soaring in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS.

The post 20 states sue over Trump’s cuts to protections for endangered species appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

September 9, 2026—Richmondside reporter Jana Kadah covered the appointment of Carl Cohn, a former superintendent and state Board of Education member, to ensure West Contra Costa Unified complies with a requirement to staff its classrooms with qualified teachers. The appointment follows a March ruling from the California First District Court of Appeal in Cleare v. West Contra Costa Unified School District — a two-year legal battle brought by a Public Advocates representing WCCUSD parents and teachers—requiring the district to stop using 30- and 60-day substitutes beyond state time limits and to fill all teacher vacancies at Stege Elementary, Helms Middle, and Kennedy High School. Cohn, appointed by a Superior Court judge on August 27, will recommend compliance steps and mediate disputes going forward. The piece notes Cleare was the first lawsuit filed under the Williams Settlement Legislation, the 2004 agreement guaranteeing California students access to qualified teachers, adequate textbooks, and safe facilities—setting a statewide precedent that teacher shortages can’t justify long-term reliance on substitutes. The article also reports WCCUSD has cut teaching vacancies significantly this year, from over 100 two years ago to 34 at the start of this school year.

Read the story to learn more.

The post Richmondside: Court-appointed former school superintendent to ensure WCCUSD hires qualified teachers appeared first on Public Advocates.

ADVISORY

September 9th, 2026

Ohio Power Siting Board Denies Company Request to Block Expert Testimony Describing Potential Impacts of 800MW Gas Plant

PowerConneX Sought to Secure Approval with Limited Information

 

ASHVILLE, Oh. — Developer PowerConneX asked the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) to block scheduled testimony from an Ohio River Valley Institute researcher, an environmental expert, and six local residents just days before they were scheduled to testify in front of OPSB staff. PowerConneX seeks approval of an 800MW behind-the-meter gas-fired power plant tied to a data center project in Ashville, Ohio.

Last week, PowerConneX asked the board to strike the testimony of experts drawing attention to the costs, questionable economic benefits, and environmental impacts of its proposed gas plant. The company then moved to block testimony from residents that would be impacted by this facility. Earlier today, the OPSB denied the company’s motion to block testimony from these experts and will later rule on the motion to block testimony for the remaining witnesses whose testimony was challenged by the company.

Four of the six residents plan to testify on behalf of Teays Valley Community Alliance (TVCA) on Thursday, September 10th. A researcher, an economist, and a research scientist will also be providing testimony on behalf of TVCA. A summary of the expert testimony is included below:

• An independent analysis indicates that the project’s economic impact could depend on various factors, including whether any stages of the project receive tax incentives. According to the testimony of Nick Messenger, Ph.D., Senior Economist with the Ohio River Valley Institute, the company potentially overstated the project’s contributions to local job growth and failed to initially disclose the data needed for independent verification of its analysis. 
• As described, PowerConneX’s proposed plant would be highly inefficient and cost-ineffective relative to standard on-grid gas-fired power plants, requiring 32% more fuel and up to $200 million in additional operating costs annually. According to the testimony of Sean O’Leary, Senior Researcher with the Ohio River Valley Institute, excessive fuel costs and demand for skilled labor may result in inflationary impacts.
• The project’s human health impacts due to emissions of fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and other air pollutants are estimated to cost from $83 million to $280 million. According to the testimony of John Bangsund, Ph.D., Director of Science & Technology at the Better Data Center Project, the pollutants expected from the facility’s operations are associated with numerous health impacts ranging from cardiovascular disease and respiratory illnesses to premature mortality.

Written testimony submitted by residents on behalf of TVCA can be found here, here, here, here, and here. The project has been met with staunch community opposition, including a resident-led referendum to repeal a municipal development supply agreement with PowerConneX.

WHO: Ohio Power Siting Board hearing on Case 26-0196-EL-BGN regarding PowerConneX, Inc.’s application for a behind-the-meter gas-fired generating station to fuel a data center project in Ashville, Ohio

WHAT: Testimony from residents and environmental and economic experts on behalf of Teays Valley Community Alliance.

WHEN: Thursday, September 10th, 9:00 AM ET

WHERE: Continental Office Building, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, 180 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215

###

The post Ohio Power Siting Board Denies Company Request to Block Expert Testimony Describing Potential Impacts of 800MW Gas Plant appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.

Joel Mayne is a motorcycle instructor and Desert Storm veteran who lives near the Wyoming border north of Craig, Colorado. Mayne is organizing fellow Moffat County residents to protest the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) sale of the mineral rights beneath Bakers Peak mountain, taking the fight all the way to the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington, D.C. In his November 2025 protest letter, Mayne said the elk migration path runs across the mountain and the peak provides high-priority habitat for mule deer and moose as well. “This region’s ecological sensitivity and biological significance demand a level of caution and stewardship consistent with both federal and state conservation mandates,” Mayne wrote. “I trust the BLM will uphold its commitment to responsible stewardship of public lands.”

Under the second Trump administration, the BLM has offered 287,765 acres in Colorado for oil and gas drilling, and is slated to offer more than 400,000 acres of land in Colorado by the planned December 2026 lease sale.

Mayne is not alone in his opposition to the BLM’s leasing plans in Colorado, as environmental groups, state wildlife officials, and local governments are protesting an unprecedented wave of public land oil and gas lease sales across the state. “We are seeing roadless areas leased, lands with wilderness characteristics, we are seeing places designated as outstanding waters leased, and it is hard to keep track,” said Peter Hart, legal director of the advocacy group Wilderness Workshop. “We are seeing these offered in every lease sale.”

Quick hits Trump is quietly planning to majorly change how national parks are run

NOTUS | Wes Siler’s Substack

Forest Service could open much more of Colorado’s 11 million acres of public land to motorized vehicles

Denver Post

Developers eye Native Nations, Tribal communities for new data center projects

Daily Montanan

Oil and gas lease sales meet local opposition in Colorado communities

Colorado Sun

Feds seek to ‘streamline’ Arctic oil permitting, ending environmental reviews of individual projects

Alaska Beacon

New Mexico town of 50 packs gym as residents push county to ban uranium drilling

The Cool Down

Data center planned on Nevada public land is temporarily halted

Nevada Public Radio

Trump signs order to remove protections for wolves

USA Today | Politico Pro | The Land Desk

Quote of the day

The folks who want to push forward their agenda of sales, extraction, development, and divestment don’t want us unified. They know they can’t win when we’re standing arm in arm. They know they can’t give away our public lands when we’re a concerted bloc. They can’t fight us all.”

—Jonathon Klein, editor-in-chief of RideApart

Picture This

@usinterior

You know what they say about small predators? Big personalities.

The American marten is a quick, agile member of the weasel family that makes its home in forests across northern North America. Don’t let that adorable face fool you. This little hunter is built to climb, chase and absolutely thrive in the woods.

Photo by @jacobwfrank

Featured image: Photo credit: BLM Colorado, Flickr

The post Oil and gas lease sales run into local opposition in Colorado appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

Eirini-Erifyli Tzekou

What if food systems were designed not to maximize sales and accumulation, but to meet needs fairly within ecological limits? In Thessaloniki, Greece, a range of grassroots food initiatives have emerged over the last fifteen years, shaped by …

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro shifted from aggressively courting tech investments, to signing an executive order on August 18, 2026 that embeds enforcement mechanisms into his previously announced voluntary standards for data center development. The Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Standards are a set of requirements around energy costs, transparency and community engagement, economic development, and environmental protection for new data center projects.

The week of the executive order, the Ohio River Valley Institute fielded a statewide representative survey  of Pennsylvania adults. Many findings corroborate a growing body of research that shows the public is rapidly souring on data center development. This work further illuminates what Pennsylvanians want policymakers to do about it.

Top takeaways:

1. An overwhelming majority (94%) of Pennsylvanians say the state should pause, strongly regulate, or discourage data center development altogether.
2. Pennsylvanians are split on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s executive order to regulate data center development: on first impression, some say it strikes the right balance (45%), while others say it doesn’t go far enough (40%). Just one in seven (15%) feels it goes too far.
3. There’s strong opposition to building new gas plants specifically to meet the demand of data centers in Pennsylvania. 83% of respondents prefer either pursuing alternatives first, or not building new gas plants at all.
4. Most Pennsylvanians believe data center development would raise energy costs (74%)  and harm the environment (54%), though some (48%) anticipate job growth, as well.

Top impressions are overwhelmingly negative

• Before respondents were given any prompts or language about the issue, their initial associations with data centers were almost universally negative.
• Respondents referenced local opposition, energy use and costs, water use, and environmental impacts.
• Concerns appeared across political ideologies, urbanicities, and demographic groups.

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Nearly 7 in 10 oppose data center construction in Pennsylvania, similar to the national rate.

• 65% oppose the construction of data centers in Pennsylvania, (33% somewhat, 32% strongly).
• Women are slightly more likely to oppose.
• Open-ended responses surfaced anti-corporate sentiment and a sense that “we just don’t need it,” in addition to concerns about energy and water impacts.

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Pennsylvanians expect higher energy costs and environmental harm—but also some job growth.

When asked about the possible impacts of data center development:

• 7 in 10 said energy costs would go up.
• Half of respondents predicted jobs would increase some (38%) or a lot (13%)
• 54% said data centers would have a moderate (24%) to significant (30%) negative impact on the environment.

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There is broad appetite for limiting development

Respondents were split roughly three ways between preferring the state to pursue a full moratorium, stronger regulations, and discouraging development altogether, with the largest share (36%) preferring to discourage data center development in Pennsylvania.

• Demographic differences are relatively small, with men and women evenly split
• Views are relatively consistent across political ideology.
• Younger respondents are slightly more inclined to discourage development.
• Older respondents are more likely to favor stronger rules.
• Just 4% preferred to “encourage more development.”

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Most Pennsylvanians believe that the ones who benefit from data centers most, are the companies developing them.

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There’s strong opposition to building new gas plants specifically to serve data centers.

• 83% favor either pursuing alternatives first or not building new gas plants at all. When asked how Pennsylvania should meet new energy demand from data centers,
  • 59% said Pennsylvania should prioritize energy efficiency and renewable energy before building new gas plants.
  • 24% said Pennsylvania should not build new gas plants to meet data center demand.
  • 16% said building new gas plants should be allowed.

Shapiro’s executive order is viewed as reasonable—but support for stronger action grows with more information

• A plurality of Pennsylvanians think the move, as described by the Governor, strikes the right balance
• After respondents were presented with facts about remaining challenges for local voice, and the tax break that remains available, there was an approximately 10-point shift away from “strikes the right balance” and toward “regulations don’t go far enough.”
• But some respondents are still questioning what compliance, accountability, and enforcement looks like.

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Affordability is the clear priority for Pennsylvania’s economic future.

• When respondents were asked to think more broadly about their priorities for Pennsylvania’s economic future in a multi-select question, 54% prioritized keeping energy, housing, and other household costs affordable, making it the single standout priority.

What the findings tell us and what we’re still trying to understand

As we processed these results, we wanted to look beyond the topline numbers and consider how Pennsylvanians’ expectations compare with what ORVI’s own research tells us about data centers and economic development: that these projects are poor job creators and stand to raise costs across the board.

Much of what we found reinforces a growing body of public opinion research – people are deeply concerned about how these developments could impact their bills, their health, and their communities. And as is the case across the country, these concerns transcend any particular political ideology or demographic.

But several of our findings stood out – especially the strength of support for limiting development and related gas buildout, demand for local control, the way respondents weigh jobs against other costs, and the extent to which affordability and questions about who benefits seem to shape people’s views.

Opposition translates to appetite for limiting development

An open-ended question on data center development revealed serious concerns about data centers’ local impacts, like the thrumming noise pollution and round-the-clock security floodlights that have made headlines and driven pushback in host communities across the country. But even when asked about data center construction statewide, not necessarily in their own communities, the percentage of Pennsylvanians opposed to development outnumbers those in favor nearly two to one, our survey finds. Resistance to nearby data center development likely would have registered even higher.  One only needs to look to the extreme building-related flooding in Mason County, WV to see the gap between the economic promises made during the proposal phase and the stark realities communities experience once construction begins.

In Pennsylvania, negative feelings towards data centers appear to translate into a pervasive desire for policymakers and leaders to do more to prevent harm. Respondents were roughly split between a preference to pause development, implement stronger regulations, or discourage development in the state altogether. Consequently, less than a fifth of respondents in the state feel that Governor Shapiro’s executive order “went too far.” And the more they learned, the more they desired even stronger protections.

Moratoriums and permitting pauses are already happening in municipalities across the state. While Governor Shapiro’s order falls short of a full moratorium – which our poll suggests is politically palatable at the statewide level –  it does tie eligibility for the state’s generous sales tax exemption to compliance with his GRID regulatory standards, which are meant to protect energy affordability and encourage community engagement on data center projects. Across the country, there’s growing support for stronger regulations on data centers, including among MAGA voters and “AI-optimists” –  people want robust policies that protect natural resources, increase transparency and accountability, and protect ratepayers from higher utility bills. And the Pennsylvania legislature has an opportunity to do even more on this front.

But voters appear to be increasingly skeptical of the old economic-development model where governments give large corporations tax breaks, subsidies or preferential rates in exchange for promises of jobs and investment. Across states and the country, there’s rising opposition to tax benefits for Big Tech and data center developers. And despite the Governor’s new order, one thing that stays on the table is the sales tax exemption for permitted data centers, the cost of which keeps ballooning, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

When we clarified this to respondents, and told them that some communities are still worried about their ability to have a say in approving developments, we saw a ten-point increase in the belief that Shapiro’s order “doesn’t go far enough.”

Pennsylvanians may be more optimistic about data center jobs than the evidence warrants.

Data centers have made a bad first impression.

Communities across the region are already experiencing the direct impact to air and water that can come with building large data centers, and the infrastructure to power them. Meanwhile, about half of the Pennsylvanians in our survey anticipated a negative environmental impact from data center development in the state. Nearly 75% of respondents believe data center development would impact utility costs, digging into the pocket books of everyday families. In Pennsylvania, residential electricity rates are already rising, driven largely by data center demand. Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office reported in July that the average electricity bill has already increased more than 20% since 2024.

About half of our respondents believed data center development would increase jobs in Pennsylvania at least somewhat. But research shows data centers are actually poor job creators in the long term. They require enormous amounts of capital, land, and electricity, but relatively few workers once construction is complete. The US economy’s “information” sector — driven largely by AI and data centers — has tripled its economic output since 2005 as the data center boom continues to inflate, our previous analysis shows. Yet, in the same period, jobs have actually shrunk. Meanwhile, data centers are driving up electricity bills, cutting into families’ disposable incomes and further negating the sector’s jobs impact.  Our shale gas research tells a similar story. Pennsylvania has become one of the country’s largest natural gas producers, yet the counties responsible for much of that production have not experienced employment, wage, and population growth commensurate with the industry’s enormous output.

Pennsylvanians aren’t buying the case for new gas buildout

One of our more surprising findings is how strongly Pennsylvanians reject the idea that rising electricity demand from data centers should automatically mean building more natural gas power plants.

That is striking in a state where natural gas has long occupied an outsized place in the political conversation. For nearly two decades,  political and industry leaders have repeatedly portrayed shale gas as both an economic engine and an essential part of the state’s energy future. More recently, projected electricity demand from data centers has become part of the case for a new wave of highly polluting gas-fired power plants and related infrastructure.

When asked how Pennsylvania should meet new energy demand from data centers, 83% favored either pursuing alternatives first, or not building new gas plants at all. Nearly six in 10 (59%) said the state should prioritize energy efficiency and renewable energy before building new gas plants, while another 24% said Pennsylvania should not build new gas plants to serve data centers at all.

For years, Pennsylvania’s political debate has often treated expanding gas production and gas use as synonymous with expanding economic opportunity. Yet the economic reality is much more complicated —and previous ORVI polling has similarly found Pennsylvanians considerably more skeptical of fracking’s economic benefits than the state’s political narrative might suggest.

Data centers may therefore be exposing a larger shift worth watching. Pennsylvanians appear reluctant to commit to another major wave of fossil fuel infrastructure simply because a new industry is promising economic growth. Instead, most want the state to ask first whether that infrastructure is actually necessary—and whether there are less costly ways to meet the demand.

What is successful economic development?

Our poll suggests that Pennsylvanians are thinking critically about  the use of public money to lure and support development. They are concerned about development inflating household costs, failing to produce lasting jobs and meaningful benefits, and taking away their say in their community’s future.

Simply promising investment and jobs may no longer be enough. People appear increasingly interested in the other side of the ledger: what development costs, who pays those costs, who receives the benefits, who has a say, and whether the result actually leaves communities better off.

About this research

This research was conducted using GrowProgress’ Pulse Survey, a rapid survey tool used to help understand public opinion around quickly developing events.

This survey polled 400 Pennsylvania adults between Friday, August 21, 2026 and Sunday, August 23, 2026. The margin of error ranged from 1.7% to 5.0%

GrowProgress gathers participants for rapid message tests, audience understanding surveys, and pulse surveys through partnerships with reputable online panel companies and marketplaces. These partners recruit participants through a diverse set of digital ads, loyalty or coupon programs, and other methods, collecting basic demographic information and utilizing weighting to ensure survey respondents are representative of the target population.

The post Most Pennsylvanians Want Data Center Development Paused, Strongly Regulated, or Discouraged Altogether appeared first on Ohio River Valley Institute.