Bureau of Land Management
A decision by the Bureau of Land Management on Oct. 3 may reverse the outcome of a 2013 lawsuit against the Obama administration by two environmental groups that effectively halted drilling in Fresno, Monterey and San Benito counties.
The Hill
Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is under severe assault from the Trump administration, Stephen Trimble writes. Long the focus of preservation efforts, the protected land is being opened up for extractive uses.
The Hill
The Trump administration's attack on the protection and conservation of public lands has a new champion.
Associated press via The Salt Lake Tribune
The Bakersfield Office of the Bureau of Land Management released an environmental study that is the basis for undoing a 2013 de facto moratorium on fracking on federal lands in California. The Supplemental EIS triggers a 45-day public comment period.
San Francisco Chronicle
Developers have withdrawn an application to build the world's largest concentrating solar-thermal power facility.
Bloomberg Environment
One Obama-era climate regulation still on the books deals with methane leakage from oil and gas wells. The greenhouse gas is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Another methane regulation targeted deals with flaring on federal lands.
The New York Times
The U.S. Department of Justice is fighting a lawsuit that would overturn a decision by the Obama Administration to expand the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon.
The Oregonian
Why is the Department of Interior considering a reduction of the size of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument?
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The issue of wind and solar energy development has always been a hot button in the California desert, and the Trump Administration just pressed it.
San Francisco Chronicle
A one-year suspension of an Obama-era rule to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling on Federal and Indian lands will increase global warming and reduce federal revenue. Trump took action after Congress failed to repeal the rule.
The Washington Post
The Sabinoso Wilderness is designated public land, but it's completely surrounded by private property. That could soon change.
High Country News
Secretary Zinke's order is part of the "energy dominance" agenda of the Trump Administration to make the U.S. a major energy exporter. The order will reduce the time needed by the Bureau of Land Management to process permitting for new wells.
The Washington Post
The Honor the Nevada Enabling Act, proposed by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada) to transfer some Bureau of Land Management property to state control, will not be brought to Congress.
Reno Gazette Journal
Plans for a wind energy facility have been vacated after environmentalists successfully challenged the environmental review for the project.
AP via The Oregonian
The first and only federal regulation overseeing the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing on federal lands has been withdrawn upon orders issued by Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior.
E&E News [Subscription]
The first environmental regulation to be rescinded under President Trump was the Stream Protection Rule. It will not be the last. The president has his eyes on a rule that limits greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.
The Washington Post
The congressional battle over public lands is only just beginning. The latest action: the House voted to rescind the Bureau of Land Management's recently approved "Planning 2.0" rule.
The Denver Post
It's the antithesis of what former President Obama and his predecessors did when they gave federal lands and waters more protection. But don't blame Trump's executive actions for this one (not yet, anyway), as it's being proposed by Congress.
The Guardian
Will the acquittal of seven defendants in a U.S. district court who used force to occupy the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon last January embolden other takeovers of public lands by resentful ranchers or militia?
High Country News
Opponents of federal oversight rejoice: a ruling by U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl reiterates the limitations of the federal government to regulate fracking.
KUOW
