Bureau of Land Management
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and only federal regulation overseeing the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing on federal lands has been withdrawn upon orders issued by Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior.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The first environmental regulation to be rescinded under President Trump was the Stream Protection Rule.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
Tens of thousands of wild horses still inhabit the western states. The Bureau of Land Management is caught between two camps: ranchers who want them contained and advocates who want them to roam free.
Pacific Standard
A controversial and unprecedented deal that would have privatized 280 acres of state-owned Bandon State Natural Area have fizzled out thanks to new requirements from the Bureau of Land Management.
The Oregonian
A well-attended racing event was cancelled for the second year in a row on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Organizers are worried the salt flats might never be the same.
Associated Press via Detroit Free Press
Utah's San Rafael Swell is the scene of an energy showdown between conservationists who want to preserve this unique landscape (potentially a national monument), private oil and gas companies that want to drill there, and the BLM that has to decide.
The New York Times - U.S.
Environmentalists charged that the new federal rules guiding hydraulic fracturing do not protect the environment and inform the public about the fracking process. The new Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, appeared prepared for their comments.
The New York Times
