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4 questions about the feds’ scrutiny of oil and gas leasing on public lands
In his first week in office, President Joe Biden paused new oil and gas leasing on federal lands as his administration reviewed fossil fuel development policy. Now that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has taken office, the administration is gearing up to begin that process. A forum comprising the energy industry, conservation groups, labor organizations and […]
Biden reinstates bird protections gutted under Trump
The Interior Department on Monday revoked a Trump administration policy that would have undercut a century-old law protecting migratory birds. The move strengthens federal regulators’ authority to enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a 1918 law that allows the government to prosecute polluters whose actions are responsible for the deaths of about 1,100 protected bird […]
Biden pick for Interior secretary likely to face rocky confirmation hearing
U.S. Senate Republicans are expected to use this week’s Interior confirmation hearing for Rep. Debra Haaland to air their grievances about the Biden administration’s energy policies, running the risk of alienating Native Americans in Western states. GOP Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Steve Daines of Montana sit on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, […]
Interior Department to review BLM HQ’s move out of D.C.
The Biden administration is reviewing the Bureau of Land Management headquarters’ recent move from Washington, D.C., to western Colorado, even as the state’s congressional delegation has united in a bipartisan pushback to any attempt to reverse the decision. An Interior Department spokesperson said this week that the department’s “new leadership will work with BLM career […]
Public lands protections could move ahead in Congress this year
Democrats in Congress have a rare opportunity to advance an ambitious public lands agenda—if they can keep their tenuous majorities in line. They’re also working with a new president of the same party who’s pledged to expand wilderness protections and highlighted climate change as one of his top three priorities. Several bills that expand public […]
Interior delays last-minute Trump rule that would weaken bird protections
WASHINGTON — The Interior Department is delaying a last-minute Trump administration rule that would have weakened a century-old law protecting migratory birds, Interior officials said Thursday. Two weeks before former President Donald Trump left office, the Interior Department published a final rule that would have left the federal government unable to enforce the Migratory Bird […]
‘Millions of birds will die’: Last-minute Trump rule aids industry
In July 2011, a pipeline owned by ExxonMobil burst near Laurel, Montana, dumping 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the nearby Yellowstone River. As federal officials reported the damage for weeks afterward, they found American white pelicans, owls and other bird species covered in oil, injured or dead. ExxonMobil agreed to pay $12 million to […]
Bipartisan members of Congress launch wildfire caucus
Congressional Republicans and Democrats from the West are banding together with a common interest in mitigating and responding to the increasing intensity and frequency of wildfires. In a sign of the rising danger wildfires pose, Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, a Democrat, and Rep. John Curtis, a Utah Republican, announced plans to launch the Bipartisan […]
Biden makes it official, picks Haaland for Interior
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate U.S. Rep. Debra A. Haaland to lead the Interior Department, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to head the Energy Department and North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, Michael Regan, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, his presidential transition team said Thursday night. The selections were announced as part of the incoming Biden […]
Haaland would be nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary
President-elect Joe Biden is considering U.S. Rep. Debra A. Haaland to lead the Interior Department, a choice that would put the nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary in charge of the department that oversees most federal-tribal relations. An individual close to Haaland, a New Mexico Democrat first elected to the House in 2018, said Wednesday […]
Congress rejects expansion of Nevada Test and Training Range into wildlife refuge
A bipartisan deal reached by Congress on an annual defense policy bill keeps protections for Nevada’s Desert National Wildlife Refuge, blocking for at least one more year a military proposal to expand an Air Force bombing range. Conservationists viewed the final agreement on the bill as an all-out victory, avoiding both the Air Force’s proposal […]
Pendley’s BLM decisions in Western states targeted for rollback
A federal judge’s ruling that the acting head of the Bureau of Land Management was serving unlawfully in that position could have implications for dozens of decisions the agency made across the West during the past 15 months—including in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. After the judge’s Sept. 25 ruling that William Perry Pendley had been […]