Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Interior delivers on oil industry wish list
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Friday, August 1, 2025
Oil and gas drilling on BLM-owned land, BLM California ([link removed])

The Interior department is delivering on an oil industry wish list ([link removed]) 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 ([link removed]) 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 ([link removed]) killed by the oil industry; opening pristine wildlife habitat in Alaska ([link removed]) 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 ([link removed]) ; the other two rules will be final after just a 30 day public comment period.


** Quick hits
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Does Trump's Interior secretary know what a battery is?

The New Republic ([link removed])

BLM retirees urge Burgum to change course on renewable energy

E&E News ([link removed])

Utah scores initial victory in legal battle over what counts as a road

Deseret News ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])

Yosemite embodies the long war over national park privatization

The Conversation ([link removed])

Tracker shows Interior staff exodus as DOGE operative quits

E&E News ([link removed]) (Staff) | Partnership for Public Service ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed]) (DOGE)

This cowgirl is tackling the wild horse problem. Activists want her dead

Outdoor Life ([link removed])

Bears Ears gathering calls nations to defend land, future

Navajo Times ([link removed])

A rancher's 50-year fight to save one of the West's iconic landscapes

Nature Conservancy Magazine ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” As 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 ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@nationalparkservice ([link removed])
“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 ([link removed]) 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!

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