Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** EPA proposes to stop collecting emissions data from polluters
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Monday, September 15, 2025
The Dave Johnson coal-fired power plant in Wyoming, Greg Goebel via Wikimedia Commons ([link removed]) /CC BY-SA 2.0 ([link removed])
On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating a program that collects greenhouse gas emissions data from polluting facilities. Since 2010, the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program ([link removed]) has collected emissions data from thousands of facilities, including oil refineries, coal-fired power plants, steel mills, and other industrial facilities that qualified as major emitters of greenhouse gases.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described ([link removed]) the program as "burdensome" and "bureaucratic red tape," claiming the elimination of the program would save businesses as much as $2.4 billion over ten years. But the data collected by the program is key to the federal government's ability to participate in efforts to fight climate change. "With this move, they're taking away the practical and material capacity of the federal government to do the basic elements of climate policymaking," said ([link removed]) Joseph Goffman, head of the EPA's office of air and radiation under the Biden administration.
The proposal to eliminate the program would not be without its challenges for emitting industries. For example, it would make it more difficult for emitters to qualify for a different program in which companies must provide emissions data to the EPA to qualify for tax credits for capturing and storing emitted carbon. In addition, many companies point to the EPA's data to demonstrate ([link removed]) to investors and to the public that their efforts to reduce emissions are working.
But other companies are likely to welcome the move. "Some industries want to keep this secret so that the public can't know who’s responsible and hold them to account," said ([link removed]) David Doniger, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "What the public doesn't know, they can't demand be regulated."
** Quick hits
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Lawmakers’ use of little-known law to strike down public land plans could be Pandora’s box moment
Inside Climate News ([link removed])
Nez Perce Tribe lawsuit to halt Central Idaho gold mine clouds federal approval
Idaho Statesman ([link removed])
Feds fast-track coal mining expansion in southwest Wyoming
WyoFile ([link removed])
Proposed fracking project near Aurora Reservoir in Colorado faces community pushback
CPR News ([link removed]) | CBS News ([link removed])
EPA to stop collecting emissions data from polluters
New York Times ([link removed]) | Washington Post ([link removed]) | Associated Press ([link removed])
The dwindling Colorado River can’t wait for states to cut water use, experts say
Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
Resistance to data centers rises on the border
High Country News ([link removed])
How coal seam mapping is helping mitigate fire risk across Montana
Montana Free Press ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” The government is not doing their due diligence to actually examine the impact this might have on public lands. They don’t know what the impact is, really. If this way of doing things becomes normalized, then you can basically justify doing anything on public lands.”
—Emma Jones, Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter, WyoFile ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@whitesandsnps ([link removed])
You’ve heard the phrase “take it with a grain of salt,” right? Well, out here at White Sands, we say “take it with a grain of sand” because that's what were all about!
We do not just speak sand. We live it. We breathe it. And we often find it stuck in our boots.
When it comes to sand, size is all that matters. That is because sand is defined as any mineral between .065 millimeters and 2 millimeters in diameter, which is about the width of a nickel. The fact that sand can be composed of any mineral provides endless combinations of sand!
Sand falls into two categories: mineral and organic. Mineral sand is shaped by geological processes, and the most common type found on Earth is quartz. Quartz originates from rocks like granite, sandstone, or limestone. Over time, weathering breaks granite into its two main components: quartz and feldspar. Quartz, a silica-based mineral, becomes sand once it reaches the right size. Feldspar, on the other hand, gradually decomposes and contributes to the formation of clay.
Sand comes in a wide range of colors.
For instance, green sand is especially rare and can be found on select beaches in Hawaii and Guam. Its green hue comes from olivine, a mineral that eroded from volcanic basalt flows. Black sand also exists in two forms: one type is rich in heavy metals like gold and contains minerals such as hematite and magnetite; the other is made of basalt and found near volcanic beaches.
At White Sands National Park, the dunes are composed of nearly pure gypsum sand. Gypsum sand is uncommon because of how easily gypsum dissolves in water, much like sugar in iced tea. It's even more unusual to find dunes forming, which are created by wind piling up the grains into mounds. The park’s 275 square miles of dunes hold over 4.5 billion tons of gypsum sand, making it a truly remarkable, one-of-a-kind location.
As you can see, no salt mentioned here! Only sand, and plenty of it. At White Sands National Park, we stand by every word, every fact, and every story, all offered with a grain of sand and the wonder it holds.
NPS Photos
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