America’s most important parks program helps make Grand Teton whole — but the future is cloudy

As the Trump administration continues to spur oil and gas production, lands, waters, and communities around the West are feeling the impacts. A new analysis from the Center for Western Priorities pulls back the curtain on oil and gas-related spills in the West’s top oil-producing states: Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Yesterday, Acting Secretary David Bernhardt underwent his confirmation hearing to officially become Interior Secretary. He will likely face a final vote in the Senate next month. As a lobbyist and lawyer for oil, gas, and mining corporations, David Bernhardt has a long track record of trying to weaken wildlife protections in favor of more extraction. After being sworn in as the second-in-command in Trump’s Interior Department, Bernhardt picked up speed, eviscerating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, and slashing protections covering millions of acres of sage-grouse habitat.

Former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt was sworn in as the Interior Department’s second-in-command with a list of conflicts of interest so long that he has to carry a card to remember them all. Now, the New York Times reports that Acting Secretary Bernhardt delivered a policy favor to one of his largest former clients just months into his time at the agency, a clear violation of his ethics recusals. This revelation raises serious questions about how Bernhardt would enact the agendas of his former clients should he be permanently confirmed as Interior secretary.

Buyer known for speculating around National Parks By Greg Zimmerman The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration sold-off thousands of acres of state-owned lands this week, including privatizing nearly 400 acres lying within the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. The Comb Ridge parcel‚Ää—‚Ääwhich sold for $500,000 to a land speculator‚Ää—‚Ääholds significant cultural resources, including […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 DENVER—The Center for Western Priorities today unveiled a new interactive map revealing the impacts the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has had and could have on making America’s national parks whole. In an analysis of new National Park Service data, CWP determined that LWCF has protected 2.2 million […]