Public lands advocates celebrated a victory when Senator Mike Lee of Utah removed a public land sell-off provision from the budget reconciliation bill after massive public backlash. But lawmakers in Congress, as well as the Trump administration, continue to pursue the idea through other means.
Still ongoing is a joint initiative between the Interior and Housing and Urban Development departments to identify national public lands that would be suitable for housing development. A memorandum of understanding signed between the two departments in March outlined a number of tasks, including an inventory of available public lands and an assessment of their suitability for housing development, and a report on the initiative’s progress. So far, none of these items has been made public.
“We just saw how massively unpopular this idea is, and even if they repackage it, people across the West will continue to reject privatizing public lands,” Michael Carroll, Bureau of Land Management campaign director for The Wilderness Society, told Public Domain.
Quick hits
Lawmakers move to slash funding for this southern Utah national monument
Interior gifts Navy land in the Arizona desert
Colorado issues notices to companies in falsified data case over cleanup of 404 oil and gas sites
Excitement for Wyoming rare earth mining contradicts disdain for renewables
BLM approves fast-tracked Nevada geothermal project
Reno Gazette Journal | Nevada Current
Activists opposing a Nevada lithium mine were surveilled for years, records show
How a national monument’s new welcome center honors Native Americans
Opinion: Recreation.gov quietly privatizes your access to public land
Quote of the day
I would argue that a large portion of the projected need [for rare earth minerals] is in clean energy…The excitement over rare earths is sort of at odds with the destruction of demand for clean energy.”
—Steve Feldgus, former Interior principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals, Inside Climate News
Picture This
About 1.25 million years ago, a massive eruption formed the 14-mile-wide Valles Caldera.
At sunset, New Mexico’s @vallescaldera still glows with echoes of its fiery volcanic past.
The volcano is dormant but not extinct. It still shows signs of life through scattered hot springs and boiling sulfuric acid fumaroles.
Join us in celebrating Valles Caldera’s 25th anniversary! From July 25 to 27, the park will host a three-day event with guest speakers, cultural demonstrations, ranger-led programs, night sky viewing, and more.
Photos by Andrew Gordon