public lands

By Theo Spencer and Amy Mall In another gift to big polluters, Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke signed an order Thursday directing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold quarterly oil and gas lease sales and to issue new oil and gas drilling permits within only 30 days from application. The move is part of […]

Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke, who recently recommended a reduction in the size of the 1.35 million acre Bears Ears National Monument to President Trump, is advocating for more drilling and mining on public lands and waters. The former Montana Rep. told Reuters that the development of America’s protected federal lands could help the country become […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a two-year delay on the implementation of Obama-era regulations requiring fossil fuel companies to curb methane emissions Tuesday evening. In its announcement of the stay, the EPA acknowledged that the move may have a “disproportionate impact” on children’s health, but reasoned that the temporary nature of the stay […]

Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke is recommending President Trump scale back portions of the Bears Ears National Monument, saying that the Antiquities Act should be used to protect the “smallest area” needed to cover important sites. Zinke’s recommendations, announced Monday, add fuel to the controversy over the Utah monument, which President Obama designated during his final […]

The Antiquities Act, which has been integral to building our nation’s public-lands legacy, is 111 years strong. Americans’ love of and support for our public lands remains strong, too. Support is strong despite attempts to transfer, sell off or carve up the lands that belong to all Americans, whether they live next door to a […]

A coalition of conservation groups and others announced Thursday that a historic number of comments and petitions of support have been submitted to the U.S. Department of the Interior in support of Bears Ears National Monument. Despite the entirely inadequate 15-day comment period ending on May 26, more than 685,000 comments in support of Bears […]

By Andy Rowell “Disruption” is one of the buzzwords of the energy market right now as plummeting costs of renewables is changing the way we heat our homes and drive our automobiles. Some of the biggest names in the energy business spoke Wednesday on that very topic in London at the Financial Times’ Energy Transition […]

The federal government is providing extensive support for fossil fuel production on public lands and waters offshore, through a combination of direct subsidies, enforcement loopholes, lax royalty collection, stagnant lease rates and other advantages to the industry, a report released Wednesday found. The government is contributing at least $7 billion per year in subsidies to […]