Last month, the Trump administration approved the first offshore oil drilling development in federal Arctic waters, which environmentalists fear will ramp up carbon pollution that fuels climate change. But here’s the ultimate irony: Hilcorp Alaska‘s project—which involves building a 9-acre artificial drilling island in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea—has been delayed because of […]
The Trump administration’s unrelenting quest for Arctic oil and gas took a major step on Wednesday as it approved an energy company’s controversial production plan. Hilcorp Alaska received the green light to build the Liberty Project, a nine-acre artificial drilling island and 5.6-mile underwater pipeline, which environmentalists warn could risk oil spills in the sensitive […]
The internal watchdog of the Department of the Interior (DOI) concluded Thursday that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke violated department travel policies by having his family members ride in government vehicles, The Hill reported. The report, by the DOI’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) also confirmed that Zinke and his wife Lolita cost taxpayers more than […]
Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke extended an existing mining ban in mountains north of Yellowstone National Park on Monday. The move withdraws more than 30,000 acres of public lands in Montana’s Paradise Valley from new claims for gold, silver and other mineral extraction for 20 years. It does not impact existing mining claims on private lands […]
A coalition of 17 conservation and tribal citizen groups filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the Trump administration’s decision to gut the Bureau of Land Management’s Waste Prevention Rule, stating that the rule violates a number of existing federal policies. The states of New Mexico and California have already filed a lawsuit challenging BLM’s action. “We […]
As expected, the U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday released a final rule that reverses Obama-era restrictions on methane emissions from oil and gas operations. President Obama’s 2016 methane waste rule, which never went into effect, required fossil fuel companies on tribal and public lands to reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas […]
Two indigenous groups are suing the Trump administration in an attempt to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, NPR reported Monday. The Fort Belknap Indian Community of Montana and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota are asking a Montana judge to rescind the permit granted by the administration in 2017, saying it did not assess […]
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is expanding or opening hunting in 30 National Wildlife Refuges, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced Friday. The move will open more than 251,000 acres and raise the total number of places where hunting is permitted to 377 and where fishing is permitted to 312. The expansion will be in […]
A Department of the Interior (DOI) official who played an important role in opening public lands to fossil fuel interests has left the federal government to accept a job at BP, The Washington Post reported Monday. Former DOI Deputy Chief of Staff Downey Magallanes led the review that resulted in Secretary of the Interior Ryan […]
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