National 

Interior official threatens to withhold jobs in lawmakers' districts after opposition to BLM move. “An outgoing top official at the U.S. Department of the Interior said he may reconsider placing government employees in the home states of lawmakers who expressed opposition to the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-M.N.), who oversee the Interior Department's budget through their roles on the Senate and House Appropriations committees, wrote last Friday asking the agency to suspend its relocation of BLM.” [The Hill, 8/28/19 (=)]

AP | Agency boss: Past support for US land sales is ‘irrelevant’. “A newly appointed Trump administration official said his past support for selling federal lands was "irrelevant," after his selection to oversee an agency managing nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the U.S. West drew a backlash. Acting Bureau of Land Management Director William Perry Pendley moved to disavow his longtime advocacy for federal land sales amid continued criticism over his appointment.” [ABC News, 8/28/19 (=)]

Bernhardt asks advisers for help with diversity, maintenance. “Interior Secretary David Bernhardt yesterday asked a parks advisory board for help in diversifying the workforce of the National Park Service and selling Congress on a plan to fix long-delayed maintenance projects. "We have, to a certain extent, a people challenge," Bernhardt told the National Park System Advisory Board, which met for the first time since nine members appointed by the Obama administration quit last year in a dispute over climate change policies.” [E&E News, 8/28/19 (=)]

State and Local

Yosemite’s review of park concessionaire Aramark slams it for poor service. “The company that runs the hotels, restaurants, campgrounds and shuttle buses at Yosemite National Park is failing to meet the park’s customer service standards and faces possible financial sanctions, newly released park documents reveal.” [San Francisco Chronicle, 8/28/19 (=)]

Controversial Alaska road is up for public discussion. “Stranded without the road, Trilogy Metals hired K Street giant Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to lobby for Ambler region development. According to Brownstein Hyatt's lobbying registration, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's former law firm started working for the subsidiary of Novagold Resources Inc. on July 10. The company faces stiff local opposition, predominantly from Alaska Native communities, many of which have already come out against the "Road to Ruin," which would service only mining-related traffic.” [E&E News, 8/28/19 (=)]

BLM approves project to extract critical mineral in Utah. “Facing heightened pressure from the Trump administration to bolster critical mineral mining operations on American soil, the U.S. government has approved a mining project at the end point of a river in central Utah to extract a mineral commonly used in fertilizer.” [E&E News, 8/28/19 (=)]

Op-Ed, Editorial, & Analysis

Op-Ed: Fed’s version of sage grouse conservation rings hollow. “I certainly agree with Perdue’s father’s folksy words, “if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you.” But those words largely ring hollow when I look at how Perdue and the rest of the federal administration sets policy for how those lands, our lands, are managed.” [WyoFile, 8/27/19 (+)]