National

The Secretary of the Interior on Climate Change, Wild Horses, CWD, and New Backcountry Conservation Areas. “Over the past month, Outdoor Life’s hunting editor Andrew McKean has had two opportunities to interview Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt. The first interview was a wide-ranging conversation about topics as varied as CWD funding, actions that federal agencies are taking to prepare public lands for climate change, and the status of acting BLM director William Perry Pendley.” [Outdoor Life Magazine, 2/27/20 (=)]

Oil Industry Tool to Spare Polar Bears Is More Miss Than Hit. “In the debate over the possibility of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, polar bears play an important, if silent, role. At issue is whether oil development, especially seismic testing to find oil reserves that would be conducted long before any drilling occurred, can be undertaken without harming the animals, which have been hit hard by climate change.” [New York Times, 2/27/20 (+)]

AP | Cultural Preservation Among Options in Oil and Gas Plan. “The preservation and protection of Native American cultural sites would be a priority of U.S. land managers under one of the options up for consideration as they work to amend an outdated guide for management of oil and gas drilling across a sprawling area of northwestern New Mexico. The area is home to Chaco Culture National Historical Park, which has become the focal point in a decades-long fight over oil and gas.” [New York Times, 2/27/20 (=)]

Trump Oil and Gas Policy Unlawful on Sage Grouse Turf: Court. “A federal court has blocked the Trump administration from streamlining oil and gas development on public lands in sage grouse territory. The U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho on Thursday ruled that the Bureau of Land Management didn’t go through required rulemaking procedures before issuing a 2018 “instruction memorandum” aimed at speeding up timelines for federal leases under the National Environmental Policy Act.” [Bloomberg, 2/27/20 (=)]

Officials push ahead with rule on use of science. “The Interior Department is moving closer to further entrench a policy that it calls "Promoting Open Science" but that critics call misguided and political. Following up on a secretarial order issued in October 2018, department officials are in the process of developing a formal rule governing the use of science.” [E&E News, 2/27/20 (=)]

Dems want GAO review of grant screening. “Citing the dangers of potential political interference, two Democratic lawmakers are asking government watchdogs to scrutinize the Interior Department's handling of its far-flung grant and cooperative agreement programs. In particular, Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona want the Government Accountability Office to examine the fallout from Interior's December 2017 decision mandating high-level review by political appointees of certain grants and cooperative agreements.” [E&E News, 2/27/20 (=)]

Trump Administration Opens Public Lands To New Coal Mines, But Don't Expect A Boom. “The Trump administration controversially reopened public lands to new coal leases on Wednesday, saying the move won’t significantly impact the environment — a finding conservation groups call laughable.  “Offering leases for new coal mining certainly has an environmental impact,” said Jesse Prentice-Dunn, policy director of the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities. “We’re talking about mine expansions and greenhouse gas emissions from burning that coal.”” [KUER, 2/27/20 (=)]

Park attendance climbed in 2019. “Great Smoky Mountains had the most visitors of any national park in 2019 as overall attendance topped 327.5 million nationwide, the National Park Service said in a report today. That's a jump of nearly 3% from 2018. Thirty-three parks set attendance records in 2019. Visitation was the third highest since record-keeping began in 1904, according to the agency's annual report.” [E&E News, 2/27/20 (=)]

State and Local

Denver's director of Parks and Recreation testifies on the Hill for Outdoors for All Act. “The director of Denver Parks and Recreation, Allegra “Happy” Haynes, testified Thursday on the Hill for legislation that would help expand access to parks and other outdoor spaces across the country, particularly in underserved communities. Haynes, who is also Denver’s deputy mayor, advocated for the Outdoors for All Act during a U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands’ hearing.” [Colorado Politics, 2/27/20 (+)]

BLM Chaco Canyon oil and gas leasing back in spotlight. “The Bureau of Land Management is set to release a proposed land use plan amendment that will ultimately decide whether more oil and gas leasing is allowed near New Mexico's Chaco Culture National Historical Park. BLM, which is partnering on the analysis with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, tomorrow will release the proposed amendment to the Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan (RMP). The planning area covers 4.1 million acres of mostly BLM lands and includes the Chaco Canyon area.” [E&E News, 2/27/20 (=)]

Dunleavy administration considers hitting back after JPMorgan’s ‘anti-Alaskan’ move to halt Arctic oil investment. “State and oil industry officials reacted with alarm this week after a second large U.S. bank said it would not support future oil and gas projects in the Arctic, seeing the move as a potential threat to an industry vital to the state’s economy. On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase announced a broad initiative to combat climate change and promote renewable energy.” [Anchorage Daily News, 2/27/20 (=)]

Bison start moving into Mont., face possible slaughter. “One of the last and largest wild bison populations in North America has begun its migration out of Yellowstone National Park into southwestern Montana, where they are being hunted and face government-sponsored slaughter as part of a population reduction program. Hundreds of the animals have moved in recent days into the Gardiner Basin along the park's northern border, Yellowstone spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said. The animals leave the park in winter to graze at lower elevations.” [E&E News, 2/27/20 (=)]

Oil, gas spills up statewide, and generally in Piceance. “The number of spills reported by oil and gas producers to the state last year grew from 2018, and the same was the case in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, although spills in Mesa County declined slightly. The Center for Western Priorities conservation group said Thursday that companies reported 636 spills in Colorado last year, a 7% increase from 2018. Weld County, which leads the state in drilling and production, also led in reported spills, accounting for more than half of them.” [Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 2/28/20 (=)]

‘This is their shot’: BLM asks community for input on mercury mine clean-up plans. “The Red Devil mercury mine used to be the largest in the state. But once it was no longer profitable, the owners walked away, leaving behind a toxic mess for someone else to clean up.” [Alaska Public Media, 2/27/20 (=)]

Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis

Op-Ed: U.S. Senate should move to protect our public lands and grow jobs. “Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell noted that protecting our public lands was one of the three areas he thinks the Senate could make progress on in 2020. And with Sen. Patty Murray leading the way on this bill in the Senate, we agree. The Wild Olympics Act is a good place to start — and will protect the environment and grow jobs on the Olympic Peninsula.” [Seattle Times, 2/27/20 (=)]