National

Outdoor Voters All Want the Same Things. “For the past ten years, Colorado College, a small but mighty liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, has conducted a project called State of the Rockies, a bipartisan poll conducted in the eight states that make up the Mountain West: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The survey asks residents like me—many of them hunters, fishermen, hikers, and bikers—about their priorities for climate change, land use, and other environmental issues.” [Outside Online, 3/17/20 (+)]

Federal Judge Rules Mineral Leases in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Legal. “Advocates against mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters were hit with another setback Tuesday when a Washington, D.C., judge ruled that the Department of the Interior’s return of mineral leases to Chilean-owned mining company Twin Metals was legal.” [Courthouse News, 3/17/20 (-)]

Coronavirus Should Trigger Pause at Interior, Groups Say. “Environmental groups on Tuesday urged the Interior Department to put a pause on public comments and policy actions because of the new coronavirus pandemic. “The Interior Department should immediately suspend ongoing public comment periods, halt upcoming oil and gas lease sales, and delay new policy proposals,” said Jesse Prentice-Dunn, policy director for the Center for Western Priorities in Denver.” [Bloomberg Environment, 3/17/20 (+)]

Coronavirus won't slow lease sales, rulemakings. “"The Interior Department should immediately suspend proposing major new policy changes. Americans should be focused on protecting the health and well-being of themselves and their families, not fighting back more attempts to weaken protections for public lands and wildlife," said Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Jesse Prentice-Dunn, referring to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.” [E&E News, 3/17/20 (=)]

US national parks cause public health concern as visitors flood in. “Even as Broadway shows were shuttered and Disneyland was closed due to the Covid-19, most US national parks were open for business on Tuesday, confounding public health officials and worrying park staff who did not want to be exposed to the virus. National parks have become a haven over the past week as the public seeks places to go during spring break. One park employee reported on Facebook that a visitor center at Big Bend national park was full on Monday with hundreds of people. Another shared a photo of shoulder to shoulder crowds at Zion national park waiting to board shuttle buses. (The park closed its shuttle bus system later in the day.)” [Guardian, 3/17/20 (+)]

Louisiana Republican Garret Graves pushes Trump for 'national response' to halt oil price crash.“Graves said he planned, with other Republican Gulf Coast allies, to ask the Interior Department to use its authority to issue a short-term reduction in the royalty rates that oil and gas companies pay for drilling on federal lands and waters.” [Washington Examiner, 3/17/20 (-)]

Senators urge BLM, Forest Service to help rural areas. “A bipartisan coalition of senators is urging the Federal Emergency Management Agency to tap the wildfire fighting expertise of federal land managers in dealing with the spread of the novel coronavirus. Specifically, the group of 24 senators want FEMA to utilize thousands of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service officials already located in the West to help rural communities respond to the health crisis.” [E&E News, 3/18/20 (=)]

NPS moves toward partial shutdown. “The National Park Service headed toward a partial shutdown today as officials scrambled to close park sites and facilities across the country in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Park officials closed sites in Florida, Utah, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, Washington state, Iowa and Hawaii, including the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.” [E&E News, 3/17/20 (=)]

Department pushes D.C.-area employees to telework. “The Interior Department today significantly escalated its response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, as more employees in the congested National Capital Region began working from home. Interior Deputy Secretary Katharine MacGregor issued the mandate for certain employees to being teleworking in a memo yesterday. It covers, for now, workers assigned to Interior headquarters and Washington-area satellite offices who have been deemed "telework-eligible."” [E&E News, 3/17/20 (=)]

BLM suspending advisory panel meetings over coronavirus. “The Bureau of Land Management is suspending all scheduled meetings of dozens of resource advisory councils and committees due to concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus. BLM has 37 chartered advisory councils and committees, including 30 RACs that help advise the bureau on the management of its more than 245 million acres across the West.” [E&E News, 3/17/20 (=)]

State and Local

Zion Canyon gets clogged with cars as park idles shuttles; Moab says stay away. “By 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the canyon absorbed as many cars as there are parking spaces and officials closed it to vehicle access. Visitors could wait until parking became available to enter, officials posted on Twitter, or they could hike the Pa’rus or Watchman trails from the closed visitor center.” [Salt Lake Tribune, 3/17/20 (=)]

Environmentalists fear more uranium mining near Grand Canyon may be impending. “Environmentalists and tribal leaders are gearing up to address a long-anticipated recommendation to reopen the Grand Canyon region to uranium mining. The Nuclear Fuel Working Group, established by President Donald Trump in July 2019 to explore domestic uranium production, is expected to release its findings and recommendations soon.” [Arizona Republic, 3/17/20 (=)]

BLM parcel sale to Utah coal plant to get new review. “The Bureau of Land Management will reexamine its decision to sell 200 acres of public land in Utah to a coal-fired power plant following an administrative challenge from environmental advocates. The Interior Board of Land Appeals yesterday approved a request from BLM to complete "additional environmental analyses" on selling the parcel to the electric power company PacifiCorp.” [E&E News, 3/17/20 (=)]