Emails Raise Questions About Interior Secretary Zinke's Link With Oil Executive. “Ranking U.S. House Democrats are calling for an ethics investigation into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. They want to know more about a land deal between Zinke's family foundation and a real estate project with ties to the oil and gas giant Halliburton. Earlier this week, Politico broke the story about a possibly unethical relationship between the foundation and a proposed real estate development in Zinke's hometown of Whitefish, Mont. Whether this relationship was unethical may hinge on whether Zinke was still involved in the deal after his resignation from the family foundation and while he was serving as secretary of the interior. The Mountain West News Bureau unearthed emails suggesting he was still involved.” [NPR, 6/22/18 (+)]
Democrats Want US Interior Department Staff Moves Explained. “Democrats in Congress pressed U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday to explain the reassignments of dozens of senior agency officials, most recently Yellowstone National Park's superintendent, who was offered an unwanted transfer and then told he'd be gone in August. A group of 14 Democrats led by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman of California asked Zinke for a briefing on the reassignments after their requests for a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee were denied.” [U.S. News, 6/22/18 (=)]
Ryan Zinke’s Interior Department Gives Law-Breaking Coal Company a Pass. “Now the landowners in this region who voted for President Trump overwhelmingly in 2016 must swallow the fact that the Trump administration—specifically, the Interior Department run by Ryan Zinke, represented in court by the Justice Department led by Jeff Sessions—has quietly dismissed violations that the last administration had levied against three of the company’s mines. The agreement comes after meetings involving several top Interior political appointees held specifically on the litigation in 2017, according to official calendars. The involvement of a number of political appointees, including many not in the department’s legal shop, in a long-standing, fairly low-profile legal dispute with a company is unusual, said former department insiders.” [Daily Beast, 6/25/18 (+)]
As government plans Arctic refuge drilling, activists vow to continue protests. “”A sweaty volunteer took off the fake fur head of her full-body, polar bear outfit as a friend and fellow protester handed her a drink of water. It was 80 degrees and terribly humid in the nation’s capital last week as a few hundred activists stood and chanted outside a public comment hearing to oppose a new law directing oil exploration in the northern tip of Alaskan wilderness. [ABC News, 6/24/18 (=)]
Offshore Drilling
Reuters | Big Oil Eyes U.S. Minority Groups to Build Offshore Drilling Support. “The largest U.S. oil and gas lobby group is seeking to convince Hispanic and black communities to support the Trump administration's proposed expansion of offshore drilling, arguing it would create high paying jobs, including for storm-displaced Puerto Ricans. The American Petroleum Institute (API) launched its ‘Explore Offshore’ campaign earlier this month to counter offshore drilling foes in coastal southeast states from Virginia to Florida, where lawmakers and governors on both sides of the aisle have expressed fear an oil spill could ruin tourism.” [U.S. News, 6/22/18 (=)]
Judge fines Utah environmental group, says it abused legal process by challenging counties’ secret meetings with feds before Trump shrank national monuments. “A 7th District judge has ordered the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance to pay San Juan County’s legal costs in defending a recent lawsuit that alleged its County Commission violated state law when it met privately with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to lobby for the recision of Bears Ears National Monument.” [Salt Lake Tribune, 6/23/18 (=)]
Curtis' Public Lands Bill Gets Hearing But Some Conservation Groups Say They Weren't Invited. “A congressional panel took up legislation Thursday to protect more public land in the San Rafael Swell. U.S. Rep. John Curtis, R-Provo, proposed a bill that would designate wilderness, a new conservation area, a historic preservation site and a national monument - all in Emery County. The bill comes 6 months after the Trump administration removed more than 2 million acres of national monument protection from three other Utah counties. And, like the shrunken monuments, Curtis’ proposal is being denounced by many environmental groups.” [KUER, 6/22/18 (=)]
AP | Utah national parks seeing increase in search and rescues. “Rescues at Utah's national parks are up 68 percent from 2014 — and men in their 20s are the ones most likely to need help, according to recent data. Most of the search and rescues from last year involved male hikers in their 20s, according to statistics from the National Park Service.” [ABC News, 6/24/18 (=)]
BLM’s rush to finish Southern Nevada plan could lead to court battle. “Local Bureau of Land Management staff members are rushing to finish their updated land-use blueprint for Southern Nevada to meet a new deadline set by the Trump administration. But at least one Clark County official expects the BLM to get sued over the accelerated planning process, which could stall federal land-use decisions in the region for years to come.” [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 6/21/18 (=)]
BLM to pay $1.5M to settle lawsuit, not drill in Colo. forest. “The Bureau of Land Management has agreed to pay a Houston-based oil company $1.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit the company filed last year challenging the decision to cancel 25 hotly contested oil and gas leases issued more than a decade ago inside the White River National Forest portion of the Thompson Divide in Colorado. The settlement reimburses SG Interests for bonus bids and rental payments, and other legal considerations, in the wake of the Obama administration's November 2016 decision to cancel the 25 leases — 18 of which were owned by SG Interests (E&E News PM, Nov. 17, 2016).” [E&E News, 6/22/18 (=)]
Op-Ed, Editorial, and Analysis
Op-Ed: Rollback of methane rule wastes millions for NM. “Rolling back the BLM rule is the opposite of conservative, it’s reckless. Doing so will only benefit the most irresponsible oil and gas producers. Forward thinking oil and gas companies like XTO Energy, the domestic drilling arm of ExxonMobil and a huge producer in New Mexico’s Permian Basin, have endorsed these methane rules because they know cutting waste makes good business sense. But we need sensible, across the board requirements to hold all producers to a high standard. New Mexicans know, wasting huge amounts of natural gas is something we can ill afford.” [Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/23/18 (+)]
Op-Ed: A telling sign that South Carolina attitudes on offshore drilling have shifted. “In at least one way, South Carolina’s climate has changed noticeably. It’s nothing you can detect with thermometers or barometers, wind gauges or rain gauges. But it’s real. The best way to measure it is through politics.” [Post and Courier, 6/24/18 (+)]
Op-Ed: Minnesota mining has big potential to put 'America first’. “According to USGS, the estimated value of mineral production in the United States today is $75.2 billion, despite our being 100 percent reliant on countries like China for many of the minerals we need. Just imagine what enormous prosperity we could spark in rural communities by producing these resources right here. It's time to change the game — and bring greater prosperity to rural America.” [Duluth News Tribune, 6/24/18 (-)]