Randy Watkins

I've worked w/ Mojave desert tortoises since 1990 when they were given federal protection and listed federally as a Threatened species. I'm a USFWS Authorized Biologist, meaning I'm permitted by USFWS to handle them and train other biologists how to handle them so that they can become an A.B. too. 🌎

"These supine Trump clapping seals have destroyed the foundational faith so many had in American democracy and those cracks in the system will take years, if not decades, to repair. I think they still can be, but Nov. 3 is a pivot point." From me: jonralston.substack.com/p/dont-get-c...

Dr. Bandy X Lee, Forensic and social psychiatrist, president of the World Mental Health Coalition, and cofounder of the Violence Prevention Institute, on the dangerousness of Donald Trump. bandylee.com m.youtube.com/watch?v=vbGV...

Watch out for this "permitting reform" bill making its way through the legislature. #BAAJA https://therevelator.org/baaja/

WELC attorneys, who want a rapid renewable energy transition as well as healthy ecosystems, clean water, & healthy communities, have analyzed #BAAJA, the permitting reform bill. Notably, the bill affects bedrock environmental laws far afield from energy permitting. It is terrible. 🌎 Read more here:

OPINION: The federal government said 15,903. The answer was zero. thenevadaindependent.com/article/opin...

He is a psychopath and he is psychotic. What's it going to take to get the American media to talk about it?

1. Trump became very rich because he's corrupt, and his abuse of power of the presidency is unprecedented. 2. Nothing has done more to divide, and corrupt the discourse of the country than Trump's mockery of "others". 3. Trump is weak, a coward, and afraid of the dictators he reveres.

The Moron and Lunatic in the White House has now declared China and Russia aren’t helping Iran, and that if they were, “we would know about it very fast.” We do know. His own Defense Secretary told senators they are. Trump's covering for Putin and Xi as they help Iran kill American service members

My latest: I spoke at length to @rephuffman.bsky.social about the case against the bipartisan permitting deal for @heatmap.news

Dr. Bandy X Lee, @bandylee.bsky.social, and her newsletter at substack.com/home/post/p-... Forensic and social psychiatrist, violence expert, president of the World Mental Health Coalition, and New York Times bestselling author of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”. m.youtube.com/watch?v=ewh4...

Jiminey Christmas, not a single one of these fascist weenies can dance….

WE DON’T HAVE TO TOLERATE THIS DETESTABLE FOOL

Ephemeral streams—such as dry washes, ravines, and arroyos that only flow immediately after rainfall—make up roughly 81% of all waterways in the Southwest. Under the new proposal, these would be completely excluded from Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction. 🌎 thenevadaindependent.com/article/opin...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) urged Congress to stop the Trump administration’s push to build data centers on public lands. A letter was sent to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee; Senators Collins and Murray and Representatives Cole and DeLauro.

Check out the map that the Center for Western Priorities created, which shows every project that the National Park Service has downgraded or canceled. 🌍 @westernpriorities.org

“Meanwhile, White House priorities, including projects tied to President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 initiative, were given a new, top-priority status. That list included the $16 million botched effort to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue”. westernpriorities.org/resource/map...

Today is the Power To The People music festival, a celebration of peace, love, justice, music and community action. MS NOW LIVE EXCLUSIVE: "POWER TO THE PEOPLE" with Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Tom Morello and more! powertothepeoplefest.com/livestream

150 days for public review not being enough time IS THE POINT in order to kill any resistance to data centers, fossil fuel pipelines/power plants, or anything else oligarchs want to put within spitting distance of your home, water supply, whatever. This is billionaires saying shut up and take it.

Listen, @adamjentleson.bsky.social, you willfully ignorant fool. The idea that a bill that radically transforms the entire domain of energy & environmental protection should not be assessed on a single reductionist metric that hides massive fossil fuel entrenchment should not be in dispute.

Tour the historic Walking Box Ranch, the former Nevada home of silent-film stars Clara Bow and Rex Bell. Located near Searchlight, Nevada, the ranch was purchased by Rex Bell in 1931 and became a working cattle ranch and a retreat for the famous couple. www.friendsofavikwaame.org/events/tourw...

Where does a DRI archaeologist go when they want to hit the trail? 🥾 For #PublicLandsDay, Megan Stueve shares three of her favorite hikes on public lands! Explore Nevada from wherever you are with DRI’s Virtual Outdoor Experiences: dri.edu/voe #VirtualOutdoorExperiences #DiscoverDRI

Trump cut their climate jobs. This secretive network found them new ones.

Joining global advocates for clean air at the UN today! ✊

The Nation, Oct 2026 A Letter From Hell Locked in an ICE detention Center "If this could happen to us, a law-abiding family of two professors and a young boy, it could happen to anyone." www.thenation.com/article/soci...

After banning CNN, MS NOW & Politico from the White House, he installs State-Run television, just like they have in so many other countries... Sieg Heil, ya'll. #38Days 🌊

Day One of the 2026 Clinton Global Initiative — started off at the Narrative & Storytelling Working Session. Loved seeing all these great leaders gather together and exchange notes. @clintonglobal.bsky.social

Uh, yeah, we did that already… and they are CONTRAILS www.epa.gov/regulations-...

Under Lee Zeldin’s leadership, EPA has instituted a culture of fear, destroyed its science and environmental programs, and betrayed its mission. From defending fired EPA staff to fighting PFAS pollution in court, learn how PEER is fighting back. https://ow.ly/OxTt50ZNAnY

🧪🌏🧬🦠😡👇🗳️

Kaepernick says Trump tried to get him to the White House after publicly attacking him. “What was relayed to me was the outreach that came from Van Jones… it was immediately rejected. Again, this is after him going out publicly and trying to target me and my employment.“

What goes up... 👇

“The changes appear to most affect Joshua Tree National Park, which had at least 10 planned partnership agreements blocked. That park’s partnership agreements would have hired at least 16 people, helped recover areas in the park burned in wildfires.” wapo.st/4xLRrfP

On Sept 11, 2001, my work for the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) as an Authorized Biologist overseeing construction of new facilities at Lake Mead changed. It was reclassified as critical water infrastructure and a potential terrorist target. Still is. www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2026/se...

I promise to be different! I promise to be unique! I promise not to repeat things other people say! Trump's vow was....weird. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

This is the interview Trump’s FCC doesn’t want you to see. We’re not just going up against the most corrupt politician in Texas. We’re going up against this entire corrupt system.

I am an Authorized Biologist (A.B.), meaning I am authorized by the USFWS to handle threatened and endangered species; in particular the Mojave desert tortoise. This subadult (< 8 inches in length) was trying to get into a construction area, so I physically blocked her from getting past me. 🌎

I‘m back at the NV Energy Greenlink West project. Greenlink West will be a 525 kV line that spans ~ 350 miles from Las Vegas to Yerington, Nevada, and will connect solar fields and other green energy projects being constructed throughout Nevada to the grid. www.nvenergy.com/cleanenergy/...

“This will remove protections for virtually all streams in the West and other arid parts of the country,” Jim Murphy said in an email, noting that few, if any, streams flow every day in the Southwest, where a mega drought has persisted for more than two decades. 🌍 lasvegassun.com/news/2026/se...

I've worked in the BCCE many times. The proposed Townsite Data Center in the Eldorado Valley is located directly adjacent to the Boulder City Conservation Easement (BCCE) and sits within designated Mojave desert tortoise habitat. 🌎 www.ktnv.com/news/environ... nevadacurrent.com/briefs/devel...)

Judges rule! The Interior Board of Land Appeals, an appellate body in the US DoI, put a temporary stay on the BLM's approval of an 80-acre data center on public lands near Boulder City, NV. The board sided with the city, @sierraclub.org, and @biologicaldiversity.org, which argued that the BLM...

As we bid farewell to summer, we will feel the heat from some of the hottest days again this winter due to our extensive geo-exchange system. Here's how it works: https://bit.ly/4i6ST7I

DRI's Dan McEvoy was featured in Bloomberg Television where he shared his thoughts on how a record-low snowpack could be detrimental to the Colorado River and the Western U.S. Learn more and watch the video here: https://youtu.be/JjrW88M58jA?si=zHlfUD2h8oIt6LXb&t=107 #ColoradoRiver

Trump’s proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act threatens American historic sites. Driven by changes to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a board now dominated by Trump appointees, moving from strict conservation to rapid development. lasvegassun.com/news/2026/au...

🌍 A study published in Communications Earth & Environment attributes roughly half of the climate-related water losses in the American West over the past decade to emissions from the world’s largest fossil fuel companies, wiping out a volume equivalent to Lake Mead 🌍 lasvegassun.com/news/2026/au...

Nevada has sued the Trump administration over its plan to slash Colorado River water consumption. Especially notable because Nevada's governor is a Republican. The stakes are high and the conflict is not partisan. www.latimes.com/environment/... via @ianjames.bsky.social