Center for Western Priorities

Senate permitting bill would cut the public out of public lands and lock in data center, nuclear, and fossil fuel approvals https://westernpriorities.org/2026/10/senate-permitting-bill-would-cut-the-public-out-of-public-lands-and-lock-in-trump-era-data-center-nuclear-and-fossil-fuel-approvals/

New map tracks data center applications moving through BLM's pipeline https://blm-data-centers.netlify.app/

BLM is currently considering at least 35 applications for data centers and related infrastructure on public lands in six Western states, covering more than 24,000 acres our statement below https://us6.campaign-archive.com/?e=[UNIQID]&u=6b3f59dc19c07727b0b196979&id=4ffc43a92c

Sobering chart from Chris Keyes at Re:Public.  Our national parks deserve better. They consistently poll higher than both the President and Congress. Seems like a no brainer to fund them and then brag about it. Right?

Trump is giving away public lands A road through Yosemite 🏞️, 715 acres of wildlife refuge to SpaceX 🚀, 4 data centers on NPS land 🏭

Over 99% of public comments oppose repealing the Roadless Rule, which protects over 44M acres of national forest land from logging and development.  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/10/statement-new-analysis-finds-99-1-percent-of-public-comments-oppose-repealing-the-roadless-rule/ #roadlessrule

Trump delegated authority to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Yet another way the Trump admin is making it easier for companies to extract resources without having to engage with the public or conduct environmental reviews. 🫥 #publiclands #nationalparks #oilandgas #trump #burgum

Tyler Hassen admitted that DOGE didn't actually save money. The national debt passed $40 trillion on August 18. #DOGE #publiclands #nationalparks #elonmusk #debt

STATEMENT on Pitkin County's vote to approve special use permit for operations of Maroon Bells Scenic Area: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/09/statement-pitkin-county-votes-to-approve-special-permit-for-operations-of-maroon-bells-scenic-area/

The Interior department disapproved 133 National Park Service partner agreements on 8/7, blocking $25.9 million for fire recovery, habitat restoration, archives, and conservation crews at 61 locations. Our new interactive map shows every one: westernpriorities.org/resource/map...

BLM is weighing data center proposals or right-of-way permits on public lands in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, according to data identified by the Center for Western Priorities. 

The man in charge of our public lands appears to know nothing about national monuments.  Is he really this ignorant, or is he lying on purpose? Read the blog and let us know. 

Doug Burgum fails national monument fact check.  Do you think he's lying on purpose, or he has no idea what's true? 

NEW: Analysis finds over 99% of commenters oppose BLM's Oil and Gas Rule rollback  Our statement: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/08/commenters-overwhelmingly-oppose-blms-rollback-of-oil-and-gas-rule-analysis-finds/ #publiclands

U.S. Forest Service moves forward with Roadless Rule repeal, ignoring public sentiment  Our statement: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/08/trump-admin-announces-intent-to-move-forward-with-roadless-rule-repeal/

Burgum’s entire playbook is to treat local communities as an obstacle rather than a constituency. Every step of the way, he cuts the public out of public lands—from drilling to data centers—in order to enact his boss’s agenda.

NEW POLL: Over 90% of Wyoming voters agree that Wyoming’s federally-managed public lands should remain in public hands and oppose any efforts to sell them off

Threatened Animals Finished Off At White House BBQ excellent work by The Onion

Interior allegedly shreds records while Trump installs a Project 2025 author inside its watchdog office westwise.substack.com/p/interior-a...

Join us in Santa Fe on Thurs PM to talk public lands!  RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/keep-parks-public-new-mexicos-public-lands-under-pressure-tickets-1993703743566 #publiclands #nationalparks #newmexico

Join us in Santa Fe on Thursday for a live podcast recording about New Mexico's parks and public lands! RSVP below 

July 29, 2026 @1 pm RALLY TO PROTECT CHACO at Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in #SantaFe 301 Dinosaur Trail Diné - Pueblo Solidarity! #ProtectChaco #ChacoCanyon #NewMexico

From Ogden to Bluff, Utahns all over the state showed up to stand with Tribes and support Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments on Monday. Check out photos from the rallies in our photo essay below. 

Over 1000 people turned out around the state yesterday to protest Trump's reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments.  When UT Gov Cox and Senator Mike Lee say locals don't support the monuments, think of these images.

CALLING ALL UTAHNS!  Are you mad about Bears Ears and Grand Staircase? Tell your reps and governor.  Monday evening. See you there.

Both Congress and the Supreme Court have weighed in on multiple occasions to uphold the President's ability to designate landscape-scale national monuments, contradicting claims that Bears Ears and Grand Staircase are "too big" https://westwise.substack.com/p/utahs-case-against-bears-ears-and

The Antiquities Act was always intended to protect landscapes, not just dots on a map.  The author of the Act actually asked Congress to protect Bears Ears in 1906.  

Reupping this banger from @NWF in light of Trump's (and the Utah delegation and Kate MacGregor's) lies. 

How President Trump and Utah leaders lied and misled on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase open.substack.com/pub/westwise...

President Trump signed proclamations today shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by about 90 percent each. Our statement here: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-signs-orders-attacking-utah-monuments-based-on-false-information/

🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 President Trump just signed two executive orders reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by a combined 3 million acres, according to media reports. Below is a statement from SUWA Executive Director, Scott Braden. Stay tuned for next steps.

President Trump is planning a secret attack on Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments today at 4:30p ET. The signing is closed to the press. https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-plans-secretive-attack-on-utah-national-monuments-underscoring-unpopularity/

News outlets in Utah report that President Trump plans to sign an order Monday shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-plan-to-shrink-bears-ears-and-grand-staircase-escalante-is-illegal-and-defies-public-support/

BLM greenlights irresponsible Cadiz pipeline without full environmental review, as David Bernhardt’s firm lobbies for rebranded “Groundwater Bank” Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/statement-on-ethically-compromised-cadiz-pipeline-approval-by-blm/

Members of the Western Governors Association were met with these images protected onto a rock wall in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Wednesday, July 1, 2026 in Salt Lake City

The House Natural Resources Democrats just released a bombshell report on Freedom250.  Hatch Act violations, wire fraud, obstruction, corruption... Freedom250 has it all.  Read on:  https://democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/freedom250_oversight_report2.pdf

President Trump and Doug Burgum today attended the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-delivers-rambling-remarks-at-theodore-roosevelt-presidential-library-opening-in-north-dakota/

Lee is playing politics with the housing crisis again. In calling for mass deportations, he's doing the same thing he did last year when he tried to sell off public lands: using the housing crisis to push his extremist agenda

Nothing like celebrating a conservation icon while dismantling everything he did. It's giving Gilded Age. Here's how Trump and Burgum are treating Roosevelt's legacy: https://westwise.substack.com/p/teddy-roosevelt-ended-the-gilded

On the eve of Independence Day, the Trump administration has removed a mention of slavery from Independence Hall. 

A defense law is being rewritten to fast-track mining. Here's what you should know: open.substack.com/pub/westwise...

Hate to say "we told ya so..." But we did. Thanks to Congress, the mgmt of over 160 million acres of public lands are in limbo. 

Teddy Roosevelt:  ✅Conserved nearly 230M acres of public land Donald Trump: ❌Ended protections for over 100M acres of public land See more:

Trump has nominated Michael Chamberlain, a hyperpartisan political operative, to lead the Office of Government Ethics. Our statement here: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/06/trump-nominates-hyperpartisan-political-operative-to-top-government-ethics-job/

These were hung on the Interior department today.  Trump is using government resources to promote himself.  If it walks like a Hatch Act violation and talks like a Hatch Act violation....

Congress just passed a once-in-a-generation affordable housing bill.  Senator Mike Lee voted against it.  Guess he wasn't serious about solving the affordable housing crisis after all.