News & Updates
Proposed BLM methane waste rule less disappointing than expected, could be much better
Weeks after President Biden’s remarks at the COP27 climate conference in Egypt and following nearly 18 months of internal agency deliberations, conservation groups expressed their disappointment today in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) proposed rule to prevent...
Biden heeds public feedback, improves proposed methane rule
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to strengthen methane and other emissions standards as the Biden administration participates in the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. In short, the rule is strong, it could be stronger, and we will work with the...
Forest advocates knock out massive Trump post-fire logging loophole
This month, conservation groups finalized a legal agreement with the Bureau of Land Management to reverse a Trump-era rule excluding vastly more logging in post-fire landscapes from detailed environmental review. The agreement resolves a legal challenge the groups...
Biden administration flouts climate goals with Inflation Reduction Act’s first onshore oil, gas lease sales
The Biden administration is working against U.S. climate goals and failing to protect communities, water and wildlife by auctioning oil and gas leases on public lands under the Inflation Reduction Act, climate and conservationists said in formal comments submitted...
Conservation and community leaders intervene in oil industry appeal to defend New Mexico air pollution rules
The Center for Civic Policy, Naeva, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) today announced they have filed to intervene in an appeal filed by the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico (IPANM) with the New Mexico Court...
Western Environmental Law Center welcomes Deputy Director Sristi Kamal, Wildlands and Wildlife Program Director Sarah McMillan
The Western Environmental Law Center is thrilled to announce the addition of two new powerhouse environmental advocates to its leadership. Sristi Kamal joins the group today in the newly created position of deputy director. Sarah McMillan will begin as Wildlife and...
Advocates challenge Biden double-down on Trump-era fracking on sacred land in Greater Chaco
Today, a group of Diné and conservation groups challenged the Biden administration’s approval of fracking on nearly 45,000 acres—70 square miles—of the Greater Chaco region of northwest New Mexico. In April, the groups entered a legal agreement with the Biden...
Court: Approval of old-growth sales in northern spotted owl habitat violated Endangered Species Act
Late Friday, a judge in the District Court for the District of Oregon ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) justification for Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) timber sales totaling nearly 18,000 acres including in old growth forest violated the...
Federal judge rules massive Montana coal mine expansion illegal
Late Friday, Billings Federal District Court Judge Susan Watters ruled that a massive expansion of the Rosebud coal strip-mine was approved illegally. The expansion was approved in June 2019 by the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM), and allowed Western Rosebud...
Wildlife advocates challenge U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule that fails endangered Mexican gray wolves
Today, wildlife advocates filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for its failure to adopt an adequate management rule for recovering the critically endangered population of Mexican gray wolves as required by the Endangered Species Act. The...
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