Public Domain

2 weeks ago | publicdomain.media | Chris D'Angelo |Roque Planas

Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee, one of the most radically anti-federal land lawmakers to ever walk the halls of Congress, moved late Wednesday to force the sale of as much as 3.2 million acres of public land in 11 western states.  The proposal, part of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s contribution to the GOP’s massive budget bill, is all but guaranteed to ignite a firestorm among public land advocates across the West.

2 weeks ago | publicdomain.media | Chris D'Angelo |Jimmy Tobias |Roque Planas

A legal official at the Department of Justice has concluded that President Donald Trump has the authority to not only shrink but completely abolish areas protected as national monuments. The memo provides the legal framework for a broad reduction of federal land protections that Trump officials have alluded to for months.

2 weeks ago | publicdomain.media | Chris D'Angelo |Roque Planas

The Interior Department has released a draft strategic plan that omits contentious goals contained in an internal version leaked two months ago. The internal document, first published by Public Domain in April, called for vastly expanding energy development on federal lands, while reducing federal land holdings, shrinking national monuments, dismantling environmental protections and systematically delisting endangered species.

3 weeks ago | publicdomain.media | Jimmy Tobias

A little-known provision of Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill would open thousands of acres of public lands at the edge of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters wilderness to a foreign-owned mining company. The move amounts to a giveaway “in perpetuity” to a company that has lobbied in Washington for years, environmental campaigners say, potentially opening up one of America’s most famous wilderness areasto water pollutionrisks.

1 month ago | publicdomain.media | Jimmy Tobias

Two more former industry lobbyists have taken up influential positions at President Trump’s Interior Department, Public Domain has learned. The first, Smythe Anderson, is working as a senior advisor. She comes to DOI from the American Energy Alliance and its sister organization, the Institute for Energy Research, where she served as the director of government relations and external affairs.