Jimmy Tobias

The Biggest Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Grazing on Public Lands Livestock grazing is allowed across 240 million acres of federal land. Our investigation revealed the subsidies propping up ranching, its impact on the environment and the politics underpinning the sy...

Our three-part investigation into public lands ranching explores the subsidies baked into ranching, environmental impacts, and politics working behind the scenes. Read the takeaways from @jamesctobias.bsky.social & Mark Olalde's collaborative @propublica.org & @highcountrynews.org project.

thank you @maddow.bsky.social for highlighting our reporting on this!

readers: subscribe to Public Domain and support our work at publicdomain.media

Public Domain Sues Trump Administration Again Plus, our investigation cited in NYT and featured on Rachel Maddow.

our little"blog" (as Trump's Interior loves to call us) — a “blog” that recently blew the door open on Interior official Karen Budd-Falen’s financial ties to a massive lithium mine on federal land in Nevada — has sued the Trump Interior Dept …

…again
www.publicdomain.media/p/public-dom...

SCOOP: A Top Trump Official Has Financial Ties To Controversial Nevada Lithium Project Karen Budd-Falen’s family ranching operation agreed to sell water rights to the company developing the Thacker Pass lithium mine.

Public Domain, an environmental news outlet, earlier reported some of the details of Mr. Falen’s financial relationship with Thacker Pass

www.publicdomain.media/p/karen-budd...

SCOOP: A Top Trump Official Has Financial Ties To Controversial Nevada Lithium Project Karen Budd-Falen’s family ranching operation agreed to sell water rights to the company developing the Thacker Pass lithium mine.

Top Interior Department official Karen Budd-Falen has financial ties to the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada, of which the American people are now partial owners thanks to the Trump administration: www.publicdomain.media/p/karen-budd... via @jamesctobias.bsky.social @chrisdangelo.bsky.social

He Lobbied For Offshore Oil Drillers. Now He Runs The Agency That Regulates Them. As BOEM’s new principal deputy director, former lobbyist Matt Giacona is shaping Gulf of Mexico oil policy and facilitating industry access. Ethics experts sound the alarm.

In October, congressional Democrats asked the Interior Department’s inspector general to investigate Matthew Giacona following revelations, first reported by @jamesctobias.bsky.social, that he has used his BOEM position to work on niche policy matters previously the focus of his oil lobbying role.

my colleague @jamesctobias.bsky.social and I first reported this in our newsletter Public Domain three weeks ago

link here: www.publicdomain.media/p/karen-budd...

PRESS RELEASE: Federal Judge Orders DOJ to Produce the Epstein List by Jan 6.—or Explain Why They Can't Journalist Jimmy Tobias sued for the list, which Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed was sitting on her desk in February.

In Feb. Pam Bondi said the Epstein list was sitting on her desk. Now, in a lawsuit brought by Loevy on behalf of @jamesctobias.bsky.social, a judge has ordered the DOJ to produce the list by Jan. 6 or explain to the Court why they can't. Read the press release here: www.loevy.com/press-releas...

Thank you Sammy! I appreciate it.

Free Range Archives The federal grazing system, propped up by subsidies and access to 375,000 square miles of the West, disproportionately benefits billionaires, mining companies and large corporate outfits. Dwindling ov...

Epic @propublica.org / @highcountrynews.org series on the many ways Western ranchers run rampant over public lands, degrading ecosystems while the federal government helps them get away with it. Great work by @jamesctobias.bsky.social and company. www.propublica.org/series/free-...

A Loophole Allows Ranchers to Renew Grazing Permits With Little Scrutiny of the Environmental Impact With dwindling oversight, cattle are grazing where they’re not supposed to and in greater numbers or for longer periods than permitted. This can spread invasive plants, pushing out native species and ...

BLM Lets Ranchers Renew Grazing Permits With Little #Environmental Scrutiny

Mark Olalde and Lucas Waldron report for @propublica.org and @jamesctobias.bsky.social reports for @highcountrynews.org with photos by Roberto “Bear” Guerra.

www.propublica.org/article/graz...

Powerful Friends: Sympathetic Officials and “Cultural Power” Help Ranchers Dodge Oversight Elected officials are quick to support public lands ranchers who are accused of breaking rules. As a result, federal agencies pull punches when enforcing regulations.

Powerful Friends: Sympathetic Officials and “Cultural Power” Help Ranchers Dodge Oversight, by @jamesctobias.bsky.social and Mark Olalde w/ @highcountrynews.org

A rancher moves a herd of cattle between pastures in Colorado.

Cattle owned by the ranching company BTAZ Nevada graze in sagebrush habitat on the Forest Service’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in central Nevada.

An aerial photo shows a massive open pit mine with haze rising from the center.

A new investigation from @propublica.org & @highcountrynews.org finds that government programs for grazing on public lands help the wealthiest of ranchers while harming the environment. www.propublica.org/article/graz...

Public Domain sues Trump's Interior Department Our first FOIA lawsuit seeks the calendar entries of top DOGE operatives and other political appointees.

independent journalist jimmy tobias is suing the interior department in an effort to release information about DOGE employees, which he says the agency has not been providing despite repeated FOIA requests

Thanks Sammy :)

The Weekly Wrap — November 7, 2025 A rotten week for The White House

Thanks, @jamesctobias.bsky.social!

He Once Pushed to Divest Federal Lands. Now He's Trump's BLM Nominee. Most federal land "we do not even need," wrote former Congressman Steve Pearce in a 2012 letter.

Trump's new nominee to lead the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is a former oilman who once called for divesting federal lands: www.publicdomain.media/p/trump-blm-... via @jamesctobias.bsky.social

Inside Utah’s PR Campaign to Seize Public Lands Utah used actors, AI, stagecraft and NDAs as it sought to sway public opinion and take control of 18.5 million acres of federal public land

Inside #Utah’s PR Campaign to Seize Public Lands

@jamesctobias.bsky.social reports for Public Domain, published with @highcountrynews.org

#news #environment #climatechange

EJ Today Headlines: sej.org/headlines/list

www.publicdomain.media/p/utah-publi...

Budget Bill Hands Public Land Near Iconic Minnesota Wilderness To Foreign Mining Company The reconciliation bill overrides federal laws and regulations to benefit one Chilean company — Antofagasta PLC — that wants to mine near the Boundary Waters wilderness area.

Big Bill Hands Public Land Near Minnesota Wilderness To Foreign Mining Company

@jamesctobias.bsky.social reports for Public Domain

#news #environment #climatechange

EJ Today Headlines: sej.org/headlines/list

www.publicdomain.media/p/boundary-w...

Budget Bill Hands Public Land Near Iconic Minnesota Wilderness To Foreign Mining Company The reconciliation bill overrides federal laws and regulations to benefit one Chilean company — Antofagasta PLC — that wants to mine near the Boundary Waters wilderness area.

make no mistake, the House budget bill still very much includes a public land giveaway

great piece from @jamesctobias.bsky.social today on the provision to hand ~6,000 acres of federal land near Minnesota's iconic Boundary Waters over to a Chilean mining giant
www.publicdomain.media/p/boundary-w...

More Lobbyists Turn Up At Trump’s Interior Department They join a stable of industry insiders at DOI, including DOGE operative Tyler Hassen, who made millions in the energy sector before joining the agency

More Lobbyists Turn Up At Trump’s Interior Department

@jamesctobias.bsky.social reports for Public Domain

#news #environment #climatechange

EJ Today Headlines: sej.org/headlines/list

www.publicdomain.media/p/more-lobby...

More Lobbyists Turn Up At Trump’s Interior Department They join a stable of industry insiders at DOI, including DOGE operative Tyler Hassen, who made millions in the energy sector before joining the agency

From @jamesctobias.bsky.social:

Pro-Trump 2020 “Stop the Count” Activist Lands High-Level Job at Interior Department Interior Department appointee Daniel Gustafson is a long-time Trump loyalist who participated in a protest to “stop the count” of Michigan ballots in 2020.

Pro-Trump 2020 “Stop the Count” Activist Lands High-Level Job at Interior
#news #environment

@jamesctobias.bsky.social and ‪‪@chrisdangelo.bsky.social‬
report for Public Domain

www.publicdomain.media/p/trump-inte...

Trump Administration Moves to 'Neuter' America's Most Important Wildlife Law Congressional Republicans also plan to turn the Endangered Species Act into a dead letter.

Trump Admin Moves to 'Neuter' America's Most Important Wildlife Law
#news #environment

@jamesctobias.bsky.social reports for Public Domain

www.publicdomain.media/p/trump-neut...

The article says that the Washington Post was the first to report on Matt Luby's role at DOI, but Public Domain broke that story first too: www.publicdomain.media/p/vivek-rama...

Loyalists, Lobbyists and Industry Insiders — the New Political Appointees at the Interior Department As civil servants get purged, President Trump doles out patronage at DOI

See our original story here: www.publicdomain.media/p/loyalists-...

Interior releases Burgum staff list Records released under the Freedom of Information Act offer a comprehensive look into the secretary’s inner circle.

.@eenews.bsky.social confirms the names of more than 20 Interior Department political appointees -- many of them were first reported by Public Domain in March. www.eenews.net/articles/int...

Trump Administration Moves to 'Neuter' America's Most Important Wildlife Law Congressional Republicans also plan to turn the Endangered Species Act into a dead letter.

Trump Administration Moves to 'Neuter' America's Most Important Wildlife Law
www.publicdomain.media/p/trump-neut...

Well if you had actually read the article like you claimed you would see that the following several paragraphs contain the views of scientists who thought the paper had serious flaws, etc.

Exclusive is often what reporters call stories that contain documents no one else has :) It's very common.