Western Environmental Law Center

ACTION ALERT UPDATE: #NMPol, please STAND DOWN on this Water Quality Control Commission meeting. The industry group "WATR Alliance" has withdrawn its motion to reconsider, and is filing a NEW petition that will be heard likely on 4/14.

Repeat: No need to go to the 3/10 meeting.

Historic funding for wildlife passes Oregon Legislature, heads to Gov. Kotek for signature - Western Environmental Law Center Moments ago, the Oregon Senate passed HB 4134, also known as “1.25% for Wildlife,” marking its bipartisan passage in both chambers of the Oregon Legislature. This landmark bill now heads to Gov. Kotek...

BREAKING: 1.25% for #Wildlife in #ORLeg #ORPol has PASSED THE #OREGON LEGISLATURE through ENORMOUS EFFORT by AMAZING ADVOCATES! On to Gov. Kotek!

Press release here:

Efforts to commodify O&G “produced water” (really, toxic production wastewater) are a good example of how the O&G industry attempts to entrench itself in society—esp. given fact that these efforts are sold as a solution to aridification (rather than to industry problem).

Welp: ZERO takers on the Trump administration's first lease sale for oil and gas development in the Cook Inlet, Alaska. Bidding closed today with no bids.

The lease sale was supposed to spark new interest in oil and gas development in the region. It doesn't seem to be working.

To take action: Show up to the meeting on 3/10, in person or online, and speak out. Details here: www.env.nm.gov/events-calen... #NMPol

New Mexicans don't want "treated" #fracking waste in their water. From grandparents to hydrology Ph.Ds to senators, to advocates, and on and on. But the Water Quality Control Commission might allow it anyway because it would save the oil and gas industry some trouble disposing of its waste. #NMPol

Produced water, pressure and the right to science I am an ecologist with graduate degrees in soil conservation and biology. For more than a decade, I conducted research and taught ecology and land reclamation at the University of

Finally, here's a water systems expert and scientist laying out the science and the governor's corruption on this issue, calling out Sec. Kenney for barring agency scientists from participating in the hearing:

N.M. needs climate action not backroom deals As young people on the frontlines of the climate crisis, we’ve been organizing for over five years to push New Mexico to take bold action on the climate emergency.

Here's @yuccanm.bsky.social activists including this issue in an op-ed about the governor's "backroom deals:"

Tell the truth about produced water Earlier this year, the New Mexico Water Quality Control Commission did exactly what we expect it to do — commissioners listened to the people, weighed the science and adopted a

Here's @nmpope.bsky.social with a passionate plea to the commission to protect our water supplies and operate with integrity:

Don't be flimflammed by oil and gas Earlier in August, the state Water Quality Control Commission, under heavy pressure from the oil and gas industry and their boosters in state government, decided to reverse course on a

Here's another piece from Amigos Bravos on the deception being used by the oil and gas industry to get the state to allow "treated" fracking waste discharge:

Pay attention: Produced water proposal is bad for N.M. Recent actions of the Governor’s Office to control decisions of the Water Quality Control Commission (“Gov.’s Office emails raise bias concerns on water board,” Sept. 16) raise significant concerns re...

Here's an op-ed from an Expert with a capital 'E' on New Mexico hydrology with decades of experience laying out how precisely this proposal is exceptionally permissive (weirdly so):

Reject governor's fracking waste plot In a little-known corner of state government lies the Water Quality Control Commission. It’s supposed to protect clean water, but the governor is directing certain members of the commission to

Here's @riogranderift.bsky.social writing about this dangerous shadiness:

Here's @thenewmexican.bsky.social's editorial saying why discharging oil and gas industry waste to #NMPol waters is too risky and the governor rigging this sucks:

Hey #NMPol: The Water Quality Control Commission is meeting on 3/10 to consider reviving the oil & gas industry's rulemaking petition to allow "treated" produced water (fracking waste) discharge. It would be one of the most permissive such rules nationwide.

Details: www.env.nm.gov/events-calen...

The answer to titular hypotheticals is usually "no," which can be a fun little game to play, but there are exceptions to every rule.

In this case, the answer is a resounding YES, RATEPAYERS SHOULD INDEED BE WORRIED.

Lawsuit challenges Montana’s Bull Mountains Coal Mine expansion, Trump’s sham energy emergency  - Western Environmental Law Center Conservation groups sued the Trump administration today over its approval of a major expansion of the Bull Mountains Coal Mine in Montana. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining approved the expansion last...

NEWS RELEASE: There is no energy emergency. Trump used this false pretense to skip review and public input on expanding a crappy #coal mine. We're suing.

@earthjustice.org @meic-official.bsky.social @biologicaldiversity.org @wildearthguardians.bsky.social #GreenSky

Here we see a black plume of steady emissions from a flare at an Energy Transfer plant in Carlsbad, NM. It represents a continuous release of methane and other VOCs, all of which create harmful air pollution in the surrounding area.

Learn more: biggaspolluters.org/polluter-of-...

Ep. 7: Environmental Justice for All 2026 is off to a tumultuous start, but the fight for environmental restoration and protecting our neighbors is stronger than ever.

🚨NEW PODCAST ALERT🚨

This one's about #EnvironmentalJustice with the guy who wrote the book: UNM School of Law Professor, longtime EPA legal counsel, and WELC board member Cliff Villa.

Learn why environmental justice is for everyone here (or on Apple or on Spotify if you must:

Conservation groups: Stibnite gold mine permit violates Clean Water Act, would harm Salmon River, threatened bull trout - Western Environmental Law Center Last Friday, conservation groups filed a petition for review with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) challenging a permit the agency issued early this year to Perpetua Resources for t...

NEWS RELEASE: Conservation groups: #Idaho Stibnite gold mine permit violates Clean Water Act, would harm Salmon River, threatened bull trout

Hat tip to our partners at the Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Advocates for the West, @earthworks.bsky.social, and Save the South Fork Salmon

Local Sierra Club Actions - RIOGRANDE

Today, March 2, is the deadline to submit comments on the proposed air permit for #ProjectJupiter in Dona Ana County, #NewMexico. This data center project would generate + consume more energy than the entire PNM grid. Use this form to take action.

act.sierraclub.org/actions/RioG...

Rethinking Multiple Use Management of America’s Public Lands Deciding the primary purposes and uses of more lands and waters could bring balance and health to our shared landscapes.

Good essay from @justinpidot.bsky.social calling for a profound shift in federal public land management.

Key point: the "multiple use" paradigm has fomented problematic "project-by-project" management that tends to entrench exploitation, not conservation, of public lands.

It's time for change.

Why has climate action has fallen off the political agenda?

Not because people don’t care! According to @yaleclimatecomm.bsky.social Americans are as concerned now as they were in 2019.

No. Decisionmakers are retreating because the right wing is going after them full bore & they are folding.

1/2

5. Support for data centers is nosediving Last fall, this publication’s energy intelligence unit Heatmap Pro commissioned a nationwide survey asking thousands of American voters: “Would you support or oppose a data center being built near where you live?” Net support came out to +2%, with 44% in support and 42% opposed. Earlier this month, the pollster Embold Research ran the exact same question by another 2,091 registered voters across the country. The shift in the results, which I wrote about here, is staggering. This time just 28% said they would support or strongly support a data center that houses “servers that power the internet, apps, and artificial intelligence” in their neighborhood, while 52% said they would oppose or strongly oppose it. That’s a net support of -24% — a 26-point drop in just a few months. Among the more interesting results was the fact that the biggest partisan gap was between rural and urban Republicans, with the latter showing greater support than any other faction. When I asked Emmet Penney at the right-leaning Foundation for American Innovation to make sense of that for me, he said data centers stoke a “fear of bigness” in a way that compares to past public attitudes on nuclear power.

"The hyperscalers have fumbled the comms game here," Emmet Penney, an energy researcher and senior fellow at the right-leaning Foundation for American Innovation, told me. A historian of the nuclear power sector, Penney sees parallels between the grassroots pushback to data centers and the 20th century movement to stymie construction of atomic power stations across the Western world. In both cases, opponents fixated on and popularized environmental criticisms that were ultimately deemed minor relative to the benefits of the technology - production of radioactive waste in the case of nuclear plants, and as seems increasingly clear, water usage in the case of data centers. Likewise, opponents to nuclear power saw urgent efforts to build out the technology in the face of Cold War competition with the Soviet Union as more reason for skepticism about safety. Ditto the current rhetoric on China. Penney said that both data centers and nuclear power stoke a "fear of bigness."

Heatmap found a 26 point (!!!!!!) drop in public support for data centre development and the right-wing think-tanker they interviewed put it down to "a fear of bigness"

🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

Colorado’s oil and gas industry is vastly underestimating methane emissions | Colorado Newsline A unique aerial measurement campaign found that methane emission inventories compiled by energy companies undercount such pollutants.

A unique aerial measurement campaign found that emission inventories compiled by energy companies to account for planet-warming methane leaking from equipment on Colorado oil and gas production sites undercount such pollutants by at least two times.

From @capitalandmain.bsky.social

Exclusive | U.S. Power-Plant Pollution Rose Sharply in 2025 The increase was a rare uptick in an otherwise long-term downward trend, partly because of more coal being burned to generate electricity.

Explosive, exclusive article in Wall Street Journal, documenting some of 1st results of Trump rollbacks:

U.S. Power-Plant Pollution Rose Sharply in 2025.

Rising emissions coincide with Trump administration’s push for coal use & rollback of Biden-era climate regulations. www.wsj.com/us-news/clim...

Yglesias' consternation about AI data center opposition is a tacit recognition that the 'Abundance' ecosystem is dominated by Technofeudalists and worse.

In addition to rolling back all climate and environmental regulations in the US, the current administration is actively trying to force the rest of the world to do the same. Shipping regs, EU methane regs, etc, etc.

Steve Pearce is unfit to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management. He is openly hostile to your #PublicLands, viewing them as trees to bulldoze, oil to extract, and real estate to sell to the ultra rich for pennies on the dollar. He will destroy our natural heritage for a pat on the back.

Why Steve Pearce Is Such A Concerning Nominee To Run BLM “Sell off Steve” refuses to say he won’t sell public land. Here’s how much he could cost us.

Why Steve Pearce Is Such A Concerning Nominee To Run BLM
“Sell off Steve” refuses to say he won’t sell public land. Here’s how much he could cost us.
Wes Siler
#StevePearce #BLM #StevePearceBLM
https://wessiler.substack.com/p/why-steve-pearce-is-such-a-concerning

Stop Selloff Steve

A12.1: Former Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) is in the confirmation process for head of the Bureau of Land Management. There, he'll oversee 245M acres of public lands and push to private them (sell them). Check out the VetVoice Foundation 's website and take swift action: SellOffSteve.org #ParkChat