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Western Environmental Law Center
@westernlaw.org
2.6K followers 560 following 820 posts
We use the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient Western lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate.
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ACTION ALERT: Our waters are under attack like never before.
Please sign this petition to safeguard New Mexico's
life-giving waters from Trump's "Polluted Water Rule:"

It would strip federal protections from almost all the #CleanWater in #NMPol.

secure.everyaction.com/zJ0Cj5GRuEO3...
Pecos River in NM
December 15, 2025 at 5:25 PM
westernlaw.org
🚨ACTION ALERT🚨

Next week: The House will vote on the SPEED Act, big on #Project2025 deregulation.

It would:
🙅‍♀️ enviro protex nationwide,
📈 private profit, 📉 public health,
🤐 frontline communities, &
🚫 your legal recourse

TELL YOUR REP TO VOTE NO: www.congress.gov/contact-us or 202-224-3121
tell your house representative a vote for the "SPEED Act" is a vote for Project 2025. The SPEED Act would gut enviro protex nationwide, prioritize private profit over public health, silence the voices of frontline communities, and severely limit the public's right to legal recourse
December 12, 2025 at 5:48 PM
westernlaw.org
A vote for the #SPEEDAct is a vote for #Project2025, unhinged deregulation, and more power in the hands of extractive industries.

Floor vote = week of 12/15.

Call or email your rep @ congress.gov/contact-us or dial (202) 224-3121 for the switchboard operator to request your rep's office.
A vote for the SPEED Act is a vote for Project 2025, unhinged deregulation, and more power in the hands of extractive industries. And after passing the House Natural Resources committee, it has an alarming chance to continue through the House. THE SPEED ACT IS GOING TO A VOTE THIS COMING MONDAY ON DECEMBER 8TH, SO WENEED TO SPEAK UP NOW. Call or email your representative at congress.gov/contact-us or dial (202) 224-3121 for the U.S. House switchboard operator to request your representative's office. SAMPLE CALL SCRIPT: "Hi, I'm [Namel calling from [Town]. I'm calling to ask Representative to oppose the SPEED Act, H.R. 4776. This bill would devastate opportunities for public participation in project development decisions, undermine scientific progress, contribute to widespread ecological harm, and steal more from Americans' already vulnerable public lands and environmental health safeguards." SAMPLE CALL SCRIPT: "Hi, I'm [Namel calling from [Town]. I'm calling to ask Representative to oppose the SPEED Act, H.R. 4776. This bill would devastate opportunities for public participation in project development decisions, undermine scientific progress, contribute to widespread ecological harm, and steal more from Americans' already vulnerable public lands and environmental health safeguards."
December 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
westernlaw.org
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟑: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 #𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲

The bill would narrow the window for filing lawsuits from 6 years to 150 days, and prohibit courts from enjoining federal agency decisions that violate the law, regardless of the harm those decisions may cause.
REASON #3: AVOIDING ACCOUNTABILITY When communities and advocacy groups identify a project's potential threats, the SPEED act would make it for people to protect their rights and interests. It would do this in many ways, including 1) narrowing the window for filing lawsuits from 6 years to 150 days, and 2) prohibiting courts from enjoining federal agency decisions that violate the law, regardless of the harm that those decisions may cause. Put simply, rather than strengthen NEPA as a tool to improve permitting, it would do precisely what NEPA's critics argue: Turn NEPA into little more than a paperwork checklist that won't improve decisions but risks grave harm to people, communities, and the places we love.
December 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
westernlaw.org
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟐: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 #𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬' 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Agencies wouldn't need to consider new science or info once a developer submits a permit app. It'd also radically scale back the scope of analysis, allowing federal agencies to disregard harms caused by multiple projects.
The SPEED Act allows federal agencies to ignore science and all impacts from a project. In a notably terrible move, the bill tells agencies that they don't need to consider new research or gather the information needed to make a reasonable decision once a developer submits a permit application. It also radically scales back the scope of analysis, allowing federal agencies to disregard the exponential harms caused by multiple projects.
December 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
westernlaw.org
𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝟏: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 #𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐭 (𝐍𝐄𝐏𝐀).

By condemning NEPA as "purely procedural," the SPEED Act prevents NEPA from improving key infrastructure development decisions, such as building new renewables without compromising ecological and community values.
3 REASONS TO OPPOSE THE SPEED ACT REASON #1: DISMANTLING THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT (NEPA) NEPA is America's foundational, community-focused environmental law. It provides people with a voice in the decision-making processes that affect their lives and values, serving as a counter to entrenched development interests with insider access to politicians and decisionmakers. This is particularly critical for communities already harmed by higher pollution rates and accelerated climate risks due to environmental racism or limited access to resources. By condemning NEPA as "purely procedural," the SPEED Act prevents NEPA from improving key infrastructure development decisions, such as building new renewables without compromising ecological and community values. REASON #2 —
December 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
westernlaw.org
Do you love #Project2025, unhinged deregulation and more pollution in your neighborhood? No?

Masquerading as a solution to faster energy development, the #SPEEDAct would actually accomplish core deregulation goals outlined in Project 2025, including...
Do you love Project 2025, unhinged deregulation, and more pollution in your neighborhood? No? Okay, then here's 3 REASONS TO OPPOSE THE SPEED ACT The Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (or SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) is yet another attempt to push the Trump administration's so-called "energy dominance" agenda, which seeks to bulldoze over community concerns in support of fossil fuel and Big Tech's power and wealth. Masquerading as a solution to faster energy development, the SPEED Act would actually accomplish core deregulation goals outlined in Project 2025, including... REASON #1-
December 4, 2025 at 9:29 PM
westernlaw.org
The far right wants to gut the nation’s bedrock environmental law with the #SPEEDAct (H.R. 4776).⁣⁣ It's an extension of the "energy dominance" agenda, and a deregulatory nightmare.

𝐀 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 #𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.⁣⁣
⁣
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

#PermittingReform
Take action today: Call or email your house rep. Tell your house rep: A vote for the speed act is a vote for project 2025. The speed act would gut environmental protex nationwide, prioritize private profit over public health, silence the voices of frontline communities, severely limit the public's right to legal recourse
December 4, 2025 at 9:03 PM
westernlaw.org
In less awesome news, we're fighting to defend wildly popular, core environmental laws & policies under attack by the Trump admin: Roadless Rule, Public Lands Rule, Endangered Species Act, & NEPA. We need all the help we can get in these (& more) fights ahead.

westernlaw.org/donate/ #GivingTuesday
The Roadless Rule is an extremely popular, science-based provision limiting commercial logging and associated road construction on some of the wildest and most undisturbed public lands in the country. One of the best American ideas of this century, the Roadless Rule protects 58.5 million acres of intact national forest lands. Yet now the Trump administration intends to rescind the Roadless Rule to allow the private logging, mining, and fossil fuel industries to profit at great generational cost to the American people and the natural world. We have vowed to fight for the Roadless Rule—and for the wild places it protects and preserves. WELC led a coalition of groups that successfully petitioned the BLM to create its 2024 Public Lands Rule. The landmark rule recognizes that conservation in public lands management is equal to extractive uses such as fossil fuel production and mining. This rule improves the balance of the agency’s multiple-use mission across 245 million acres of public lands. The Trump administration plans to eliminate the rule. We will defend the rule, which at last operationalizes the BLM’s longstanding conservation authority and responsibility under the law. NEPA: The Trump administration and some members of Congress are hellbent on eviscerating the country’s environmental “Magna Carta,” NEPA. New procedures severely limit NEPA’s application and the public’s right to participate in decisions affecting their communities. Worse still, Congress is considering several bills to further limit NEPA, including a blatant effort at wholesale deregulation under a pretense of "permit reform." The SPEED Act would silence communities, limit env reviews, exclude science, and impose excessive barriers to judicial review—all for private profit. This bill has a dangerous level of support because the issue has been misleadingly framed. We are using our expertise to defend NEPA for all people.
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
We also won a pivotal youth #climate case at the #MTpol Supreme Court. Big shout-out to our pals at @youthvgov.bsky.social & McGarvey Law, our partners on the case.

One expert called this “the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court.”

westernlaw.org/donate/ #GivingTuesday
MT is one of only a handful of states that recognizes a constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment, including a stable climate. For decades, the state of MT has promoted, incentivized, and deregulated the fossil fuel industry, knowingly worsening climate change. Beginning in 2020, we represented 16 young people in a challenge to the state of Montana’s fossil fuel permitting practices that threaten the state’s atmosphere, forests, rivers, lakes, fish, and wildlife. Elected officials’ climate denial and fealty to the fossil fuel industry have harmed these young people’s way of life and constitutional rights to pursue liberty and happiness through the enjoyment of a clean and healthful environment. We took on this case to hold MT’s government accountable and defend these youths’ constitutional rights. Alongside our partners at Our Children’s Trust and McGarvey Law, in 2023, we brought our clients’ powerful stories and climate science into the courtroom in the first ever U.S. climate trial in history. The youth plaintiffs ranged in age from 2-18 when we first filed the lawsuit. They represent unique landscapes and geographies from across the state of Montana and its Tribal lands. During this landmark trial, the youth plaintiffs bravely testified about how climate change has harmed their health, livelihoods, cultural practices, psychological well-being, and the state they call home. World-renowned climate experts testified that Montana’s promotion of fossil fuels and suppression of renewable energy development have aggravated drought, fueled megafires, and depleted natural resources. We were ecstatic when the court ruled in the youth plaintiffs’ favor in 2023, recognizing that the right to a clean and healthful environment is meaningless without a livable climate. One expert called this “the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court.” Ever defiant, the state appealed our landmark decision to the Montana Supreme Court. Read more online
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
We won a bunch of cases for #CleanWater (& things that live in it) in #WApol, #ORpol, #NMPol, & beyond.

In NM, we secured protections from Big Oil & the gov's plan to allow #fracking wastewater discharge to rivers/streams/land—as dangerous as it sounds.

westernlaw.org/donate/ #GivingTuesday
Industrial dairies that confine hundreds or thousands of cows in cramped lots create enormous amounts of manure. This waste contains phosphorus and nitrogen, which can cause serious water quality problems. The Washington Department of Ecology must ensure such facilities control these nutrients before they run off into nearby surface waters or leach into groundwater. Yet, Ecology has consistently failed to do so, endangering Washington’s waters, including Puget Sound and communities’ drinking water. In 2021, we won our case against the department's weak pollution discharge permits. Unfortunately, Ecology responded by writing new permits that were still too permissive, leaving communities at risk. We challenged those permits, winning our case this year and forcing Ecology back to the drawing board. Our victory will require new permits that include public review of each factory farm’s pollution control plan, site-specific studies to protect nearby waters, groundwater monitoring for every facility, and improved manure storage systems. Native winter steelhead trout in Oregon’s upper Willamette River basin are threatened with extinction. Yet the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allows its hatcheries to produce and release non-native summer steelhead into the North and South Santiam Rivers in April for anglers who want to fish in warmer weather. Summer steelhead can compete with, prey upon, and interbreed with winter steelhead, contributing to its decline. We challenged the non-native hatchery steelhead program because of its harmful effects on threatened winter steelhead recovery, and early this year, we won our case, with a remedy forthcoming.
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
We also kicked butt for #CanadaLynx (& forests). We fought a logging plan in key #lynx habitat in the Kettle River Mountains of NE Washington's Colville National Forest. We also compelled the feds to write the first ever lynx recovery plan. Lynx are super cool!

westernlaw.org/donate/ #GivingTuesday
Early this year, our legal advocacy resulted in vital improvements to a federal logging plan in important lynx habitat in the Kettle River Mountains of northeast Washington. Our legal agreement with the U.S. Forest Service protects this habitat in the Colville National Forest and modifies the project to protect lynx habitat and other key ecological values in the area. The federal government is required to protect and recover imperiled species such as the Canada lynx, and to “look before it leaps” when authorizing actions that may impede their recovery. When the Service proposed this logging, the agency failed to meet either requirement. Our legal agreement not only benefits threatened lynx, in part by reestablishing protective lynx analysis unit boundaries—it also protects vital national forest parcels and maintains 40% or more forest canopy in riparian areas critical for lynx forage, travel, seclusion, and breeding habitat. In recent years, WELC has prevailed in two court cases to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to design a recovery plan for threatened Canada lynx. The Service finalized such a plan and proposed new critical habitat designations for Canada lynx, including first-ever habitat protections in the southern Rocky Mountains. We have had to push the Service for every inch of progress on Canada lynx recovery, and we are hopeful the agency is beginning a new chapter of good-faith efforts for this ecologically significant, snow-dependent wild cat. Should the Trump administration try to claw back these protections, we won’t hesitate to challenge it in court.
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
We also achieved a lot for #GrizzlyBears. We protected them from runaway train collisions, notorious wildlife-killing program Wildlife Services in #Montana, and from risky #PublicLands grazing near Yellowstone.

westernlaw.org/donate/ #GivingTuesday
Protecting grizzly bears across the west: significant wins and ongoing advocacy Our legal advocacy restored protections for Greater Yellowstone grizzly bears in 2018. This important victory allows us to sustain efforts to conserve and recover this western icon even as it faces its highest mortality year yet in 2025. Climate change has diminished the bears’ food and water supplies that, in turn, have increased human-bear conflicts. A federal plan to extend the livestock grazing season and range adjacent to Yellowstone National Park in the Absaroka Mountains’ Paradise Valley only exacerbated these challenges, compelling us to action. Through hard work and savvy lawyering, we challenged this plan in federal court and won, keeping livestock out of key grizzly recovery zones, reducing the potential for conflict. Grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem recovery zone in Montana have faced a formidable foe in their recovery journey: train strikes. On 206 miles of tracks, trains have caused the deaths of 75 bears between 1975 and 2023. We challenged BNSF Railway Company for its failure to address this problem. This year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a plan that will reduce avoidable grizzly strikes with the company quickly removing grain spills, repairing leaking cars, managing vegetation, and protecting tracks from livestock. BNSF will also fund three new grizzly technicians to reduce human-grizzly conflicts in the area. Wildlife “management” killing and removal is the leading cause of grizzly bear mortality in the U.S. In Montana, federal wildlife-killing program Wildlife Services is notorious for its aggressive use of lethal removal of grizzly bears and other wildlife. Late last year, we won a case against Wildlife Services for failing to take a hard look at the consequences of its aggressive grizzly bear killing regime. One harmful impact is the impediment of grizzly connectivity between recovery zones, which scientists agree is key to the bears’ recovery. Thanks to our victory, Wildlife Services must thoroughly analyze the science, which casts doubt on the effectiveness of lethal grizzly removal, and provides breathing room for long-range conservation and recovery action.
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
In Oregon, we led the effort to secure protections for #beavers, which can help restore over 106,000 miles of impaired rivers and streams. #BeaverBelievers rejoiced!

westernlaw.org/donate/ #GivingTuesday
Oregon’s 2025 legislative session united Beaver Believers and water advocates toward a common goal: restoring over 106,000 miles of struggling rivers and streams. The Beaver State has the most miles of impaired waterways nationwide due to sedimentation, high water temperatures, and low dissolved oxygen. Expensive solutions for analysis and remediation have proven impossible to implement at the scale demanded. Fortunately, decades of scientific evidence show the effectiveness of beaver dam complexes in addressing these challenges. Championed by WELC, HB 3932 proposed the affordable, low-tech strategy of supporting natural recovery solutions by closing beaver hunting and trapping in impaired waterways on public lands. The main idea? Give beavers space and time to use their ecosystem engineering talents in places that need it most. In partnership with the Oregon Wildlife Coalition, partner groups, and scientific experts, HB 3932 is now state law—an innovative, encouraging win for Oregon beavers, waterways, and communities.
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
Oh, hey #GivingTuesday. Did you know we've kicked some serious ass for #wildlife, #forests, #CleanWater, the #climate, and western communities in 2025?

Take a short tour of our 2025 accomplishments with us...

westernlaw.org/wp-content/u...
December 2, 2025 at 6:38 PM
westernlaw.org
We must show the governor and her cabinet secretaries that mixing fracking waste with our clean water is a gamble New Mexico cannot afford to lose.

Read the whole op-ed at bit.ly/NMWaterOpEd
September 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
westernlaw.org
On 8/12, 5 cabinet secs sat on the WQCC—a first in its 58-year history—displacing experienced agency staff. Emails show the gov’s office orchestrated “WATRgate,” replacing science with politics. They all did the gov’s bidding, rejecting motions to stick with the rule that protects clean water.
At an August 12 commission meeting, something highly unusual happened: Five cabinet secretaries sat as commissioners—a first in the commission’s 58-year history—displacing experienced agency staff. Emails show the governor’s office orchestrated “WATRgate,” replacing science on the commission with politics. These commissioners all did the governor’s bidding, rejecting motions to stick with the rule that protects clean water.
September 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
westernlaw.org
NMED Sec. @jameskenney.bsky.social directed agency scientists to stand on the sidelines for the new rulemaking after years working successfully to prohibit fracking waste discharge. Never in the commission’s history has NMED failed to appear in a rulemaking for a rule it would implement.
Environment Department Sec. James Kenney directed agency scientists—charged with making sure New Mexico waters are protected—to stand on the sidelines for the new rulemaking after years working successfully to prohibit fracking waste discharge. Never in the commission’s history has the Environment Department failed to appear in a rulemaking for a rule it would implement.
September 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
westernlaw.org
It’s an enormous gift to the oil and gas industry—and a reckless gamble on technology that doesn’t yet exist.

The WQCC JUST did a rulemaking comprehensively examining the science, with even Big Oil’s witness conceding the technology “isn’t there yet” to discharge to state waters at scale.
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 approve a plan written by Big Oil to allow the state’s biggest polluters to discharge treated fracking waste into New Mexico’s water supply. It’s an enormous gift to the oil and gas industry—and a reckless gamble on technology that doesn’t yet exist.
September 22, 2025 at 8:57 PM
westernlaw.org
Also adding this, stolen from our Oregon pals because the metaphor is brilliant.

Imagine Oregon's forests as a pizza. The logging industry got to eat 5 of 6 slices. We're being asked what is a fair way to share the last slice with them.

Stand up for the #RoadlessRule TODAY! Submit a comment ⤴️
The last, best wild places. Imagine Oregon's forests as a pizza. The logging industry, over the last several decades, got to eat all but one of the slices of pizza. We're being asked what is a fair way to share the last slice of pizza with them. Muppet Swedish chef's kiss
September 19, 2025 at 2:41 PM
westernlaw.org
We signed on to the nonprofit letter to USFS Chief Tom Schulz to save the #RoadlessRule along with 328 other well-respected groups.

We don't expect him to listen. After all, he is the first USFS chief who has never worked at the Service.

Prepare for a knock-down, drag-out fight. We are.
Dear Chief Schultz, We, the undersigned groups representing millions of members, urge you not to rescind the Roadless Conservation Area Rule (Roadless Rule) but instead to keep the Rule in place to protect the wildest parts of our public forests. The plan to rescind this rule jeopardizes nearly 45 million acres of heritage forestland managed by the U.S. Forest Service, comprising nearly a quarter of the territory in our national forest system. Wild forests protected by Inventoried Roadless Area status provide the following benefits to the American public. ● Vital Habitat for Imperiled Species: The lands in question include diverse forests, wetlands, canyons and other undeveloped lands that are critical to our nation's ecological health. Because of their intact nature, these Roadless Areas provide habitat for many imperiled species such as California condors, grizzly bears and wolves in the Yellowstone area, native salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest, migratory songbirds in the Appalachian hardwoods and more. They also sustain wild salmon in Southeast Alaska, where they are the lifeblood for both the fishing industry and traditional subsistence practices of Indigenous communities. ● Important for Protecting Migration Corridors and Game Habitat: Protected roadless areas help ensure that migratory game corridors for species such as elk and mule deer remain intact and protected from roads and the industrial development roads enable. ● Vital for America’s Drinking Water: The US National Forests are the headwaters of many of our great rivers and one of the largest sources of municipal water supply in the nation, serving over 60 million people in 3,400 communities in 33 states. Roads are a major cause of water pollution. Because it provides significant protection for upper watersheds, the Roadless Rule is vital for maintaining clean drinking water for communities across the country. Major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Portland, Denver and Atlanta receive a signi… Outdoor Recreation: Roadless areas offer abundant outdoor recreation opportunities such as hunting, fishing, camping and other activities. Every year, millions of people take advantage of the free (or extremely affordable) access to these public lands. Roadless areas protect 11,337 climbing routes and boulder problems, more than 1,000 whitewater paddling runs, 43,826 miles of trail, and 20,298 mountain biking trails. Large sections of the Continental Divide, Pacific Crest, and Appalachian National Scenic Trails traverse protected roadless areas. ● Climate mitigation: Roadless areas - especially those with significant stands of mature and old-growth trees - are vital for absorbing and storing carbon, which mitigates the impacts of climate change. Among these forests, is Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the nation’s largest and a global carbon sink, with its old-growth trees capturing 10 million metric tons of CO₂ every year. Rescinding roadless area protection would undermine all of the benefits listed above as well as endanger communities and put a financial burden on communities and taxpayers. ● Increased risk of wildfires: Building more roads will lead to more wildfires. New research currently in peer-review that analyzed over 30 years of data shows that from 1992-2024 wildfires were four times as likely to start in areas with roads than in roadless forest tracts. Another study showed that more than 90 percent of all wildfires nationwide occurred within half a mile of a road. ● Financial burden on communities: An increase in logging, mining and drilling activities - along with harms caused by roads such as increased sedimentation loads or impaired culverts - can have devastating impacts to drinking water quality and fish habitat. The cost will fall on communities, who will face threats to their supply of clean water and will need to clean up polluted water before sending it to households and local economies – and will suffer from the damage to commercial and recr… Sincerely, 350 Bay Area Action 350 Eugene 350 Sacramento 350 Salem Oregon 350 Santa Barbara 350 Seattle Active San Gabriel Valley Advocates for Snake Preservation Alaska Soles, Great Old Broads for Wilderness Alaska Wilderness League American Bird Conservancy American Hiking Society Animal Welfare Institute Anza Trail Foundation Appalachian Voices Back Country Horsemen of America Bark for Mt Hood Battle Creek Alliance Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group Bird Alliance of Oregon Bird Alliance of Southwestern New Mexico BIRD CONSERVATION NETWORK Birds Georgia Black Hills Clean Water Alliance Black Swamp Bird Observatory Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project Blue Ridge PRISM Blue Ridge, Central Virginia, and Southern Virginia Land Conservancies California Land Watch California State Parks Foundation Californians for Western Wilderness CalWild Carbon180 Cascadia Wildlands Catawba Riverkeeper Catoctin Land Trust Center for Biological Diversity Center for Large Landscape Conservation Center for Responsible Forestry Central Oregon LandWatch Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center Chapman Forest Foundation Chattooga Conservancy Chesapeake Bay Foundation Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage Citizens for a Safe & Clean Lake Superior Citizens United for Responsible Energy &Development (CURED) Clean Air for All Now! Clean Fairfax Clean Water Action CleanAIRE NC CleanEarth4Kids.org Climate Action California Climate Communications Coalition Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas (CFROG) Climate Hawks Vote Coalition for a Beautiful Los Angeles Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection Coastal Carolina Riverwatch Color My Outdoors Colorado Mountain Club Committees for Land, Air, Water and Species (CLAWS) Concerned Citizens of Cook County (GA) Conservation Biology Institute Conservation Colorado Conservation Northwest Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship Cook Inletkeeper CURE Dakota Rural Action Defenders of Highline Forest Defenders of Wildlife Defiance Canyon Raptor Rescue Delaware-Ots… Diné C.A.R.E. Disabled Hikers Dogwood Alliance Dolores River Boating Advocates Earth Charter Indiana Earth Ethics, Inc. Earthjustice Earthjustice Action Earthworks Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation Eastern Sierra Broads EcoFlight Environment America Environment California Environment Georgia Environment Michigan Environment Minnesota Environment New Mexico Environment North Carolina Environment Oregon Environment Texas Environment Washington Environmental Defense Center Environmental Equity Information Institute Environmental Law & Policy Center Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) Feminist Bird Club - Asheville Chapter Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) Florida Springs Council Fort Worth Audubon Society Frederick Stand With Palestine Friends of Bell Smith Springs Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Friends of Douglas-Fir National Monument Friends of Gold Butte Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks (FHBP) Friends of Quincy Run Watershed Friends of the Amargosa Basin Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness Friends of the Clearwater Friends of the Dunes Friends of the Earth Friends of the Inyo Friends of the Kalmiopsis Friends of the Nanticoke River Friends of the Wild Swan Friends of White's Woods Georgia Interfaith Power and Light Gila Resources Information Project Glacier—Two Medicine Alliance Global Witness Golden Gate Bird Alliance Grand Canyon Trust Great Burn Conservation Alliance Great Old Broads for Wilderness Great Salt Lake Audubon Greater Hells Canyon Council Greater Yellowstone Coalition Green Cove Defense Committee GreenLatinos Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL Utah) Heart of the Gila Heartwood High Country Conservation Advocates Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History Humane World Action Fund Humane World for Animals Idaho Conservation League Indigenous Environmental Network Information Network …
September 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
westernlaw.org
Today, on behalf of 26 groups, we delivered a letter to the House Cmt. on Natural Resources strongly opposing the SPEED Act, which would eviscerate the crucial National Environmental Policy Act.

Our statement: westernlaw.org/environmenta...
“Democrats must not—especially with the Trump administration in power for three more years—surrender America’s bedrock community and environmental protections to the fossil fuel and extractive industries, intent on looting public resources for profit without regard for the consequences,” said Marlyn Twitchell, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “The provisions in the SPEED Act are so extreme, with no benefit for renewable energy, it defies logic and reason that any Democrat would consider supporting this industry assault on the public. Under no circumstances should anyone concerned with climate or public lands entertain the idea of opening the floodgates of fossil fuel development during the Trump administration. Given the administration’s war on renewable energy projects, this bill would do little but SPEED the climate crisis and the fires, floods, droughts, hurricanes, and oppressive heat that have already killed so many Americans and so severely damaged our homes, public lands, and economy. Congress must protect the public interest. It must not surrender the health and safety of our communities and the nation’s natural heritage to private industry.” Today, we delivered a letter on behalf of 26 organizations to members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources condemning the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) in advance of today’s hearing on the bill. The SPEED Act, strongly supported by the fossil fuel industry, would eviscerate the country’s foremost environmental law and eliminate the public’s right to judicial review of federal environmental decisions. The bill would effectively give the richest and most polluting industry in America carte blanche to exploit public resources and pollute communities whenever and wherever it wants. The SPEED Act would cynically gut NEPA, the nation’s bedrock environmental law, and would impose breathtaking restrictions on the public’s right to judicial review of agency decisions. Among many other things, the bill proposes to: Sharply limit the type of actions that require environmental review and narrow the scope of reviews Allow agencies to ignore new scientific or technical research when preparing a review, and Impose excessive barriers to judicial review of improper agency decisions and constrain the remedies available to courts such that power is shifted to developers over the public interest. Significantly, by defining the law as purely procedural, the bill would gut NEPA’s central purpose to ensure all federal agencies consider their environmental impacts. For 50 years NEPA has directed agencies to consider environmental consequences of proposed actions, engage the public to ensure that “to the fullest extent possible,” they “look before they leap.” “Democrats must not—especially with the Trump administration in power for three more years—surrender America’s bedrock community and environmental protections to the fossil fuel and extractive industries, intent on looting public resources for profit without regard for the consequences,
September 10, 2025 at 9:16 PM
westernlaw.org
Big ups to @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social for publishing this tool showing who is behind the #Abundance movement to coincide with this week's conference: therevolvingdoorproject.org/who-is-behin...

It's all the worst people, pretending to be liberals, pushing a tired right-wing deregulatory agenda.
Let's see who's behind abundance once and for all. It's Koch, Peter Thiel, Big Oil, big tech, elon musk, facebook, AI, climate deniers, and hedge funds
September 4, 2025 at 4:02 PM
westernlaw.org
🌶️ You can’t grow chile without clean water. In Rio Arriba County, aging oil & gas wells threaten to poison what sustains us: land, water, and legacy. Op-ed from @vivarioarriba.bsky.social on why modernizing bonding will help make #NMPol safer and cleaner.

www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_v...
We are ranchers in Rio Arriba County. This is a place where land is heritage, where the native grass roots run deep into the soil, and community roots run just as deep. It’s where our family and neighbors raise livestock, grow crops, and live by the principles of care, conservation and reciprocity. None of it is possible without clean, dependable water. But that water is at risk. Aging oil and gas wells dot the landscape across New Mexico and many sit unplugged and deteriorating. These wells leak and vent harmful, even toxic, gasses like methane and benzene into our air, and they threaten to contaminate the very aquifers that hold the clean water that nourishes our land, wildlife and families. Here’s the hard truth: Oil and gas corporations are not required to set aside nearly enough money to clean up the mess they leave when the wells are no longer making them money. They are allowed to post a small bond and then many just walk away, leaving the real cleanup bill to us, the public. If we don’t act now to protect our water, we’re not just threatening ranching and farming. We are threatening the cultural lifeways of rural New Mexico. The Oil Conservation Commission has a chance right now to fix this. New bonding rules must ensure that oil and gas corporations pay up front for the true cost of cleanup. The full cost so the burden doesn’t fall on rural families, tribal communities and working lands. This land gave us everything. We can’t pass down poisoned land and call it a legacy. We must protect what we’ve inherited. We must demand accountability from those who profit from our natural resources.
September 2, 2025 at 7:41 PM
westernlaw.org
Got plans on Friday, 9/12?

In two weeks, join our team and Think Wild in Bend for a night of trivia, activities, and conversation celebrating wildlife advocacy (and our favorite ecosystem engineers)!🦫

More details and RSVP here: secure.lglforms.com/form_engine/...
light blue background and colorful illustration featuring beavers building a dam on the whole world.
August 29, 2025 at 8:30 PM