Pulse of the Land - 9/22/2025
A weekly brief for conservation and cleaner energy
Key Takeaways This Week
Comments are open for Public Land Rule Recession
Temporaty Closures of Public Lands
Cleaning up some of the outrage recently - Acreage being leased and Solar/Wind on public lands.
Government Spotlight
Public Lands Rule rescission → comments open.
Interior’s proposal to rescind BLM’s 2024 Public Lands Rule was published Sept 11; comments due Nov 10. Early filings and coalition letters are beginning to hit the docket.
Ambler Road
CRA fallout coverage (Senate up next). National pieces framed how the House’s early-Sept CRA votes to void certain BLM plans (incl. Central Yukon RMP) could clear obstacles for projects like Ambler Road; the Senate timeline and strategy were the focus this week.
Cost: A reasonable present-day range is ~1B to build, plus $9–14M/yr to operate and maintain.
Oil & gas leasing pace (policy context, $$).
BLM posted two big lease-sale tallies this week: $38M in receipts across 23 parcels in MT/ND (posted Sept 15), and $8.45M for 32 parcels / 39,225 acres in WY (posted Sept 17). The Wyoming release flags the new statutory 12.5% federal royalty floor set by the current administration’s energy policy.
The State of Public Lands
Grand Canyon — North Rim recovery ops:
NPS updated its North Rim status page: BAER work continues; facility stabilization planning is underway. Practically, the North Rim remains closed through the season.
Sierra & Cascades closures roll forward:
New/continuing closure orders in Sierra NF (Garnet Fire) and updates in North Cascades kept trails and camps shut over this window affecting access for hunters, anglers, and fall visitors.
Clean Energy Projects in the News
Idaho geothermal - post-sale processing
After the Sept 9 auction, BLM Idaho posted a results hub indicating >$4M in receipts and listing registered bidders. Now moving into payments, bonding, and lease issuance. Not flashy, but it unlocks exploration plans.
Nevada lithium - Silver Peak EIS track:
BLM’s project page and scoping report confirm a Draft EIS window in fall 2025 with meeting prep underway (virtual meeting set for Sept 23 per prior notice). Expect tribal/wildlife memos (e.g., golden eagle and Native concerns) to guide mitigation asks.
The Fine Print – what the stories miss.
“BLM just opened tens of thousands of acres to drilling in WY/MT/ND”
What the headlines imply: Massive new industrialization.
Reality check: A lease sale doesn’t authorize drilling. It’s the first step; any well still needs an Application for Permit to Drill (APD), site-specific NEPA, and mitigation. Even when development occurs, the long-term disturbed footprint per pad tends to be ~1.5–5 acres (single vs. multi-well pads), not the full lease acreage often cited in stories.
Why the outrage outpaces impact: Lease-acre totals make for eye-popping graphics, but most leased acres are never fully developed, and disturbance is concentrated on small pads/roads. Still impactful locally, but far less than “X thousand acres industrialized.” (Wyoming’s sale last week was 39,225 acres, $8.45M a leasing stat, not a drilling approval.)
“Solar/wind on public lands will consume a state’s worth of habitat”
What the headlines imply: Renewables will blanket the West.
Reality check: Recent federal-lands modeling shows that even in high-build scenarios, the directly disturbed area for renewables is a small fraction of the total planning area. On the order of hundreds of thousands to ~1.2 million acres nationally by 2035 in aggressive cases (and much less in most scenarios). Projects are also steered to lower-conflict zones via the Western Solar Plan and BLM’s 2024 renewables rule.
Why the outrage outpaces impact: Maps often show total lease/ROW area, not the fenced-in pads actually graded. Transmission and siting still matter (and can bite), but “Maine-sized” claims usually reference planning envelopes, not disturbed ground.
What to Watch Next
Watch for follow-ups on Interior’s policies emphasizing “multiple use” vs conservation (ACECs, land health, buffer requirements) — see how new stipulations might shift management plans. Public Land Rule Comment Period until 11/10/2025
Multiple public lands input actions are open or upcoming:
BLM is doing supplemental environmental analysis for oil & gas leases in Wyoming that were challenged in court.
Draft cave & karst management plan in Oregon-Washington; comment period open until Sept 29.
Mining plan of operations in the Baker Field Office (Oregon/Washington) decision record has been issued.
Thank you for reading! I highlight threats to public lands and the energy industry’s impact. I believe clean energy is the future, and ALL energy projects should prioritize private land first to keep wild places wild. When eneregy extraction is needed on public lands all projects must restore the land after extraction. Public lands are unique and once lost, they’re gone forever.