Pulse of the Land | Blind by Design
Gutting stream gauges, lifting mining caps, and the quiet work of making damage unprovable.
“I get goosebumps just thinking about the wonder of living in a nation where anyone, rich or poor, has access to such a beautiful diversity of landscapes and a stunningly rich array of natural resources.”
Steve Rinella
1. One Company Can Now Own Unlimited Federal Mining Territory. Nobody’s Talking About It.
Effective March 23, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management finalized a rule removing statewide acreage limitations for hardrock mineral permits and leases. That’s this week. Barely registered anywhere.
Here’s what that actually means. For decades, there was a cap on how much federal land any single entity could hold in hardrock mineral permits or leases within a given state. The rule existed specifically to prevent monopolization. The BLM itself acknowledged the provision was put there “to prevent any one entity from monopolizing access to the mineral resources in a particular state.”
They removed it anyway. Decided it wasn’t statutorily required, so why keep it?
The change was packaged inside a broader Interior announcement rescinding 18 BLM regulations under Secretary Burgum’s deregulatory agenda. Described as eliminating “unnecessary barriers to economic growth.” That framing is doing a lot of work. “Unnecessary” is one way to describe a rule that kept a single mining company from locking up a state’s entire mineral estate on federal land.
The critical minerals push gives this political cover. Say “national security” and “supply chain” and you can move a lot of policy without anyone blinking. But the beneficiaries here aren’t mom-and-pop prospectors. They’re the companies with enough capital to accumulate that kind of acreage in the first place.
We gave away the anti-monopoly protection. Without a single news cycle.
2. They’re Dismantling the Country’s Water Nervous System. Nobody’s Noticed.
The Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposes a 90% cut to USGS ecological research and a 39% reduction across the agency overall. Including the elimination of its Ecosystems Mission Area entirely. Not a trim. An elimination.
The piece flying completely under the radar is the stream gauge network. The USGS operates 12,165 stream gauges. A real-time system providing flood warnings, drought tracking, water quality data, and the foundational science for everything we know about how western water moves. Interior is requesting 22% less in 2026 for the program that runs it.
And the operational damage is already happening. DOGE travel restrictions are now preventing field technicians from staying overnight. Which for remote gauges in the West means critical maintenance isn’t getting done. You can’t drive to a gauge on the upper Gila and back in a day. GSA has proposed terminating leases for 25 USGS water science centers, including offices in Bozeman, Moab, Spokane, and Cheyenne.
The stated rationale is revealing. OMB wants to eliminate USGS programs focused on “social agendas (e.g., climate change)” and instead focus on “achieving dominance in energy and critical minerals.”
Here’s the problem. Ranchers use these gauges. Farmers use these gauges. Cities use them for flood response. You cannot credibly claim energy and minerals dominance without knowing baseline water conditions. Without that monitoring infrastructure, you’re not managing extraction. You’re extracting blindly and hoping no one can prove the damage.
That’s not an accident. It’s a design choice.
3. Now, Something Real: Geothermal Is Actually Happening
I try not to be reflexively cynical here. Credit where it’s due.
Fervo Energy’s Cape Generating Station in Utah, the first large-scale commercial enhanced geothermal system in the United States, is scheduled to come online in June 2026. Second and third units expected in January 2027. Two additional phases already planned. The company has signed power purchase agreements totaling 320 megawatts with Southern California Edison.
What makes enhanced geothermal different is that it doesn’t require naturally occurring underground hot water. EGS uses horizontal drilling and fracking techniques adapted from the oil and gas industry to create hydrothermal reservoirs where they don’t naturally exist. Which means geothermal could eventually be developed almost anywhere. Not just the geology-lucky corners of Nevada and Utah.
The USGS estimates 135 gigawatts of potential EGS capacity in the Great Basin alone. Other projections put economically viable national capacity at 90 to 150 gigawatts by 2050. For context, the entire existing U.S. geothermal fleet is about 2.7 gigawatts.
Geothermal has also found the rare political sweet spot. The Trump administration has consistently treated it more favorably than other clean energy technologies. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act aggressively phased out solar and wind incentives and largely preserved credits for geothermal. That won’t last forever. But for now the momentum is real, the technology is proven, and the resource is enormous.
Baseload. Carbon-free. On already-permitted federal land in Utah. That’s the story.
4. And One Quiet Win for the Land Itself
Not everything is a fight. Sometimes people just do the right thing.
The Appalachian Mountain Club is returning 1,700 acres of wetlands and forest to the Penobscot Nation. No cost, no restrictions. And they’ll restore road access that has been closed to both the public and the Tribe for two decades before the transfer.
Also out of Maine: 166 fish passage restoration projects in the 100-Mile Wilderness have reconnected over 162 miles of streams. Unglamorous, patient, effective conservation. The kind that rarely gets a headline.
The bigger picture is that river restoration works. When rivers flow freely, they reduce flood risks, support fisheries, and allow biodiversity to bounce back faster than expected. Research on restored ecosystems consistently shows recovery timelines that outpace early projections.
The bad news is structural and accelerating. The good news is that the land responds when we let it. Both things are true.
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 energy 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.
Sources:
Story 1: BLM Hardrock Mining Acreage Cap
Federal Register, “Rescission of Regulations Regarding Leasing of Solid Minerals Other Than Coal and Oil Shale,” Feb. 19, 2026. federalregister.gov
Bureau of Land Management, “Interior Slashes Outdated Energy Regulations to Boost Economic Growth on Public Lands.” blm.gov
Story 2: USGS Stream Gauges
Stroud Water Research Center, “USGS Cuts to Water Resources Threaten Health and Safety,” Feb. 4, 2026. stroudcenter.org
Western Landowners Alliance / On Land, “Stream Gaging Capacity Cuts Could Be Devastating for the West.” onland.westernlandowners.org
Bay Journal, “USGS Faces Big Cuts, Endangering Chesapeake Science,” June 25, 2025. bayjournal.com
Story 3: Fervo Geothermal
U.S. Energy Information Administration, “Enhanced Geothermal Systems Could Expand Geothermal Power Generation.” eia.gov
Foley Hoag Energy & Climate Counsel, “New Daylight for Geothermal,” March 16, 2026. foleyhoag.com
Story 4: AMC / Penobscot Land Return
Appalachian Mountain Club, “25 Reasons to Feel Hopeful About Conservation in 2026,” Dec. 19, 2025. outdoors.org