Next Interior Memos weekly digest, 2025-08-28
Last post of "summer"
The summer is winding down and Labor Day is almost here! In some ways the news is faster than ever but in others it’s a bit slow. Today’s digest provides some news, but also a bit information I hope will inspire engagement in these times we’re in.
Late update: In recognition of Labor Day, I should have included one of my all-time favorite albums, Fellow Workers from Ani Difranco and Utah Phillips. Hope you find it inspirational and motivational!
Engagement, plus some recent news
This item isn’t Interior-specific but I hope it is valuable. Next Interior is a small operation so we’re working with lots of coalitions to help amplify our impact. One is the America The Beautiful For All Coalition—check them out. Another is a coalition organized by Civil Service Strong, the Partnership for Public Service, and the Volcker Alliance to help provide broad support to people and groups who believe in the civil service and institutions that serve the country.
Recently we’ve started getting resources together and sharing them to facilitate consistent messaging on themes that appear to resonate, get people to relevant committees in Congress, and more. For example, as folks return to school, these are a few concise messages that can help us communicate what it means to lose federal staff and programs—real impacts for people:
Polling shows Americans are not on board with these cuts. Who wants staffing and programs cut at our national parks and wildlife refuges, or in renewable energy programs, or serving Indian Country? Not most people!
In the end, the public suffers due to the irresponsible cuts to programs and staffing that threaten support for students, assistance for families and resources for teachers.
Congress has the responsibility—and the power—to investigate and reveal the full impact of these workforce reductions and hold the executive branch accountable. We should be asking for—appealing, demanding—they do this for Interior, for education and beyond!
As you engage with others, in your work or personal lives, and think about Interior and what it means to you, consider how your voice can help support and amplify these messages. How your relationships and trust can help influence and convince those who don’t know or don’t care about what’s happening. It matters!
Interior news
Attacks on renewables and climate continue apace. It feels like Groundhog Day sometimes, or maybe MadLibs where you just switch out the name of specific projects or locations in ready-made sentences.
- Another offshore wind project stopped.
- More offshore oil and gas lease sales.
- Coal mine expansion for Montana authorized.
- At the same time, see this great series from Montana Free Press about the tension and complexities of energy production in the state.
Additional news-y items:
- There’s a new Secretary’s Order, declaring next 23 July as Day of the American West. Look, I love the West, and given the opportunity I will head back out there. But consistent with this administration's desire to paint everything in our history with a cheery smile, no matter how terrible, while it does mention Native Americans in the West as Europeans expanded westward, it conveniently avoids discussing what that meant for the Tribes, their people, their lands… See SO 3439
- National Park Service staffers in “survival mode” to keep parks running.
- Cool graphic from USGS on how its science has shifted since the removal of dams on the Klamath River!
- A former solicitor with the Department of the Interior fact checks Secretary Burgum’s statements about the Park Policy vehicle pursuit policy that he made earlier this week. You will probably not be surprised to learn that the Secretary didn’t get it right.
- Great continuing coverage from The Land Desk on the data center explosion and considering its ramifications—which include Interior.
Not Interior-specific, but relevant:
- “[T]he Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) announced a first-of-its-kind agreement with the State of Alaska. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) provides for federal permitting assistance through the Permitting Council’s FAST-41 program, as the state and the federal government work together to streamline the permitting process for critical infrastructure projects across Alaska.” (Announcement) This should raise red flags about how this might harm Interior’s resources and responsibilities…I’m particularly concerned about rural subsistence users.
- A moment of science of some consequences from oil and gas: Researchers "estimate lifecycle annual burdens of 91,000 premature deaths attributable to fine particles (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone, 10,350 PM2.5-attributable preterm births, 216,000 incidences of NO2-attributable childhood-onset asthma, and 1610 lifetime cancers attributable to hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Racial-ethnic minorities experience the greatest disparities in exposure and health burdens across almost all lifecycle stages." Science Advances
- “The California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) established the Tribal Nature-Based Solutions (TNBS) Program in response to feedback received from California Native American tribes…” and they have released a draft updated Tribal Nature Based Solutions Grant Guidelines.
- This can and should matter to Interior and the United States! World’s Highest Court Embraces the Right to a Healthy Environment
- The Trump administration has decided to “forego” the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey this year—even though it is required by law! I wonder why? 🧐 Can’t have statistics to show just how bad things are if you don’t collect the data:
What is coming
With the end of summer and August recess, and transition back-to-school and back-to-Congress, there’s a general dearth of upcoming events, but here are a few things to watch for:
- We have made decisions on the Next Interior Fellows Program and hope to announce those next week (folks on vacation). Stay tuned!
- Next Tuesday’s Memo will be a letter to the future—really key to Next Interior. Again, stay tuned!
- Be sure to check out events from the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society. See if there’s one that fits your interests!
- We have just over a month of FY 2025 funding left before Congress (a) passes a budget [extremely unlikely]; (b) passes a continuing resolution [very unlikely]; or (c) fails to act and lets the government shut down. Further complicating matters, we still have the White House saying they will propose to rescind funding Congress already appropriated, and even threatening to use (clearly illegal) “pocket rescissions” to avoid spending the funds Congress told the Executive Branch to spend. In other words, there’s super-high uncertainty in the air with federal funding.
We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for opportunities, and welcome any tips you might have: info@nextinterior.org.
Bonus read
Beyond the Interior and federal agencies / civil service sphere, there are a few important reads out there about the state of things in America in August 2025. This is not an easy read, but I feel like we need to know and continue to take action.
Parting shot
