The Trump administration has opened protected lands in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains and New Mexico’s Upper Pecos watershed to drilling and mining, reversing Biden-era rules enacted at the request of Native American communities.
Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.
In short:
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has lifted protections on over 264,000 acres in Nevada and parts of New Mexico to promote oil, gas, geothermal, and hard-rock mineral extraction.
- The change was announced alongside an emergency order permitting logging on more than half of U.S. national forest lands, with officials calling prior regulations “burdensome.”
- State lawmakers, tribal leaders, and environmental groups oppose the decision, citing threats to recreation economies, water resources, and local self-determination.
Key quote:
“No one in this community wants any extractive industries or any threats to our watershed.”
— Ralph Vigil, organizer for the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance
Why this matters:
The Trump administration’s renewed push to open protected public lands to fossil fuel and mineral extraction has reignited tensions in environmentally sensitive regions that serve as crucial reservoirs of biodiversity, cultural heritage, and clean water. Local residents and tribal communities have long worked to fend off extractive projects that threaten to undo decades of conservation progress. Now, under the banner of energy dominance and deregulation, federal agencies are fast-tracking leases and weakening protections despite local and state opposition. Critics warn that this top-down strategy not only risks new contamination and habitat loss but also weakens the very public input mechanisms that once safeguarded these lands.
Learn more: Republican budget talks spark backlash over proposed sale of public lands
