Welcome to the first edition of the Land Desk’s Newswire, a human-curated summary (we are a non-AI shop, FYI) of some of the week’s biggest headlines that concern land, water, and other Western issues. I’m still working out the timing of this, and how it will meld with the week’s other dispatches, so expect some adjustments in coming weeks. Please give it a gander and, as always, I appreciate your feedback.
🚣🏽 WATER WATCH 🌊
New Mexico officials release about 2,000 acre-feet of water from Abiquiu Dam to provide a temporary un-drying of the Rio Grande’s desiccated riverbed through Albuquerque in an attempt to nourish stressed vegetation, recharge the aquifer, and to study the effects of such pulses. Audubon Southwest leased about 300 acre-feet of the water from various users, the Middle Rio Grande Conservation District contributed 300 acre-feet more, and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority provided the remaining 1,400 acre-feet from its share of river imported from the Colorado River Basin via the San Juan-Chama Project. (Inkstain, Laura Paskus, KUNM)
Aurora Water — a municipal utility on Colorado’s Front Range — looks to buy Lower Arkansas Valley farmers’ water rights to feed the city’s future growth, sparking concerns about negative impacts of “buy and dry” deals. But officials say it would be a “buy and (only partially) dry” deal that keeps some of the water in agriculture. (Colorado Sun)
🌵 PUBLIC LANDS 🌲
A new study finds federal land management agencies spent $1 billion less on vendors in Western states in 2025 compared to 2024, acutely affecting the small business sector. Some of the largest cuts were to wildland fire management investments, particularly on-the-ground suppression work as spending was shifted to aerial firefighting. (news release)
Conservation groups file a lawsuit challenging oil and gas leasing on hundreds of thousands of acres of public land in big-game migration corridors and wilderness quality lands in Wyoming and Colorado, saying the BLM violated federal law by skirting environmental protections. (news release)
The Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on 38 proposed oil and gas leases on 66,221 acres in northwestern Colorado that would be auctioned off in March 2027. The bulk of the parcels are under the jurisdiction of the BLM’s Kremmling and Little Snake River field offices, with one in the Royal Gorge office. (news release)
🦫 WILDLIFE WATCH 🦅
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers euthanize a lethargic and unresponsive 300-pound male bear in Durango, finding that its stomach and intestines were completely blocked with trash. “We’ve all heard the oft-repeated phrase ‘garbage kills bears’ for years,” said Bryan Peterson of Bear Smart Durango. “And many have asked how in the world does trash get bears killed? Well, in many ways, but sometimes literally. Our community’s tepid approach to trash management got a bear killed. Thankfully, its pain and suffering was ended.” (news release)
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers “lethally remove,” i.e. kill, two male yearling wolves from two separate packs after the animals were linked to attacks on sheep and cattle in Rio Blanco and Pitkin counties. (news release, Summit Daily)
🐮 GRAZING GAZETTE 🥩
A Wyoming advocate shows how the state’s agriculture industry’s resource footprint — in terms of water use for irrigation and land-use for livestock grazing — significantly dwarfs its statewide economic footprint, and that should be considered before giving ranchers outsized political influence. (WyoFile)
🛢️ HYDROCARBON HOEDOWN 📈
A pair of peer-reviewed studies link Permian Basin oil and gas operations to radioactive plumes and high ozone pollution in Loving, New Mexico, and other nearby communities, potentially increasing lung cancer and other health risks. (Capital & Main)
The Bureau of Land Management and Southern Ute Indian Tribe launch a planning process to guide and analyze oil and gas development on 110,000 acres of tribal trust land within the tribe’s land in southwestern Colorado. (news release)
⛈️ WACKY WEATHER WATCH⚡️
A massive sinkhole emerges in actor Nicolas Cage’s oceanfront house’s driveway in Malibu, prompting city officials to declare and emergency, evacuate nearby homes, and shut off gas service in the gated community. Officials worry the situation could be worsened by forecasted high tides and rain and long-term weather disturbances resulting from the coming super El Niño. (Los Angeles Times)
🐓 REGULATORY CAPTURE CHRONICLES 🦊
Radical right-wing U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and fellow House Republicans launch an investigation of nineteen conservation groups, accusing the entities of profiting at the expense of taxpayers via statutory fee-shifting provisions, which can reimburse the organizations for legal costs when they win in court. (AFP, news release)
🤖 DATA CENTERS 👾
Pinal County, Arizona’s board of supervisors vote to reject Vermaland’s proposed data center complex following widespread local opposition, even though the developer scaled back the original proposal. The scaled-back proposed facility, spread across 3,300 acres, would have included 11 buildings and a gas-fired power plant. (AZ Family)
Tribal nations and Indigenous advocates push back on data center development in Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, and beyond. (Washington State Standard)
Oracle seeks proposals for the development of 2 gigawatts of new solar, wind, geothermal, or other renewable energy technologies to provide “carbon-free energy matching” for its Project Jupiter data center complex under development in southern New Mexico, which is expected to be powered by gas-fired fuel cells. The firm is also offering $1 million to support carbon capture and sequestration at the facility. (news release, KRQE)
Creekstone Energy, the developer of the massive Delta Gigasite data center in central Utah, looks to use untested technology to “create” more water than it uses by capturing condensation from natural gas combustion at the plant dedicated to powering the facility. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) opposes Attorney General Kris Mayes’ call for a pause on new data centers to get a better handle on their water and energy use, acknowledging the concerns are valid but saying a statewide moratorium is the wrong approach. (AZ Family)
A peer-reviewed study finds that data centers, which typically combine large capital investments with little local labor demand, can strain a community’s public infrastructure without generating widespread economic gains. (SSRN)
🔋ENERGY TRANSITION 🔌
Officials and residents of the Coalmine Canyon Chapter of the Navajo Nation push back against 750-megawatt solar-plus-storage installation in northern Arizona, saying the developers have been less than transparent and the power will not go to local homes, many of which are off the grid. (High Country News)
Accelergen Energy proposes a 125-megawatt solar-plus-storage installation on about 900 acres east of Cortez, Colorado. (Durango Herald)
A new study finds small-scale, front-of-the-meter solar-plus-battery installations could serve about 32% of California’s largest utilities’ peak summer electricity demand; analysts say developing this asset would improve reliability and preserve affordability without significant transmission upgrades. (Utility Dive)
📈 DATAVIZ OF THE DAY 📊
The stats for August are in and, well, it was a warm one. This August was the hottest August on record for the contiguous United States, as well as for many counties in the Southwest. It was also the hottest month on record globally, barely edging out July 2023 for the dubious honors.
You read all those sources? Wow.
A tiny but notable result: the "un-drying" of a river - I like it!