FY26 Budget Cuts, Fossil Fuel Expansion, and Burgum's Visit to Alcatraz - Public Lands News (July 14 - 18)

From staffing crises in national parks to energy dominance expansion across millions of acres of public land, here’s what you need to know:

FY26 Budget Breakdown: The House released its draft Interior-EPA spending bill, proposing deep cuts to conservation, environmental protection, and public lands. Including:

• $213M cut to the National Park Service, amid a 24% staffing loss

• 23% EPA budget cut, gutting water, air, and environmental justice programs

Public Lands Open for Drilling: ConocoPhillips wants to expand its Willow Project with new test wells in the Western Arctic. Meanwhile, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” opens over 200 million acres of federal land to oil and gas drilling.

• 81% of BLM lands in the West now open to leasing

• Quarterly lease sales mandated, even without industry interest

• Drilling proposed in San Luis Obispo County, CA

DOE’s Dirty Grid Report: The Department of Energy is propping up coal plants under a new Trump executive order, claiming fossil fuels are needed for grid reliability.

Burgum's Alcatraz Visit Sparks Backlash: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited Alcatraz to assess reopening it as a prison for “dangerous criminals,” per Trump’s May directive. But the site draws over 1 million visitors annually and generates $60M/year.

Public Broadcasting Cuts Approved: The House approved a rescission package eliminating $1.1 billion in CPB funding, gutting local public media nationwide.

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Listen to Last Monday's Interview with Land Tawney: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/189-trumps-big-ugly-bill-passed-without-land-sales/id1586174667?i=1000717199476

Episode Sources:

Fiscal Year 2026 Budget

https://www.npca.org/articles/9650-parks-group-to-congress-our-national-parks-need-more-staff-and-funding-not 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Fiscal-Year-2026-Discretionary-Budget-Request.pdf 

https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-appropriations.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/fy26-interior%2C-environment%2C-and-related-agencies-bill-sumnmary-subcommittee.pdf 

https://www.eenews.net/articles/house-releases-interior-epa-spending-bill-with-deep-cuts/ 

Staff Cuts Continue

https://www.resistancerangers.org/press/futher-cuts-will-irreparably-harm-parks 

https://protectnps.org/2025/07/09/supreme-court-ruling-greenlights-mass-layoffs-parks-groups-warn-national-parks-and-thousands-of-park-staff-in-jeopardy/

Public Lands Open for Drilling

https://www.wilderness.org/articles/press-release/conocophillips-pursues-reckless-exploration-western-arctic# 

https://www.wilderness.org/articles/press-release/map-reveals-200-million-acres-now-open-oil-and-gas-drilling 

https://www.wilderness.org/sites/default/files/media/file/Open%20for%20Drilling_TWS%20Report_0.pdf 

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/art