Environmentalists say a proposed step-by-step policy blueprint for a second Trump administration could have detrimental effects on public land.
Project 2025鈥檚 more than 900-page comes from a conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation. Some of the authors represent oil and natural gas producers.
That includes President Kathleen Sgamma, who helped write a section called 鈥淩estoring American Energy Dominance.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檇 love to not have to develop on federal lands, but you simply can't in the West,鈥� Sgamma said. 鈥淭here's just too much oil and natural gas resource that is on or underneath federal lands.鈥�
The plan would roll back Biden-era environmental regulations and reinstate leases in places such as the Alaskan wilderness or Wyoming and Montana鈥檚 , the largest coal-producing region in the U.S.
Sgamma acknowledged that federal land like this is owned by all Americans, but said its energy is also owned by all Americans.
鈥淪o it's important that we develop that energy on behalf of the American people,鈥� she said.
Kate Groetzinger, communications manager for the , said the plan would 鈥渙bliterate鈥� progress fighting climate change and in the West.
She added that it would remove protections for gray wolves and grizzly bears, and put sage grouse at risk of becoming endangered.
鈥淲e would see a de-emphasis on conservation and an emphasis on letting extractive industries do whatever they want on our public lands,鈥� Groetzinger said.
Former president Donald Trump has denied any connection to Project 2025, but he鈥檚 been supportive of a lot of the policies outlined in it in the past. According to a more than 140 of Trump鈥檚 ex-staffers contributed to Project 2025.
Although it鈥檚 unclear if Trump would adopt the plan if elected, Groetzinger said her group is taking the plan seriously.
鈥淲e don't want to be caught off guard if it does end up being enacted,鈥� she said.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the .