BLM withdrew approximately 336,404.42 acres of public lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from location and entry under U.S. mining laws and from leasing under mineral leasing laws, but not mineral materials laws, subject to valid existing rights, to protect these public lands and the greater connected landscape with a rich Puebloan, Tribal Nation, and cultural legacy in San Juan, Sandoval, and McKinley counties, New Mexico, for a period of 20 years.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy notified the Earth Observations community that a draft of the congressionally-mandated National Plan for Civil Earth Observations will be released for a short national review period in Summer 2023.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office expanded the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program to include innovations in any economic sector that are designed to make progress toward achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, increased the filing limitations for petitions under the program, and extended the duration of the program. 

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration proposed regulatory amendments that implement congressional mandates in the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2020 to reduce methane emissions from new and existing gas transmission lines, distribution pipelines, regulated gas gathering pipelines, underground natural gas storage facilities, and liquefied natural gas facilities.

The U.S. Geological Survey announced that it, in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada and Mexico’s La Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, will undertake a two-year regional assessment of biodiversity and climate change, culminating in the first-ever assessment report addressing these two challenges together for the United States, Canada, Mexico, U.S. territories, and Freely Associated States.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) proposed to amend and update its regulations for implementing NEPA to better align with its current and near future actions, adjust the level of NEPA review and documentation required for certain actions, and provide more concise descriptions of NASA actions, as well as incorporate updates to existing categorical exclusions.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service announced its intent to issue a series of revised conservation practice standards in the National Handbook of Conservation Practices (NHCP), and seeks comment on specified conservation practice standards in the NHCP.