Case in point, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who said, "Without question, our public lands are America's treasure." Clearly in Zinke's case, actions speak louder than words. I think his idea of "treasure" might be different than most of America's idea of public treasure. Zinke began a review in April 2017 after President Trump ordered the Interior Department to reconsider 27 large monument designations since 1996. The review is part of an administration-wide effort to boost energy production and expand American industries.
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| Monopod gas production platform in Alaska's Cook Inlet. If the Trump administration gets its way, this could be a common site off the coast of the Atlantic, Pacific and eastern Gulf coasts. |
The Hill reported that Zinke and Trump have:
- Supported oil drilling in one of the last truly pristine wild areas on Earth, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
- Proposed an increase of more than 100 percent for entrance fees at some of America’s most popular national parks, which will freeze out some families with modest incomes.
- Rolled back protections for national monuments in Utah to make it easier to mine and drill in these lands.
- Opened the door to uranium mining in 1 million acres of land next to the Grand Canyon and other national parks.
- Budgeted drastic cuts for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which enables Americans in virtually every county in the United States to access public land and enjoy the outdoors.
- Allowed copper mining that likely would pollute the watershed that feeds the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the most popular wilderness area in the United States and home to the beloved Boy Scout high adventure camp, the Northern Tier.
On Jan. 22, the Department of the Interior agreed to a land swap that would give a portion of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to the King Cove Corporation. The swap is the first step to building a road that could endanger numerous migratory birds, brown bears and caribou while threatening to close off access to sportsmen. Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska regional director at The Wilderness Society, said in a statement, "This appalling move by the Trump administration is the result of a backroom deal that deprives the public of an opportunity to comment and defend the Interior Department's science-based decisions against the road."
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| A road might soon cut through the pristine wilderness of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska that is home to millions of migratory birds, calving caribou and brown bear thanks to a secret land swap by the Trump administration. |
In another stunning development, Secretary Zinke has refused to meet with members of the U.S. National Park Service Advisory Board, which has been in existence since 1935 and is comprised of citizen advisors chartered by Congress to help the National Park Service. This lack of cooperation and indifference has resulted in the sudden resignation of 9 of the 12 board members just last month on Jan. 15. Board members cited Zinke's unwillingness to take their calls or meet with them despite their repeated attempts at communication. One board member, former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, told Alaska Public Radio that the Department of Interior "showed no interest in learning about or continuing to use the forward-thinking agenda of science, the effect of climate change, protections of the ecosystems, education." He also pointed out that Congress has rescinded NPS regulations of resource stewardship concerning those very things: biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change.
On its website, protectourpublicland.org published a rundown of recent legislation that puts our public lands at risk. You can read all about the assault HERE. They detail the public land heist in this statement:
"Our public lands - millions of acres of forests, mountains, rivers, and plains - are a part of who we are. Right now, powerful special interests and their political allies are waging an aggressive campaign to sell off our public lands in the west. They want to see our national lands privatized for short-term gain, at the expense of our shared American inheritance. This public land heist threatens hundreds of millions of acres of national forests, rangelands, wildlife refuges, parks, wilderness areas, and historic sites, but it also threatens the fundamental American notion that our public lands belong to everyone. They exist for the good of all, not the profit of a few."
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| Effective Feb. 2, 2018, cuts to Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments mining and drilling protections took effect and cleared the way for companies to stake uranium and coal claims on tracts removed from the previously protected national monuments. |
But many in the 10 states that would lose federal land in the bill disagree, and public land rallies in opposition are bringing together environmentalists and sportsmen across the west. The Wilderness Society is calling it "step two" in the GOP's plan to offload federal property.
But the west won't be the only part of America to suffer. Trump's campaign of greed doesn't stop where the land ends. The Trump administration recently moved to open nearly all of America's coastal waters to offshore oil and gas drilling, giving energy companies access to more than a billion acres off the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts.
Zinke announced Jan. 9 that Florida's waters were off the table after meeting with Rick Scott, Republican governor of Florida, but 10 days later a senior Interior official said Zinke's decision was not final. The reason for that turn of events is the legal implications of his quick comments, which would open up the decision to legal battles in the future due to his lack of consideration of any public comments at all .... just a hastily made about-face based on his sit-down with Scott, who is gearing up for a run for U.S. Senate. He has recently raised more than $1.1 million for a super PAC he revived and is teaming up with top consultants from his previous campaigns. His bid for Senate is aimed at taking back the Democrat-held seat and thwarting Democrats' efforts to take back the Senate next year.
Democratic Governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper is fighting to protect North Carolina's tourism interests and natural resources. He said this week, "If North Carolina is not exempt from offshore drilling, we will sue the federal government. Not off our coast." North Carolina tourism generated $22.9 billion in 2016.
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| North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is fighting the Trump administration's plans to open up Atlantic waters off the coast of North Carolina for oil drilling, a move that would damage the state's multi-billion-dollar tourism industry. |
The Trump administration's environmental policies seem to have one goal ... to roll back Obama-era policies aimed at preventing climate change, limiting environmental pollution and cutting federal funding for science and the environment. According to The Washington Post, Trump's 2019 budget includes a 72% cut to Department of Energy funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives while he touted "beautiful clean coal" in his State of the Union address. In August last year, the Trump administration suspended a study of health risks to residents who live near mountaintop removal coal mine sites in the Appalachian Mountains.
Trump's EPA has loosened regulations on toxic air pollution, and, several government agencies including the EPA have removed or reduced web content concerning climate change as a result of the Trump administration's censorship efforts, according to a report published by the non-profit Environmental Data and Governance Initiative. The report points out that U.S. government websites have been systematically altered to cut mentions of climate change since Trump took office.
Reversing decades of precedent over 20 administrations, the new Trump administration reversed a ruling declaring accidental bird deaths as illegal and a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). Now, the 100-year-old law designed to save birds from overhunting and that safeguards more than 1,025 migratory bird species and their eggs, feathers and nests and which previously resulted in a $15,000 fine and up to six months in jail, is reversed under Trump. Guess who's happy about the reversal? Renewable energy and fossil-fuel groups ... what a surprise. Energy companies have been heavily penalized for incidental bird kills. After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 killed about 800,000 birds in the Gulf of Mexico, including a third of the northern Gulf's laughing gull population, the government used the MBTA to fine BP $100 million and used the money for bird conservation efforts.
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| One third of the Gulf's Laughing Gull population was wiped out as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. |
Do you see a pattern yet? This is just the tip of the iceberg in Trump's plan to sell off our public lands, destroy our environment for the sake of monetary gain and deny climate change at the expense of our future health and welfare.
I will continue to focus on the GOP and Trump administration's assaults on our environment, as well as repeated attacks on the fabric of our Democracy, in future posts. Please share to help spread the word.
By Cynthia Clark/Peace Love Liberals
