The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of America's last truly wild places and must be preserved. | Photo by Loren Blackford
Public lands and waters should never be threatened by oil and gas drilling. We work to protect these special places from legislative assaults and federal regulatory rollbacks that threaten to open them up to exploitation by the fossil fuel industry.
Salt Lake City, UT - Today, the Bureau of Land Management sold off over 15,000 acres of public land in Utah and Idaho to dirty fuels interests. Included in the sale were two parcels totaling over 3,000 acres within ten miles of Capitol Reef National Park, which sold for the minimum bid of $2 an acre.
Las Vegas, NV-- Southern Nevadans will call on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to proceed in public process and begin consulting with locals in the establishing of a management plan for Gold Butte National Monument. The process was essentially cancelled when Zinke carried out a review of 27 national monuments-- leaving Gold Butte’s boundaries and future uncertain while preventing local BLM officials from working on a plan with the public.
FLAGSTAFF, AZ-- Under the direction of Sec. Zinke, the Interior Department has included uranium and vanadium on a recently released list of 35 ‘critical minerals’ for national security. The list was meant to identify non-fuel minerals and is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing economic struggle with China over rare earth metals and resources.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Under the direction of Sec. Zinke, the Interior Department has included uranium and vanadium on a recently released list of 35 ‘critical minerals’ for national security. The list was meant to identify non-fuel minerals and is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing economic struggle with China.
Department of the Interior pushes anti-immigrant agenda.
Ryan Zinke continues to hide behind EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s ever growing list of scandals and legal violations as he extorts the American taxpayers to pay for his luxurious travel, pretends he’s a geologist (perhaps he’s been watching too much Seinfeld), and uses his position to set himself up for a future presidential run. While Zinke has been focusing on himself, he’s been failing in his attempts to further a dangerous agenda at Interior.
Las Vegas, NV-- Tomorrow, the Forest Service will host a hearing on their “Focused Management Plan for Lovell Canyon” focusing on important conservation questions like the landscape’s recreation opportunities, maintenance requirements and preservation for future generations.
Salt Lake City, UT - Today concludes the scoping period for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The planning efforts will focus only on areas designated in President Trump’s proclamation and will exclude almost a million acres of lands rich with sensitive resources. Sierra Club Utah helped generate over 8,700 public comments that stridently opposed the BLM moving forward with the planning process. Ashley Soltysiak, Utah Chapter Director made the following statement
Salt Lake City, UT-- Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will close the public input period for the land use planning, for 15% of Bears Ears National Monument. The process would provide monument protection to the Indian Creek and Shash Jáa Units while excluding 85% of the original monument, leaving those areas vulnerable to drilling and mining and without adequate protection for the dense cultural and sacred resources. The comment period lasted a mere 45-days.
Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project today renewed opposition to President Trump’s illegal proclamation to strip protections from Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. The conservation groups, which submitted comments as the first round of public input closes today, also criticized the Interior Department’s disregard for preserving irreplaceable objects of cultural and natural value and its destructive push for dirty fuel development.