Courtney Bourgoin, courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
Boston, MA— Today as the country faces an uprising for racial justice and ongoing pandemic, President Trump announced he will effectively eliminate protections for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments in the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast. The rollback will allow commercial fisheries to operate in the marine sanctuary— home to endangered coral and fish— and comes on World Environment Day.
In response, representatives of the Sierra Club released the following statements:
“It is shameful that the Trump administration is slashing protections for one of our country’s most important havens for dying ocean life,” said Lena Moffitt, Director of the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign. “While Trump should be responding to demands for racial justice and urgent needs to fight the coronavirus pandemic, he is neglecting communities and continuing to push his destructive agenda that will have devastating effects on future generations and the environment.”
“Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument is a lifeline for our diminishing ocean life and endangered sea coral. It is incomprehensible that Trump would implement such a drastic rollback at all, much less in the middle of an sea life extinction crisis, and while the country urgently fights the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality against the Black community,” said Jacob Stern, Deputy Director of the Sierra Club’s Massachusetts Chapter. “The Trump administration’s relentless efforts to remove critical land and wildlife protections will have detrimental effects on our communities, this region’s economy, and marine life.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.