Today, the Trump Administration directly threatened the future of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of America’s iconic wilderness areas.
Administration officials announced that the United States Forest Service will allow companies to pursue sulfide ore mining leases immediately adjacent to the Boundary Waters. Today’s announcement also included an abrupt end to an incomplete and never-released environmental study of sulfide mining impacts in the BWCA watershed that was started under the Obama Administration.
This week Secretary Zinke’s Department of the Interior will begin another round of oil and gas leasing on public lands-- auctioning off public lands in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah to the highest bidder. The latest leases are part of an effort by Sec. Zinke to lease every possible acre of public land as quickly as possible. Every three months new swaths near our parks and treasured places are being sold out to industry, steadily eating away at the places people know and love.
GRAND CANYON, AZ – Emmy-nominated actress Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) stars in a new video out today calling for protection of the Grand Canyon from toxic uranium mining. The actress recently joined a Sierra Club outing to the Grand Canyon region with her husband, actor Tim Loden, to experience the wonder of Arizona’s immense national park and to see first-hand the need to permanently protect it.
Washington, DC -- Today, hours after Ryan Zinke was exposed for trying to sell off 1,600 illegally removed acres of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the Department of the Interior reversed its decision after massive backlash.
Washington, DC -- Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is once again struggling with the truth. Zinke has consistently stated that he would not sell of public lands -- including at his confirmation hearing. However, that appears to be exactly what he’s doing.
Washington, DC -- The Forest Service today released a new forest management strategy for wildfire. The strategy has a strong emphasis on science and climate change, and calls for prescribed fire and other proven safety measures. In contrast, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is continuing his media tour on current wildfires, but focusing on inflammatory language, denying climate change’s role depending on the outlet he’s speaking to, and exploiting the ongoing fires striking communities across the West to push his and Donald Trump’s political agenda.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Today the Department of the Interior released draft management plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The proposed plans leave most of Bears Ears without protections, and open significant portions of Grand Staircase to dirty fuel development. The management plans are moving forward for public comment despite current legal challenges to the Trump administration’s illegal actions to shrink the monuments.
The Trump administration today ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to prioritize water use in California for fire fighting. The move follows a tweet from Donald Trump blaming a lack of water for ongoing fires, despite repeated declarations from fire experts in the region that they have all the water needed to fight the blaze.
Mission, TX-- On Sunday, families in the Rio Grande Valley will gather to celebrate the Rio Grande River, a vital resource and the region’s only source of fresh water for nearly one million residents of Hidalgo County. Access to the river will be eliminated by the upcoming wall border wall construction that will seize private land, cut residents off from the Rio Grande and tear through state parks and tourism spots.
Pasadena, CA-- Today, attorneys for the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and California Attorney General’s office argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Trump administration illegally waived dozens of laws to build replacement walls and prototypes south of San Diego. The appeal challenged the administration’s use of the long-expired waiver provisions to sweep aside more than 30 laws that protect clean air, clean water, public lands and endangered wildlife.
Washington, DC-- Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) office released a report showing critical gaps and failures in research regarding border wall construction that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars. According to the just-released report, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not consider costs of building for various segments of the border wall, which is complicated by factors such as topography and private land ownership.
Last night, the Trump Administration approved a $2.5 billion energy project near Joshua Tree National Park. The Eagle Crest Energy Company’s 1,300 megawatt hydropower project would drain billions of gallons of water from the desert aquifer and harm local desert species.