For months, the Interior Department, Bureau of Land Management, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality have repeatedly failed to answer the public’s Freedom of Information Act requests for information related to the Trump administration’s ongoing review of national monuments—protected federal lands and waters that belong to the American people. Today, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of six organizations whose requests for information on national monuments have been met with radio silence.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today is holding a hearing to explore drilling in the sensitive coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. As part of the budget process, the committee has been tasked with raising $1 billion over 10 years-- a feat that would only be possible through Arctic Refuge drilling if companies paid exorbitant lease prices.
Robert Vessels with Sierra Club’s National Military Outdoors program will join the class of 2017 Emerging Leaders to lead proceedings at The SHIFT Festival, which starts tomorrow in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The Emerging Leaders program honors and trains a diverse group of outdoor recreationists to help revitalize conservation by making it relevant to all Americans.
The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting today that President Trump has promised to approve a proposal by Interior Secretary Zinke to strip protections from large swaths of Bears Ears National Monument.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on the FY18 budget resolution (216-212) which advances drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
A leaked draft of the Interior Department’s five-year strategic plan for 2018-2022 showed the agency prioritizing increasing oil and gas drilling on national public lands.
Today members of the Gwich’in Nation led a rally in Washington, D.C. to unite against the destruction of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The group traveled more than 4,000 miles to speak out against a Congressional budget that opens the door to drilling in the Arctic Refuge, including in its biological heart the coastal plain.
Sierra Club joined the rally, along with members of Congress, the Hip Hop Caucus, Green Latinos, veteran leaders, and Alaska Wilderness League among others. Solidarity events are being held nationwide throughout the week.
Under the leadership of Secretary Zinke, the Department of the Interior has proposed raising entry fees at major national parks across the country. The proposal would hamper the the public’s ability to enjoy our natural wonders at the same time that Zinke is looking to ease access for the fossil fuel industry.
Gardner showed his hypocrisy with yes vote on Arctic drilling.
Today, the House Budget Committee passed a budget bill that advances drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Today, the House Agriculture Committee passed Rep. Westerman’s “Resilient Federal Forests Act,” a piece of legislation that would make clear-cutting forests significantly easier and undermine environmental review. Movement on the legislation follows a directive from Interior Secretary Zinke to land managers across the country to adopt “aggressive and scientific fuels reduction management” and “pre-suppression techniques” to slow Western fires.
Instead of protecting public health and the environment, a new rule will only serve the coal industry, community members and advocates say. After the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) unreasonable request to delay the long overdue deadline for the final Texas Regional Haze plan, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is doubling down and putting the health of Texas and Oklahoma’s families and public lands at risk for the benefit of Texas coal plants. While claiming to address sulfur dioxide pollution from Texas coal plants, the final rule issued by EPA today actually allows more pollution from these plants than they produced in 2016. By failing to finalize and implement the 2016 proposed plan that required actual pollution reductions in Texas, Administrator Pruitt is putting the interests of polluters over public health in Texas, Oklahoma and across the central United States.