5 Ways Trump Is Selling Out Our Public Lands
For decades, we’ve defended our public lands for the benefit of all people, and we’ll continue fighting back as long as Trump’s attacks continue.
You might have heard about President Trump’s attempt to sell off and lease our public lands and waters to polluter interests in a bill that’s currently before Congress. With this bill, polluters and their congressional allies are telling Americans we must give up the world-class natural areas that we all benefit from — all to boost profits for companies seeking to mine, log, drill, or develop on national public lands and provide tax cuts that primarily benefit the ultra-wealthy.
But Trump’s mega-bill is just one way that his administration and congressional representatives beholden to the fossil fuel industry are trying to auction off our public lands to the highest bidder. Here are five other major threats that may not be on your radar, and what Earthjustice is doing about them.
Gaudineer Knob in the Monongahela National Forest (Preston Keres / USDA Forest Service)
1. Rolling Back National Forest Protections
This week, the Trump administration said it plans to roll back the Roadless Rule, a landmark policy that protects 58 million acres of our wildest national forest lands from clearcutting. Trump’s actions are a huge giveaway to industry, and they make our forested lands more vulnerable to wildfire, not less.
Since its passage in 2001, the Roadless Rule has protected pristine backcountry areas that provide clean drinking water for millions of Americans, essential habitat for wildlife, and abundant recreational opportunities. It’s no surprise then that the public once submitted more than 1.6 million comments in favor of the rule — more than any other rule in the nation’s history. Over the years, Earthjustice has protected the Roadless Rule from countless attacks, and we will continue to defend forest protections against those who threaten them.
A person fishes with offshore oil and gas platform Esther in the distance in Seal Beach, California. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
2. Undoing Coastal Water Protections from Offshore Drilling
Vulnerable ocean ecosystems are no place for dangerous oil and gas drilling. Yet President Trump wants to illegally open up millions of acres of undeveloped public waters off every U.S. coastline: in the Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico. Together, these protected areas provide millions of people with clean and healthy oceans for everything from recreation to economic opportunity and access to food.
When the first Trump administration tried to open up public waters in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic, we successfully fought back. We are now in court fighting Trump’s latest attempt to sell even vaster areas of our oceans to the oil and gas industry.
A caribou herd foraging on vegetation at the ledge of a hill adjacent to the Hulahula River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Alexis Bonogofsky for USFWS)
3. Opening up the Arctic
President Trump is pushing for increased oil and gas production in both in the Western Arctic and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Through the disastrous reconciliation bill, the government would mandate the auctioning of 1.6 million acres in the Refuge to oil companies. Meanwhile, the Department of Interior is proposing a plan for the Western Arctic that would allow oil and gas drilling on 18.5 million acres, or 82% of these vast and ecologically critical public lands.
The Arctic is one of our nation’s most majestic landscapes and the traditional homeland of Indigenous peoples who have stewarded and relied upon the lands from time immemorial. It’s also home to an abundance of wildlife — including caribou, polar bears, and birds that flock to these northern lands from all over the globe to raise their young. Earthjustice has defended the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Arctic Ocean, and Western Arctic from fossil fuel development for decades.
Grey reef sharks and colorful schools of anthias in the waters of Jarvis Island, Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. (Kelvin Gorospe / NOAA)
4. Allowing Commercial Fishing in a Marine Monument
The Trump administration is trying to illegally open one of the world’s most pristine tropical marine environments to commercial fishing. The Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument encompasses 490,000 square miles of open ocean, coral reef, and island habitats in the Pacific Ocean, protecting countless species.
We’re suing the Trump administration to protect the monument. Allowing commercial fishing here would remove large numbers of sharks, turtles, and other marine life, wreaking havoc on one of the world’s last healthy and wild ocean ecosystems
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. (Warren / BLM)
5. Targeting National Monuments in the West
The Trump administration is considering an attack on at least six national monuments across the American West to hand over to industry some of America’s most important public lands, according to a report in the Washington Post.
The report indicates that the Interior Department is considering illegal boundary reductions and stripped federal protections for:
- Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument
- Ironwood Forest National Monument
- Chuckwalla National Monument
- Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument
- Bears Ears National Monument, and
- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
These six national monuments comprise over 5 million acres of public land in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Utah. Earthjustice defended Bears Ears and Grand Staircase from attempted dismantling by the first Trump administration, and we are prepared to fight back against any new monument attacks.