You may not be aware that the US Department of Interior controls one fifth of the land in the United States—including our national parks, and 35,000 miles of coastline and manages the drinking water of one in 10 Americans. Interior secretary agency employs 70,000 people and manages millions of acres of federal land, most of them in the West. It includes the National Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees management of the drought-stricken Colorado River and the nation's largest reservoir, Lake Mead.
Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke won Senate confirmation as Trump's Interior secretary, giving him responsibility for overseeing 400 million acres of public land. Even though The League of Conservation Voters has given Zinke a 3% lifetime score. Theodore Roosevelt set aside these land under the Antiquities Act and took 230 million acres away from timber and railroad interests and placing the land under federal protection. The lands and waters managed by the Interior Department belong solely to the American people. Not oil, gas and coal companies. Our public parks, monuments, national forests, wild lands are a unique part of our heritage. Preserving them has been one of America’s great innovations. It’s our duty to protect these lands and waters for this and future generations, not to allow them to be spoiled or sold off, yet this administration cannot sale it off quick enough.
Many environmental groups have expressed alarm at the prospect of him presiding over Interior, an agency with powerful sway over the fate of America's public lands, at a time when Trump has said he plans to roll back regulations in order to unleash a wave of fossil-fuel energy production. Zinke says he believes in "multiple uses" for public lands and still preserving them for posterity, yet what he has said and how he has voted have been hard to reconcile at times. According to many conservation groups. Zinke voted for a bill that will transferred control of millions of acres of national forest lands to states. Moreover, Zinke under the directions of Trump wants to get rid of our national parks to make way for more oil and mining. What exactly is Zinke's vision of the National Park Service in years to come? Well that is the question many American's want to know. In light of Trump's and the administration's directive that interior shed $1.5 billion from its budget for the coming fiscal year, and cut nearly 1,250 full-time positions from the Park Service. To pay for the tax cuts for the top 5 %. Multiple use has come under fire as special interest groups have misused policy to block resource management, reduce public access, and even lock out local communities from being part of the land use process. He has been critical of certain logging restrictions, road closures and bans on mountain biking in some areas.
He has also opposed a new rule to reduce the emission of the greenhouse gases like methane during energy production on public land and lifting a moratorium on new coal leasing. He also praised a preliminary federal study that said hydraulic fracturing to produce oil and gas did not cause systemic damage to drinking water. even though there is proof that is not true. There is something wrong with the idea that proven facts in regards to greenhouse gases and fracking have no effect on our country and on our planet. And believe this is a great use for our public lands.
Attack on our National Monuments, Zinke recently sent a secretive report with draft recommendations to shrink many national monuments. (A New York Times report says Zinke’s review calls for slashing the size of Bears Ears in Southern Utah by nearly 90% to 160,000 acres). Why you ask, because below the 100,000 archaeological sites and myriad other sacred Native American cultural and religious sites that dot Bears Ears National Monument lie potentially recoverable fossil fuel reserves.
Sage Grouse protection was put in place protecting this endangered, iconic bird and its western habitat—the “sagebrush sea” which stretches across 11 states And in June they released a plan that cuts back on wildlife protection in favor of oil, gas, mining and ranching interests. There used to be millions of sage grouse in the West, but development, livestock grazing and an invasive grass that encourages wildfires has reduced the bird's population to fewer than 500,000. Where is their moral compass and thoughtfulness for protecting these lands?
By gutting climate protections departments Trump and Zinke have scrubbed almost any mention of climate change from The Interior and its agency’s myriad websites. Also, photos of melting glaciers and forest fires have been replaced with those of giant coal piles and mines. In April, Trump signed two Executive Orders, one rolling back an updating of the federal coal leasing program and another ordering a review and subsequent denuding of basically any (Obama Administration) policy relating to climate. This includes policies intended to restrict fossil fuel development in special places. Like Wildlife Refuges and the National Parks and Monuments lands. Greed and corruption, At the cost of us all to benefit a few at the top. Does that seem like that is making us great?
They have also decided to:
1.Reorganization’/Attacks on Employees/Stifling Citizen Input
2.Abandoning a 30 Years-In-The Making Overhaul of The Federal Coal Program
3.Fast Tracking Fossil Fuel Development
4.Gutting the Interior Department’s budget
5.Opening the Arctic Reserve
6.Allowing Dirty Energy Companies to Avoid Paying Proper Royalty Rates and raping our lands.
And at what cost and at what point do we The American People decide to register and go and vote this insanity to our country and our planet out of office. The youth of today just might be the saving grace and the encouragement to us all to say now is the time to stand up and be counted. If you are worried and want to help, then please help vote these people out on all levels, local, state and national. Our country and our planet needs you.
Sources: https://www.E&ENews.com
https://www.LAtimes.com
https://www.nrdc.org
https://pixabay.com
http://bing.com
http://New York Times.com
