10 ways the Trump administration is ruining America's public lands

The striped brick-colored Chinle badlands at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Credit: BLM

Under President Trump and Interior Secretary Zinke's leadership, we have seen the largest rollback of public lands protections in our history -- and it’s not over yet. The fate of more national monuments slated for reductions remains unclear. To fight back effectively, environmental advocates need to understand exactly what the Trump administration is doing to make the world safe for polluters -- and how they are doing it. 

In its first year, the Trump administration has:

1. Revoked protections for 85% of the land in Bears Ears National Monument and about half of the land in Grand Escalante National Monument, both in Utah. The administration also allowed more development in the area of other monuments, giving industry access for uranium and coal mining and for oil and gas drilling.

2. Reversed course and failed to exempt hard-rock mining in 10 million acres of sage grouse habitat in six states, including Wyoming. It also is recommending that uranium mining be allowed near the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

3. Proposed allowing offshore oil drilling near the communities and beaches of the East Coast, Florida, and California, as well as vast swaths of Arctic waters that were previously off-limits.

4. Moved toward allowing a massive proposed gold and copper mine at Bristol Bay, Alaska, which could destroy one of the world’s largest salmon fisheries.

5. Approved pipelines, such as the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and the Dakota Access pipeline that have drawn massive public opposition for threatening drinking water, exacerbating climate change, and harming sacred Native American sites. 

6. Auctioned off massive tracts of land for oil drilling in the Arctic and hailed Congress’ action to sacrifice America’s last wild frontier –- the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge –- to oil drilling.

7. Planned to sharply reduce access to our public parks, which are held in trust for every American, by doubling (or more) park entrance fees to $70 for a vehicle and $30 for an individual hiker. Also, this year national parks will have just four fee-free days, compared with 10 last year. 

8. Proposed weakening of EPA limits on venting and leaking methane from new oil wells. The Bureau of Land Management is proposing to weaken –- or more likely rescind altogether –- limits on flaring, venting, or leaking natural gas from wells on public lands. Also, the bureau has proposed rescinding protections against hydraulic fracturing on public lands and is reconsidering a slew of agency policies and regulations related to coal and oil development, such as policies that allow the public to protest a proposed lease sale.

9. Worked to reduce protections for endangered species, which often intersect with mineral development, by denying protection for at least 25 species at risk of extinction and dropping 42 planned regulatory actions to protect already listed endangered species.

10. Alienated the National Park Service Advisory Board to the point where nine of its 12 members quit in protest. The reason: For more than a year, Zinke refused to meet with the body that lends expertise and guidance in caring for the nation’s public lands.