public lands

A new report released Tuesday by The Wilderness Society raises the alarm about wild lands threatened by extractive industries eager to exploit the resources on or underneath them, including oil, gas and coal. Too Wild To Drill identifies 15 unique places found on public lands that are at high risk of drilling, mining and other […]

Despite receiving 2.8 million comments from the public in support of our national monuments, U.S. Department of the Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke has advised President Trump to change the way at least 10 of these treasured areas are managed and to shrink the boundaries of at least four of them. Zinke’s report, submitted to Trump […]

Environmentalists who oppose Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke‘s plans to shrink our national monuments might have an unlikely but politically powerful ally on their side—hunters. Many hunters, anglers and other sportsmen are speaking out against the former Montana congressman over his controversial recommendation to adjust the boundaries of a “handful” of the 27 national monuments under […]

As debate continues on the spending bill, dozens of environmental amendments could receive votes. Here are some to watch: Harvey Response Many amendments relate to the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the funding of its crucial functions. In light of the tragedy of Hurricane Harvey, some of these amendments highlight the […]

Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke will recommend unspecified boundary adjustments for a “handful” of the 27 national monuments under review by the Trump administration, according to an interview with the Associated Press. Zinke commented that he will not ask President Trump to rescind any designations or revert sites to new ownership. Any areas removed from the […]

A new analysis found that 99.2 percent of the millions of public comments submitted about Bears Ears National Monument and other parks opposed the executive order that placed them under scrutiny. In April 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to review 27 parks designated since the beginning of 1996, with an eye toward shrinking […]

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club lodged formal comments with the federal government Monday opposing a massive gas fracking project that spans 220 square miles of public land in Wyoming south of Yellowstone National Park. The Normally Pressured Lance gas field would destroy wildlife habitat and worsen ozone pollution, a major cause […]

By Thursday the Trump administration’s project of dismantling the public domain will burst into full bloom when Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke announces a wholesale reversal of more than a century of public lands protection through presidential designation of national monuments under Antiquities Act of 1908. No president since the act was passed under Theodore Roosevelt […]