#Trump officials consider shrinking 6 #NationalMonuments in the West

#InteriorDepartment officials are considering scaling back the boundaries of national monuments in the West to encourage #energy development on #PublicLands.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/04/24/trump-national-monument-reductions-mining-oil/

“We conclude that the #AntiquitiesAct permits the President to alter a prior declaration of a national monument, including by finding that the ‘landmarks,’ ‘structures,’ or ‘objects’ identified in the prior declaration either never were or no longer are deserving of the Act’s protections,” the #DOJ opinion issued May 27 concludes.

The slip opinion that was made public Tuesday reverses & disavows a 1938 #DOJ opinion, which the federal government has relied upon to determine that monument designations are irrevocable.

https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1403101/dl

It specifically challenges #Biden’s 2025 creation of #Chuckwalla & #SáttítlaHighlands #NationalMonuments in #California. Both received broad support from area tribes, the #state, & California’s congressional delegation.

#Trump has been largely hostile to large #NationalMonuments & has taken steps to consider allowing #drilling & #mining companies to access minerals within them.

In his first term, Trump shrank Utah’s Bears Ears & Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, which were created by fmr #Democratic presidents Barack #Obama & Bill #Clinton. President Joe #Biden re-expanded those monuments. Both are now subject to litigation brought by Utah….

and bring massive budget cuts to national monuments. What’s all this add up to? Obama’s Director of the National Park Service warns the Trump administration is preparing for a sale.”

#nationalparks #publiclands

https://open.substack.com/pub/wessiler/p/this-is-trumps-plan-to-sell-national

During his first day in office, #Trump signed an #ExecutiveOrder opening the #Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — home to migrating #caribou, #PolarBears, #MuskOxen, millions of #birds & other #wildlife — to #drilling. But a lease sale there held in January flopped, ending without a single bidder.

“This move will accelerate the #ClimateCrisis at a time when the ground beneath #Alaska communities is literally melting away & subsistence foods are in decline,” Jackson said.

Environmental groups & the #FossilFuel industry have battled for decades over Alaska’s most pristine & remote places, which often happen to lie over significant #oil, #gas & #mineral deposits.

Others said opening up the reserve threatened to destroys #habitat for #caribou & thousands of #MigratoryBirds, & would put communities that depend on subsistence hunting at risk.

“This is very concerning to us,” said Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, fmr mayor of the mostly #Inupiaq city of #Nuiqsut.

Matt Jackson, #Alaska State snr manager at The #Wilderness Society…called the repeal of environmental protections an outrage.

“Too often, federal decisions that affect our homelands are made without the engagement of the North Slope #Inupiat, the people these decisions will affect the most,” said Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the #Arctic Inupiat, which represents Inupiat leadership organizations on the #NorthSlope & supports #oil & #gas projects.

The group supports allowing oil & gas projects in the region….

#Emissions from burning #FossilFuels are the main driver of #ClimateChange, which is heating the #planet & creating dangerous new #weather patterns. #Alaska is warming at a rate 2 to 3 times as fast as the global avg, resulting in thawing permafrost & melting sea ice. It is also disrupting the hunting, fishing & food-gathering of #Indigenous communities.

Alaska Native groups have been divided over the #Trump admin’s plans for the region.

The announcement came as Burgum traveled to #Alaska, accompanied by #LeeZeldin, the administrator of the #EPA, & Chris Wright, the secy of the #Energy Dept. The 3 were expected to encourage companies to #drill in sensitive areas like the #ArcticNationalWildlifeRefuge & to support a liquefied natural gas #pipeline in the state.
The plan to allow #drilling in the #petroleum reserve drew praise from the #oil industry.

The National Petroleum Reserve #Alaska is an ecologically sensitive expanse of land about 600 miles north of Anchorage, bounded by the Chukchi Sea to the west & the Beaufort Sea to the north. It is the largest single area of public land in the United States. It covers crucial #habitat for #GrizzlyBears, #PolarBears, #caribou, thousands of #MigratoryBirds & other #wildlife.

The proposed repeal is part of #Trump’s aggressive agenda to “drill, baby, drill,” which calls for increased #oil & #gas extraction on #PublicLands & the repeal of virtually all #climate & #environmental protections.

“We’re restoring the balance & putting our energy future back on track,” Burgum said in a stmnt.