Washington, DC -- The Forest Service today released a new forest management strategy for wildfire. The strategy has a strong emphasis on science and climate change, and calls for prescribed fire and other proven safety measures. In contrast, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is continuing his media tour on current wildfires, but focusing on inflammatory language, denying climate change’s role depending on the outlet he’s speaking to, and exploiting the ongoing fires striking communities across the West to push his and Donald Trump’s political agenda.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Today the Department of the Interior released draft management plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The proposed plans leave most of Bears Ears without protections, and open significant portions of Grand Staircase to dirty fuel development. The management plans are moving forward for public comment despite current legal challenges to the Trump administration’s illegal actions to shrink the monuments.
The Trump administration today ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to prioritize water use in California for fire fighting. The move follows a tweet from Donald Trump blaming a lack of water for ongoing fires, despite repeated declarations from fire experts in the region that they have all the water needed to fight the blaze.
Mission, TX-- On Sunday, families in the Rio Grande Valley will gather to celebrate the Rio Grande River, a vital resource and the region’s only source of fresh water for nearly one million residents of Hidalgo County. Access to the river will be eliminated by the upcoming wall border wall construction that will seize private land, cut residents off from the Rio Grande and tear through state parks and tourism spots.
Pasadena, CA-- Today, attorneys for the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and California Attorney General’s office argued before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the Trump administration illegally waived dozens of laws to build replacement walls and prototypes south of San Diego. The appeal challenged the administration’s use of the long-expired waiver provisions to sweep aside more than 30 laws that protect clean air, clean water, public lands and endangered wildlife.
Washington, DC-- Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) office released a report showing critical gaps and failures in research regarding border wall construction that could cost taxpayers billions of dollars. According to the just-released report, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) did not consider costs of building for various segments of the border wall, which is complicated by factors such as topography and private land ownership.
Last night, the Trump Administration approved a $2.5 billion energy project near Joshua Tree National Park. The Eagle Crest Energy Company’s 1,300 megawatt hydropower project would drain billions of gallons of water from the desert aquifer and harm local desert species.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Maria Cantwell today introduced the Roadless Area Conservation Act of 2018. The Act would permanently codify the Roadless Rule, which safeguards 58.5 million acres of pristine National Forest System lands across 39 states from logging and road building. Despite the Roadless Rule’s many successes and the millions of taxpayer dollars it saves, there have been multiple Congressional attempts to strip Roadless Rule protections from millions of acres of public lands.
Washington, DC-- Today, the House passed a FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In conference, lawmakers successfully stripped a number of harmful provisions from the bill that would have threatened protections for public lands, forests and imperiled wildlife-- but the version still includes a rider that significantly undermines the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).In response, Jordan Giaconia, federal policy associate at Sierra Club issued the following statement:
Washington, DC— Today, the House Appropriations Committee marked up a budget that includes $5 billion for a border wall— the most money that’s appeared in an appropriations bill to date.