ICYMI: Shutdown Recovery Could Take Centuries

The Trump shutdown may be (temporarily) over, but the damage done to our communities, our national parks, and our environment will be felt for centuries. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, with $3 billion of that permanently lost.  

At Joshua Tree National Park, “What’s happened to our park in the last 34 days is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years,” said former Joshua Tree superintendent  Curt Sauer, according to the Guardian.

• Vandals cut down Joshua trees to make two new roads inside the park

• Vandals cut chains and locks to access campgrounds and used non campground areas to set up camp.

At Death Valley National Park, there are tire marks etched into playas and plains that can take centuries to recover.

• Offroaders drove over delicate playas and plains where rocks have been found to contain 400m-year-old fossils that can be easily crushed.

It’s not just our national parks that were left behind by the shutdown:

• Alaska and other Western states were not preparing for forest fires, leaving them vulnerable come fire season

• Hearings for those displaced by lead contamination were delayed, putting necessary clean up on hold

• In North Carolina, the shutdown delayed disaster relief payments to farmers hurt by Hurricanes Michael and Florence.

• Also in North Carolina, surface-water tests to make sure potentially toxic chemicals from Chemours (GenX) are not discharging into the Lower Cape Fear River were put on hold because of the shutdown.

• In the midwest, monitoring of algae blooms in drinking water stopped

• In Birmingham, Alabama, Superfund cleanup was suspended by the shutdown

• Carmakers say the shutdown caused delays in the EPA’s ability to certify that new vehicles meet federal emissions standards before they can be sold.

While protections of our communities and our wild places ground to a halt, Trump didn’t waste any time fast tracking and approving permits for oil and gas drilling:

• Offshore drilling permits were fast-tracked

• Permits for oil and gas drilling were processed

• The Department of the Interior moved forward with their plan to increase drilling in the Arctic

In response is a quote from Sierra Club’s Our Wild America Director, Lena Moffitt:

“The Trump shutdown was temporary but its harm -- like the damage Trump is threatening by building more border walls -- is long lasting. Damage to our national parks will take centuries to recover, savings depleted by missed paychecks will take years to rebound, and the toxicity left uncleaned at Superfund sites continues to harm communities. Trump has no problem putting American families and our wild places in harm's way over his border wall boondoggle, but will make every exception possible to keep things running for his key constituents -- corporate polluters.”