If a tree falls at the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, will a friend of Donald Trump get rich?
This is the question that circulated on social media in late April, as Trump signed yet another executive order — this time directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review the designations of dozens of national monuments on federal lands.
Trump signed the order April 26, three days before he both hit his 100-day mark — which he dismissed as “a ridiculous standard” — and faced renewed resistance in the form of another global protest, the People’s Climate March.
The order could lead to the removal of protections enacted by Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama under the 1906 Antiquities Act, which authorizes presidents to declare federal lands as monuments to guard culturally or environmentally significant lands and waters from exploitation.
Zinke accused prior presidents of using the Antiquities Act as a political tool, and Trump said he wanted to end “another egregious abuse of federal power.”
However, environmentalists say he wants to open federal resources to plunderers.
“Blowing up more than 100 years of bipartisan tradition to rob our kids of their natural legacy is shameful and sad,” said David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society. “These are places Americans hold in their hearts.”
The order called for a review of 27 monuments — every area larger than 100,000 acres protected since 1996 — including:
- Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a 1.3 million-acre monument established by Obama near the end of his presidency.
- Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in Maine, designated by Obama in 2016 and the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine national monument, with 5,000 square miles of underwater canyons and mountains.
- Giant Sequoia National Monument, which President Bill Clinton established in 2000 to expand the number of protected Sequoia groves.
Timber companies want access to Sequoia. The commercial fishing industry wants access to Seamounts. And the energy industry wants in at Bears Ears, home to a million acres of land sacred to Native Americans.
“Trump and the anti-public-lands zealots in Congress are plotting to destroy some of the country’s most stunning landscapes and cultural treasures,” said Randi Spivak, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s public lands program. “Their goal is to hand our public lands to corporations to mine, frack, bulldoze and clear-cut till there’s nothing left to dig up.”
Offshore drilling
Two days after signing the order requiring the monuments review, Trump signed another order aimed at expanding drilling in the Arctic and opening other federal areas to oil and gas exploration.
“This executive order starts the process of opening offshore areas to job-creating energy exploration,” Trump said during the White House signing ceremony. “It reverses the previous administration’s Arctic leasing ban and directs Secretary Zinke to allow responsible development of offshore areas that will bring revenue to our treasury and jobs to our workers.”
The president also directed Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to conduct a review of marine monuments and sanctuaries designated over the past 10 years. This could directly impact efforts to protect resources in Lake Michigan.
“Trump’s shortsighted order reverses climate progress and imperils coastal communities, irreplaceable wildlife and our shared future,” said Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice. “We will go to court to enforce the law and ensure President Obama’s protections remain in place.”
Did you know?
National monument designations date to Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, and some of the nation’s most treasured national parks were first protected as monuments, including Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Acadia and Olympic.
Note: This story originally published in the Wisconsin Gazette.