I swear this administration is trying to do us in, crush our national spirit and our joy even as they destroy our environment and steal our healthcare and our civil rights.
Just in from Washington Post, a detailed explanation of the four national monuments Zinke will recommend that Trump “trim” and allow mining and other forms of exploitation and six others, including two in the Pacific, where of course reefs and other priceless ecosystems are truly in danger of total collapse.
Apparently somebody leaked a document outlining this threat to our treasures.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that President Trump modify 10 national monuments created by his immediate predecessors, including shrinking the boundaries of at least four western sites, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Washington Post.
The memorandum, which the White House has refused to release since Zinke submitted it late last month, does not specify exact reductions for the four protected areas Zinke would have Trump narrow — Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, Nevada’s Gold Butte, and Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou — or the two marine national monuments — the Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll — for which he raised the same prospect. The two Utah sites encompass a total of more than 3.2 million acres, part of the reason they have aroused such intense emotions since their designation.
The secretary’s set of recommendations also would change the way all 10 targeted monuments are managed. It emphasizes the need to adjust the proclamations to address concerns of local officials or affected industries, saying the administration should permit “traditional uses” now restricted within the monuments’ boundaries, such as grazing, logging, coal mining and commercial fishing.
Yes. Read that. GRAZING, LOGGING COAL MINING AND COMMERCIAL FISHING — I know all caps is screaming. I am screaming. There is a reason these priceless places have been protected by previous Presidents and Zinke wants Trump to use the Antiquities Act to overthrow their protections. Need I add the sacred nature of the Western monuments?
More:
(Zinke says) Trump should use his authority under the Antiquities Act to change each of the 10 sites’ proclamations to permit activities that are now restricted. These include “active timber management” in Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters; a broader set of activities in New Mexico’s Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and Rio Grande del Norte; and commercial fishing in the two Pacific Ocean marine monuments, as well as in one off the New England coast, Northeast Canyons and Seamounts.
[Meet the nation’s most endangered national monuments]
In most of his recommendations, Zinke suggests Trump amend the existing proclamations “to protect objects and prioritize public access; infrastructure upgrades, repair and maintenance; traditional use; tribal cultural use; and hunting and fishing rights.”
Please take a minute and visit the link — borrow a subscription if you don’t have one. There are incredible photographs of what these monsters want to destroy.
www.washingtonpost.com/...