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Elected officials, community leaders, and residents of the eastern Coachella Valley region of California joined Representative Raul Ruiz at a press conference yesterday to call on President Joe Biden to designate Chuckwalla National Monument and expand Joshua Tree National Park.
Located to the south of Joshua Tree National Park and north of the Chocolate Mountains, the monument would permanently protect approximately 660,000 acres of federal public lands and add 17,000 acres to Joshua Tree National Park. If designated, this monument will significantly contribute to the Biden administration's goal to protect 30 percent of U.S. lands by 2030.
The proposed monument and expansion include vital habitat for threatened and endangered desert wildlife, including the desert tortoise, bighorn sheep, and chuckwalla, and also offer important outdoor recreation opportunities for nearby communities. The area includes the homelands of the Iviatim, Nüwü, Pipa Aha Macav, Kwatsáan, and Maara’yam peoples, and contains sacred sites and objects, traditional cultural places, geoglyphs, petroglyphs, and pictographs. The proposal offers methods for Tribes to collaborate with the federal government, including potential co-management.
“This is so exciting to me because it comes from the people, this isn't coming from me telling you this is what I'm doing, or the government telling you what to do,” said Representative Ruiz. “This is coming from the young men and women who live in our communities and don't access our national parks, from the individuals in the communities like the promotoras who have worked tirelessly to help our communities with health, and now this will give access to parks where they can bring the community to and improve their health.”
New analysis shows fracking wells are using more water than ever
An investigation by the New York Times has revealed that the amount of water consumed by the oil industry has surged to record levels, with much of it sourced from aquifers that are already being drained at alarming rates. In particular, there hass been a sevenfold increase in water consumption by fracking wells since 201, primarily due to a new technique to first drill downward and then horizontally for thousands of feet. In total, oil and gas operators reported using about 1.5 trillion gallons of water since 2011, and the large-scale projects dubbed “monster fracks” can use up to 40 million gallons per well. Currently, oil companies are not required to have permits to drill their own groundwater wells and there is no consistent requirement for the monitoring or reporting of groundwater used for fracking.
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If we lose our wildland firefighters, we’re going to lose our natural resources, we’re going to lose cities and towns and we’re going to lose lives. This is not just about wildland firefighters—this is about the safety of our country.”
