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Donald Trump's second term is likely going to be devastating for public lands. The president-elect has already committed to increasing drilling and undoing President Joe Biden’s energy and environmental policies.
Project 2025, the policy handbook written by former Trump officials, clearly lays out a plan to gut the Interior department and remove environmental safeguards that ensure the health of our public lands. In short, it would give extractive industries nearly unfettered access to public lands; severely restrict the power of the Endangered Species Act; open up millions of acres of Alaska wilderness to drilling, mining, and logging; roll back protections for spectacular landscapes like Oregon’s Cascade Siskiyou National Monument; and remove protections for iconic Western species like gray wolves and grizzly bears.
These policies would go against nearly everything voters in the American West care about, which is clean air, clean water, and new protections for public lands. Across the political spectrum, Western voters want oil and gas companies, not taxpayers, to be held accountable for the messes they make on public lands. In general, voters want more emphasis placed on conservation than energy production.
"America’s parks, monuments, forests, and public lands are universally popular, regardless of political party," said Jennifer Rokala, Executive Director at the Center for Western Priorities, in a statement. "If president-elect Trump and his administration try to sell off public lands, open lands to destruction, or put corporate profits ahead of public access, they will be met with swift resistance across the political spectrum. We held Trump’s corrupt appointees accountable last time, and we are prepared to do it again."
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This country’s bedrock environmental laws stand strong. We’re more prepared than ever to block the disastrous Trump policies we know are coming.”
