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In the first few hours of his second term, President Donald Trump declared a national energy “emergency” along with other executive orders that seek to expand oil and gas production, unravel Biden-era environmental policies, and withdraw from international climate agreements.
“Claiming there’s an energy ‘emergency’ when America’s oil and gas production is at an all-time high is laughable,” said Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby. “The only emergency today is that Donald Trump’s oil billionaire friends want to enrich themselves even faster while ripping off American taxpayers and trashing our public lands.”
President Trump also signed an executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy,” which calls for increased fossil fuel production and mining on public lands and waters. It also calls for a review of all mineral withdrawals that affect mining for non-fuel minerals (like critical minerals), and calls on the U.S. Geological Survey to update the critical minerals list, assessing the potential of adding uranium to the list.
Another executive order rescinds many of the Biden administration’s protections for the Arctic, in particular prioritizing exports of American natural gas to foreign countries and attempting to restart oil leasing and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Looking back on Biden's conservation record
In a new episode of The Landscape, Kate and Aaron talk to CWP colleagues Lauren Bogard and Sterling Homard about our recent report on President Joe Biden’s final year on public lands, which looks at Biden's conservation achievements over the past year in the context of his full presidential term. They also recap Trump Interior Secretary Nominee Doug Burgum’s Senate confirmation hearing and discuss a new legislative attack on the Antiquities Act.
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I strongly disagree with the President’s decision on Denali. Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial.”
