** Interior considered coal-centric messaging in shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante
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Monday, July 27, 2020
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
In 2017, the Trump administration shrunk Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, a controversial move that continues to be litigated in court. New documents ([link removed]) show that communications officials in the Interior Department considered justifying the move by focusing on coal mining potential, citing massive coal reserves under the previously protected land and identifying coal companies as "key industry stakeholders." Although the Trump administration asserted in legal documents that they cannot lease any area within the original monument boundary for fossil fuel development, months of communications planning focused primarily on Grand Staircase-Escalante as "the only monument that has a coal component."
Coal mining in the area would be logistically difficult and would disrupt Utah's $12.3 billion ([link removed].) outdoor recreation economy. John Leshy, former Interior Solicitor, says that ([link removed]) coal reserves in the region are spread out and difficult to mine, compounded by the lack of transportation routes. Despite asserting that the previously-protected land could not be leased, the Interior Department finalized land use plans in February that could allow 800,000 previously-protected acres to be leased for oil, gas, and coal development. Proceeding with leasing and focusing on coal in the original messaging are further examples of the Trump administration prioritizing extractive industries over protecting our public
lands.
Quick hits
** How the global oil collapse ripped a hole in state budgets
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Quartz ([link removed])
** David Bernhardt and Ivanka Trump visit to national park sparks frustration, travel concerns
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HuffPost ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** Interior Department considered coal-centric messaging for shrinking Western monument
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S&P Global ([link removed])
** How climate change is leading to a "redistribution of life on Earth"
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CBC Radio ([link removed])
** Bureau of Land Management nominee has complicated history with public lands
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Durango Herald ([link removed])
** Yosemite employee has coronavirus, but the park hasn't informed public
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Fresno Bee ([link removed])
** Opinion: Congress wants to fix public lands, but it's just a bandage on the wounds Trump caused
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The Guardian ([link removed])
** Bikepacking group creates 700-mile Bears Ears loop
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Bike Mag ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Congress’s passage of the Great American Outdoors Act is a reminder that we collectively have the power to write a new chapter in America’s conservation history, so that the promise of fresh air and the freedom of nature is guaranteed to every American, for all time.”
—Sally Jewel and Ken Salazar, The Guardian ([link removed])
Picture this
** @Interior ([link removed])
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Summer brings spectacular wildflowers that decorate the glacier-carved valleys
@GlacierNPS ([link removed]) . Pic by Richard Briggs ([link removed] ([link removed]) ) #Montana ([link removed])
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