** Inside the Trump administration's rollback of 125 environmental safeguards
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Monday, November 2, 2020
The Trump administration removed Endangered Species Act protections from the gray wolf | Eric Kilby, Flickr ([link removed])
Over the last four years, the Trump administration has relentlessly rolled back protections for clean air, public lands, and wildlife. An analysis by the Washington Post ([link removed]) finds the administration has rolled back more than 125 environmental safeguards, with dozens more in the works.
Last week alone, the administration stripped protections ([link removed]) for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act and opened up 9.3 million acres ([link removed]) of Alaska's Tongass National Forest—our nation's largest intact old-growth temperate rainforest—to logging. These rollbacks join a laundry list of actions to reduce public input, weaken environmental reviews, and speed permitting of drilling and mining on public lands.
At the same time, record wildfires and crippling drought have highlighted the impacts of accelerating climate change. "We will have time lost,” said Gina McCarthy ([link removed]) , former EPA administrator and current head of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “And if you’re following anything about what’s going on across the country, from wildfires to hurricanes to floods to droughts, we don’t have time available to rebuild this."
Quick hits
** Despite logging industry claims, cutting down trees isn't stopping catastrophic wildfires
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ProPublica ([link removed])
** Federal agencies fall short of Trump forest protection goals
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Associated Press ([link removed])
** Losses mount for oil corporations as pandemic grips economy
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Associated Press ([link removed])
** Inside the Interior Department's embarrassing ethics fight on Twitter
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Outside Magazine ([link removed])
** After historic fires, Rocky Mountain National Park and surrounding national forests remain closed
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Denver Post ([link removed]) | Colorado Public Radio ([link removed])
** Colorado's newest state park officially opens
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Denver Post ([link removed])
** Cleaning up coal mines could create more jobs, report finds
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Casper Star-Tribune ([link removed])
** How conservation groups confront distrust from communities of color
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High Country News ([link removed])
Quote of the day
The Trump administration’s reckless disregard for our religious and constitutional rights is embodied in the dynamite and bulldozers now rumbling through our original homelands. Many of our tribal citizens feel they have no choice but to protest these destructive activities. They have been met with tear gas and rubber bullets from law enforcement.”
—Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr., High Country News ([link removed])
Picture this
** @JoshuaTreeNPS ([link removed])
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Full moon over Joshua Tree National Park
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