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With less than one year left in the Trump administration’s first term, the Interior Department has a long list of policy changes it is seeking to enact, with major ramifications for our public lands. The Center for Western Priorities' new tracker, “Unfinished Business,” identified 74 policies in the works, which would further weaken protections for wildlife and expand fossil fuel development on public lands.
“The clock is ticking on the Trump administration's first term, and Interior Secretary [David] Bernhardt knows it,” Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Jesse Prentice-Dunn told E&E News. “Policy changes in the works show that the former oil lobbyist is doing everything in his power to expand drilling and mining while reducing protections for wildlife.”
The Interior Department is also seeking to remove and downgrade protections from plants and animals on the Endangered Species List, with 17 actions already underway, and dozens more identified by the Office of Management and Budget.
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All of the pollution, all of the issues that they’re facing, it’s not something that you’re going to see in Cherry Creek or in Highlands Ranch. Throughout this country, historically, we have put these types of industrial facilities near poorer communities, because generally speaking, they don’t have as much advantage when it comes to reaching their legislators and speaking out.”
