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The Trump administration's Interior Department intentionally emphasized climate pollution from California's wildfires to shift the focus away from fossil fuels and encourage increased logging in national forests. Internal emails from 2018 show Interior officials attempting to craft a pro-industry narrative, including a request to "gin up" emissions data and selecting an option in variable data that would make a "good story."
The release of the Interior Department's California wildfire emissions estimate coincided with an executive order from President Trump directing agencies to increase logging. However, scientists say that logging does not necessarily help with wildfires, and simultaneously decreases carbon storage. These emails show that "at best [they] used unfortunate language and the department cherry-picked data to help achieve their pro-industry policy goals; at worst he and others exploited a disaster and manipulated the data."
The Interior Department's attempts to help the timber industry don't stop there. Newly released documents show the administration has partnered with the state of Alaska and the timber industry there, paying $300,000 annually for five years so that industry can pick which trees should be cut in an upcoming sale in the Tongass National Forest.
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I am honored to welcome our canine friends back to Colorado after their long absence.”
