• Politics

Biden-Harris Releases New Policy Proposal On Tribal Rights

• #30x30
• #BearsEars
• #conservarion
• Joe Biden
• monument
• pollution
• sacred sites
• tribal leaders
• Tribal sovereignty

Last week, during a joint visit in Arizona to the American Indian Veterans National Memorial by Vice President Biden and Senator Harris, their campaign released a strong new policy proposal on Native American tribal nations.

Why This Matters:  Like environmental issues generally, Native American issues are being elevated with the new calls for improving environmental justice and ending structural racism embodied in the high rates of pollution and lack of clean drinking water on tribal lands.

• Land

Trump Administration To Allow Oil and Gas Drilling in CA Land Monument

• Bureau of Land Management
• California
• climate change
• endangered species
• Endangered Species Act
• monument
• national monument
• oil and gas

In a quiet decision in late May, the Trump Administration said it will open up California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument, which is known for its stunning wildflowers, to oil and gas drilling and a pipeline, the LA Times reported last week. 

Why This Matters:  This project is inconsistent with the purposes of the monument and will surely cause environmental harm.

• Land

Permanent Funding for Land and Water Conservation Close, Ocean Monument Order Draws Suit

• #30x30
• #ConservationLawFoundation
• #monumentsforall
• #NationalParks
• conservation
• Great American Outdoors Act
• monument
• parks

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the Great American Outdoors Act and put $900m each year in perpetuity into the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which can be used to create, further protect, and expand federal, state, and local parks. In order to preserve the first fully protected area in the Atlantic Ocean, environmental groups yesterday challenged President Trump’s order opening up the NE Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.

Why This Matters:  The public overwhelmingly supports conserving our most precious areas of historic importance and natural beauty.

• Ocean

Trump Guts Only Atlantic Ocean National Monument — Opens It To Fishing

• #monumentsforall
• Antiquities Act
• monument
• NE Canyons and Seamounts

The President traveled to Maine on Friday (World Environment Day) and ordered the elimination of prohibitions on fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, effectively lifting its protected status immediately.  

Why This Matters: The Antiquities Act gives the President the power to create monuments and protect them from harm, but not to revoke them or eliminate core protections.

• Land

Trump Administration Will Allow Off-Road Vehicles in Much of Bears Ears Monument

• Bears Ears
• monument
• Native Americans
• sacred site

After having shrunk the Bears Ears National Monument drastically, the Administration announced last Friday a new management plan for what remains of the monument and, according to CBS News, the agency chose the plan that only closes about 42 square miles to off-road vehicles rather than the option that would have closed nearly 184 square […]