Government shutdown shows priorities of new acting Interior secretary—oil and gas above national parks

The Trump administration is leveraging the government shutdown to permanently cut staff and benefit extractive industries The federal government shut down on October 1, unleashing chaos and uncertainty across the country — including on America’s public lands. Now, at the one-month mark with no end to the shutdown in sight, public lands are experiencing significant […]

“These plans show that a handshake doesn’t mean anything to David Bernhardt unless it’s with an oil and gas executive. At Bernhardt’s direction, the Interior Department is breaking a landmark deal that was brokered by Western governors, ranchers, and conservationists—all to allow more drilling and mining.

Acting Interior Secretary orders money meant for deferred maintenance projects and visitor services to be spent hauling trash and cleaning bathrooms As the government shutdown drags into a third week, many national parks are straining under the impacts of the Trump administration’s decision to leave them open, but understaffed. Around the country, parks are facingmounting piles […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 20, 2018 DENVER—As President Trump pushes for a Christmas shutdown of the federal government, the Interior Department intends to keep America’s national parks open to the public, while closing many critical visitor centers and facilities. The Center for Western Priorities issued the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala: “Secretary Zinke […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 25, 2017 DENVER—As the National Park Service celebrates its 101st birthday today, the Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Advocacy Director Jesse Prentice-Dunn: “It is the height of hypocrisy for Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to celebrate our parks the day after he proposed wiping vast parts of our […]