FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 5, 2020
DENVER—President Trump today is expected to open Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, effectively erasing the monument’s protections.
The proclamation comes on World Environment Day, the same day the Trump administration also:
- Released a draft environmental assessment that admits reducing protections for migratory birds will harm bird populations, but still recommends moving ahead with a final rule that would not hold companies responsible for birds killed in oil spills and other environmental disasters;
- Announced plans to carve a new hole in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to allow for logging of dead or dying trees on public lands without considering the impacts on ecosystems and wildlife; and
- Finalized air quality standards on offshore oil rigs that are significantly weaker than the original Obama administration proposal.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Deputy Director Aaron Weiss:
“As the country is focused on racial injustice and a public health pandemic, President Trump and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt are accelerating their assault on America’s public lands and waters. It takes a sickening disregard for people, wildlife, air, and water to unleash this many environmental rollbacks in one day.
“Opening marine national monuments to commercial fishing will leave those areas as monuments in name only, and accelerate the sixth extinction crisis that is unfolding in front of our eyes. At a time when voters and scientists agree we must protect 30 percent of America’s land and water by the end of the decade, President Trump and Secretary Bernhardt are dragging America and the world backwards, removing environmental protections for the benefit of corporate clients and donors.
“It may take decades to undo the damage of the Trump administration—and we don’t have that much time.”
LEARN MORE
- Thursday: Trump signs order to waive environmental reviews for key projects [The Guardian, Washington Post]
- Are we in a 6th mass extinction? Here’s the science [Science Alert]
- 73 percent of Western voters support “30×30” goal of protecting 30 percent of American land and water by 2030 [Colorado College]
Photo: Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, NOAA