Trump Interior Department adds to destructive legacy with week of environmental rollbacks
From cutting national monument protections to advancing a boondoggle pipeline draining Colorado River water, agency moves full steam ahead despite pandemic
Last Friday, President Trump traveled to Maine to sign a proclamation rolling back essential protections for the only national monument off our Atlantic coast. The previous day, Trump signed an executive order aiming to greenlight drilling, mining, and highway projects by sidestepping bedrock conservation laws, removing critical public input opportunities on projects that disproportionately impact communities of color. The moves capped a particularly destructive week in which the Interior Department rolled back key environmental safeguards and advanced destructive policy changes.
Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was established in 2016 to protect the edge of Georges Bank, an incredibly diverse and important fishery home to endangered whales and other rare species. Notably, the monument’s designation came after extensive discussions with regional stakeholders, from conservationists to fishermen. President Trump ordered the monument to be open to commercial fishing, directly undermining protections, even though federal data shows fishing revenues and landings did not decline after the monument’s designation.
Throughout the week, the Interior Department also moved forward with the following policies:
- Finalized air quality standards on offshore oil rigs — regulations that are significantly weaker than the original Obama administration proposal;
- 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;
- Released a draft environmental review paving the way for the highly controversial Lake Powell Pipeline, a project that would siphon Colorado River water from Lake Powell to southwestern Utah, passing through Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a Utah state park, and near several wilderness areas. Ironically, the agency cited unreliable water supplies due to climate change as the reason the pipeline should be built;
- 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 proposed a rule that would make it easier for the Bureau of Land Management to authorize logging and timber sales on public lands.
With one year remaining in the Trump administration’s first term, the Center for Western Priorities identified 79 policy changes the Interior Department sought to finalize. Four months later, the agency has completed 6 of those policy changes and advanced another 40. The only question now is: In the months remaining, how much can the Trump Interior Department add to its incredibly destructive legacy?
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