Slashing two national monuments in Utah may have received the most attention, but Trump’s Interior Department and U.S. Forest Service have been quietly, systematically ceding control of America’s public lands to fossil fuel, mining, timber, and livestock interests since the day he took office.
What’s at stake are 670 million acres of forests, canyons, rivers, wetlands, mountains, and high deserts. Native American sacred sites. Ancient migratory pronghorn paths and towering temperate rainforests. Pristine streams that feed wild salmon and endangered pikeminnow. Prehistoric artifacts.
These lands are being plundered at a terrifying rate under the Trump administration, which has kicked the door open and let in profiteers to mine, drill, frack, log, and bulldoze. Along the way, it’s worsening the climate crisis, endangering wildlife, and divesting our natural inheritance to fatten the dividends for massive corporations.
Just this week, Trump launched a massive attack on imperiled wildlife, finalizing changes to the Endangered Species Act that could lead to extinction for hundreds of animal and plant species. The changes, which will make it harder to protect wildlife habitat from development, come in the face of urgent scientific warnings that humans have driven up to 1 million species worldwide to the brink of extinction.
Earlier this month, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt (a former oil and mining industry lobbyist) installed William Perry Pendley as acting deputy director of the Bureau of Land Management. Under Pendley, who has made it his life’s work to oppose federal authority over public lands, the ongoing fire sale of our children’s endowment is likely to worsen.
And last month, Trump’s Bureau of Land Management moved to allow fracking on millions of acres in Colorado―potentially tripling greenhouse gas emissions in a state that’s trying to scale back climate pollution―and his Forest Service announced plans to exempt large-scale logging projects in national forests from public and environmental review.
Sadly, it gets worse.
Trump also has relaunched proposals for three massive copper mines that had been idled during the Obama administration and would have disastrous consequences for wilderness, wildlife and water: Twin Metals near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness; Rosemont in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona; and Pebble Mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, at the headwaters of the world’s most productive wild sockeye salmon fishery.
So far the Trump administration has leased more than 3.4 million acres of public land in the lower 48 states for fracking and drilling, saddling future generations with the potential of nearly 600 million more tons of greenhouse gas pollution.
All of this comes as scientific climate reports carry dark warnings that our planet is teetering on the breaking point and the world is becoming desperate for urgent action to avert the worst consequences of climate change.
The most recent report, from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concludes that the land will be unable to sustain humanity because of being destroyed and manipulated by deforestation, industrial agriculture, and other development.
Among other things, scientists recommend that we restore ecosystems and stop burning fossil fuels to avoid “irreversible loss in land ecosystem services required for food, health and habitable settlements.”
But here’s the good news: We can start addressing climate change right here and now, by ending new oil and gas leasing on our public lands.
Fossil fuel production on public lands causes about a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution. Peer-reviewed science estimates that a federal fossil fuel leasing ban would reduce carbon emissions by 280 million tons per year.
Current laws give Congress and presidents authority to end new federal fossil fuel leasing. Hundreds of organizations—including the Center for Biological Diversity, the organization where I work—have already petitioned the federal government to end new onshore and offshore leasing, and the proposal is endorsed by several presidential candidates.
And more good news: With increasing frequency, courts have been rejecting the efforts of Trump’s Interior Department to deny or minimize the climate consequences of its actions, including decisions for more oil and gas extraction on public lands.
These cases are part of a growing pattern of judicial rulings that say federal agencies must do additional environmental review to weigh climate impacts before these projects can move forward.
Even in these terribly divisive times, there’s broad agreement that preserving landscapes for wildlife and future generations is the wise and right thing to do. The fate of the planet depends on it.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $130,000 in one-time donations and to add 1422 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy