Taking stock of the deregulation of land and climate protections in 2017.
Monuments
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Will Trump put a ‘hired gun’ for ranchers in top BLM post?
The president is considering a BLM director who has continually fought the agency.
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16 major environmental protections cut in 2017
Climate change initiatives were the most targeted by the Trump administration.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Lawsuits challenge Trump’s trim of Utah monuments
Reductions in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante exclude thousands of significant objects.
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The 26,000 tons of radioactive waste under Lake Powell
The West’s uranium boom brought dozens of mills to the banks of the Colorado River — where toxic waste was dumped irresponsibly.
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Trump’s message for tribes: Let them eat yellowcake
The president’s Bears Ears decision has toxic implications.
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A monumental blow to tribes
Trump’s decision to shrink Bears Ears reopens wounds that Obama sought to heal.
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What national monument protections do
Some say the Bears Ears shrinkage won’t change anything — they’re wrong.
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Utah national monuments face dramatic reductions
Cutbacks to Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears spark protests and lawsuits.
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How to make sense of Trump’s changes to Bears Ears
The drastically reduced boundaries don’t line up with what the public wants.
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A new national monument – in Zinke’s home state
Interior threatens to shrink boundaries at Western sites, but Badger-Two Medicine might get designated.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
What could be lost in a push for mining in monuments
In Grand Staircase-Escalante, coal and fossils lie side by side.
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In Congress, an effort to curtail national monuments
Any monument larger than a square mile would require additional review.
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A national monument that saves the last of the last
The monument that brought us the ‘super bloom’ also supports rural economies and threatened wildlife.
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In monuments report, a skewed view of protections
Under the Antiquities Act, landscapes like the Grand Canyon count as ‘objects’ that can be protected.
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These six Western monuments face reductions
See photos of the landscapes singled out in the Interior Department’s recommendations.
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Key stories for understanding the monuments debate
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has advised Trump to modify 10 national monuments.
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Close encounters with a scary fire season
As wildfires have ripped through the West, take stock of what climate change has wrought.
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Details emerge on proposed monument cutbacks
Interior Secretary Zinke says he will recommend reductions to some monuments, but not eliminations.
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The national monuments ‘review’ is a sham
The Trump administration is using cynical politics, not sound policy.