National Monuments

Joe Biden Upholds Barack Obama And Bill Clinton, Cancels Donald Trump, On Environmental Protection

President Barack Obama greatly expanded protection of national monuments during his time in office, including Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah, and also Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, off the coast of Rhode Island.

The first and the third national monuments were created by Obama in 2016, and the second created by Bill Clinton in 1996 and continued protected under Obama.

All three were dramatically reduced in size by Donald Trump in 2017, to promote development, mining, ranching, drilling, and fishing to take place on the lands, with the first two monuments also having sacred native American significance, which had been ignored by Trump.

But now, President Joe Biden has restored the entire expansion under Obama and Clinton, reversing Trump’s actions, a fantastic development!

Environmentalists and native American tribes are rejoicing, along with many conservation groups, including the Conservation Lands Foundation, for which my older son works as its Washington DC lobbyist!

Joe Biden Starts Off Aggressively, With 30 Executive Orders In Three Days

President Biden is starting off his administration with a series of quick actions through 30 executive orders in three days in office, and more to come!

These include:

14 on the Corona Virus

4 on the Economy

2 on the Environment

5 on Immigration

2 on Equity

1 on Ethics

1 on Regulation

1 on the Census Bureau

These include in detail:

Reinstating ties with the World Health Organization; Enforcing a mask mandate on federal properties and public transportation; Coordinating the national response to the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Halting construction of the Mexico Border Wall; Ending the Muslim Ban; Including non citizens in the Census Count; Protecting DACA immigrants from deportation; Stopping aggressive actions to find and deport undocumented immigrants.

Re-entering the Paris Climate Accords; Revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline; Revoking rollbacks to Vehicle Emission Standards; Undoing decisions to slash the size of several National Monuments; Enforcing a moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; Reestablishing a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gases.

Ending the 1776 Commission which distorted the role of slavery in American history; Rooting out systematic racism, and working to prevent discrimination based upon gender, sexual orientation or gender identity and promote equity and diversity in all government programs and agencies.

Extend a federal moratorium on evictions, and foreclosures on mortgages; A pause on federal student loan interest and principal payments.

Donald Trump’s Greatest Crime: Destruction Of Federal Government Agencies, Long Term Damage

Possibly the greatest crime Donald Trump has perpetrated in his 15 months of being President is his destruction of federal agencies.

This is particularly true of the Department of Justice, the State Department, the Interior Department, the Education Department, the Housing and Urban Development Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but really all departments in the federal bureaucracy have been affected.

Trump has trashed the FBI and the Justice Department, and Jeff Sessions has been the worst Attorney General in modern history. Trump has worked to destroy the credibility of the Department of Justice, not only in the investigation of his scandals, but also the reversal of so many civil rights policies.

The State Department has so many vacancies in the Foreign Service, and so many able diplomats in the Diplomatic Corps have resigned.

The Interior Department under Ryan Zinke has been a disgrace on the matter of protection and perpetuation of national parks and national monuments.

The Education Department under Betsy DeVos has worked to undermine public education at all levels, and undermined protection of minorities and women under education laws.

The Housing and Urban Development Department under Ben Carson is ignoring the major problems of public housing, and not protecting the rights of tenants.

The Department of Health and Human Services has tried to destroy ObamaCare, but has failed at that, while putting obstacles in the way of those who wish to engage in the program.

The Environmental Protection Agency under Scott Pruitt is a total tragedy, rife with scandal and disgraceful actions against the environment.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be on its death bed under Mick Mulvaney, an extremely corrupt person, who is also the head of the Office of Management and Budget.

We are in the midst of a great tragedy that will not be undone for decades and one feels helpless as one sees the federal government deteriorating!

The 49th Earth Day: The Attack By Scott Pruitt And Ryan Zinke In Full Swing

Today, April 22, is the 49th Earth Day, first declared by Richard Nixon in 1970, although earlier promoted by Wisconsin Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson, considered the true “founder” of the modern environmental movement.

We have come a long way in the movement to preserve our environment, with many heroes in that movement,

We can look back to Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, John Muir and many others at the beginning of the 20th century.

We can look forward to such people as Ralph Nader, Jimmy Carter, Cecil Andrus, Al Gore, Bruce Babbitt, and a multitude of others who deserve praise.

But we also have the enemies of the environmental movement, from the time of Ronald Reagan onward, and including many Republican senators over the years.

And now, we have the Donald Trump Presidency, and the evil being done every day by Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, and by Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior, who are trying to destroy all efforts at protecting us from climate change, global warming, and the damage to wildlife and to our national park and national monument system.

The fight for the environment must be fought against all enemies, as it is the future of the planet at stake!

Theodore Roosevelt To Barack Obama, And The Antiquities Act Of 1906, Now Under Threat From Donald Trump

Theodore Roosevelt, the greatest environmental and conservation President, promoted the passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906, and since then, 16 Presidents have designated a grand total of 157 National Monuments and National Parks.

Four Republican Presidents added no national monuments or national parks—Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, although Nixon is seen as a great environmental President with his Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel, and the signing into law of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and the first declared Earth Day on April 22, 1970.

Under Theodore Roosevelt, a total of 18 monuments or parks were added, including Devils Tower National Monument, Petrified Forest National Park, Muir Woods National Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, and Olympic National Park.

William Howard Taft added 10 national monuments and national parks, including Navajo National Monument and Zion National Park.

Woodrow Wilson added 13 national monuments and national parks, including Dinosaur National Monument, Acadia National Park, and Casa Grande Ruins National Monument.

Warren G. Harding added 8 national monuments and national parks, including Great Basin National Park, Aztec Ruins National Monument, and Bryce Canyon National Park.

Calvin Coolidge added 13 national monuments and national parks, including Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Statue Of Liberty National Monument, Fort Pulaski National Monument, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail, and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Herbert Hoover added 9 national monuments and national parks, including Arches National Park, Portion Of White River National Forest, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Grand Canyon National Park (extension), White Sands National Monument, and Death Valley National Park.

Franklin D. Roosevelt added 13 national monuments and national parks, including Dry Tortugas National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Zion National Park (extension), and Grant Teton National Park.

Harry Truman added just 1 national monument and national park, Effigy Mounds National Monument.

Dwight D. Eisenhower added just 2 national monuments and national parks, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, and Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

John F. Kennedy added just 2 national monuments and national parks, including Russell Cave National Monument, and Buck Island Reef National Monument.

Lyndon B. Johnson added just 2 national monuments and national parks, an extension again of Grand Canyon National Park, and Portion of Tongrass National Forest.

Jimmy Carter added 15 national monuments and national parks in just one term as President, a reason why Carter is seen as one of the top three conservation oriented Presidents, alongside TR and Nixon. Among those monuments and forests Carter added were Denali National Park in Alaska, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

Bill Clinton added the grant total of 19 national monuments and national parks, including Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, California Coastal National Monument, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Portion of Sequoia National Forest, President Lincoln and Soldier’s Home National Monument, Sonoran Desert National Monument, Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, and Governors Island National Monument.

George W. Bush added 6 national monuments and national parks, including African Burial Ground National Monument, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, and Pacific Remote Islands National Monument.

Finally, Barack Obama added the grand total of 29 national monuments and national parks, far more than runners up Bill Clinton, Theodore Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These included Fort Monroe National Monument, Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, San Juan Islands National Monument, Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Stonewall National Monument, Bears Ears National Monument, Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Freedom Riders National Monument, and Reconstruction Era National Monument.

All National Parks And Monuments MUST Be Preserved As Is, And In Fact, Expanded! Mining And Drilling Is Not The Energy Future!

The review by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke of our national parks and national monuments, at the direction of President Donald Trump, has led to proposals to cut down some national monuments in the Western states, while not eliminating any, as was originally feared.

While it is somewhat good news that the aim now of the Trump Administration is to do less damage to our national parks and national monuments, it is totally unacceptable to cut down ANY of the national parks and monuments.

Instead, these parks and monuments need to be preserved as is, and in fact, expanded!

Mining and drilling is NOT the energy future, and we should not damage any of nature’s great blessings, or interfere with Native American ancestral grounds and artifacts.

One of the great blessings of the American continent is that we have great natural wonders, fantastic scenery, and wonderful access for all Americans and people from foreign nations to spend time in nature.

We have many Presidents to thank for this, starting with Theodore Roosevelt and the Antiquities Act of 1906 onward, and being from both political parties, and we should not allow Donald Trump, who has no regard for nature or for tradition, to commit any damage on the jewels represented by our national park and national monument system.

No industrial or corporate machinations in the name of greed and profit should ever come over nature, and hopefully, future Presidents of both parties will add to our blessed system begun more than a century ago!

Donald Trump’s Assault On The Environment A Battle Worth Fighting!

Donald Trump has declared war on the environment, and is out to promote development, including opening up national parks and monuments to industrial development, putting economic growth above the great natural treasures protected by Presidents of both parties since Theodore Roosevelt.

Trump has also worked to undermine and eventually to destroy the Environmental Protection Agency created in the administration of Richard Nixon 47 years ago.

And Trump has withdrawn America from the Climate Accord negotiated in Paris, making our nation the pariah of the world community in that regard, and causing a loss of faith in American leadership.

His Interior Secretary threatened Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski on the issue of protection of Alaskan natural resources when she refused to vote for the demise of ObamaCare this part week, but Murkowski showed she could not be cowed by the Trump Administration.

Ryan Zinke, Interior Secretary, and Scott Pruitt, EPA head, are committing crimes against our national treasures, and there are many organizations and lobbyists who are working to prevent the Trump agenda, seeing the assault on the environment a battle worth fighting.

One of those organizations is the Conservation Lands Foundation, central office in Durango, Colorado, and this blogger is proud to report that his son David is working in Washington DC for this crucially important group, fighting alongside others for the preservation of our natural environment and national treasures!

Theodore Roosevelt And Gifford Pinchot Turning Over In Their Graves At Republican Party War On National Parks And Other Environmental Concerns!

The Republican Party a century ago had leaders who cared about the environment, and promoted conservation as a basic national policy.

Governor and later Senator Robert LaFollette, Sr. of Wisconsin; Senator George Norris of Nebraska; US Forestry Service Director and later Governor of Pennsylvania Gifford Pinchot; and President Theodore Roosevelt, all of them progressive Republicans in domestic affairs, made the promotion of national and state parks and monuments a priority. They set a standard for Democrats who followed their lead, including Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama, who just announced three new national park designations in California, Nevada, and Texas. Obama has added 260 million acres and 19 national monuments in office, making him one of the great leaders on that endeavor. We should also mention Republican President Richard Nixon, who despite many faults and shortcomings, did enough to be rated number two among Presidents on the environment, by a conservation group.

Additionally, we were fortunate to have such outstanding Secretaries of the Interior as Harold Ickes under FDR; Stewart Udall under JFK and LBJ; Walter Hickel under Nixon; Cecil Andrus under Carter; and Bruce Babbitt under Clinton to emphasize the importance of the environment in all of its manifestations.

But the Republican Party of present times is anti conservation, anti environment, fights the concept of global warming and climate change, and has allowed itself to come under the influences of wealthy energy interests that would love to mine uranium in the Grand Canyon; destroy native American and paleontological sites; and conduct fracking for natural gas, despite the vast dangers to health and safety, including water pollution and greatly increased earthquake activity, as in Oklahoma, for instance. The Koch Brothers have had a particularly deleterious effect on the issue of the environment. And Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma is the worst possible enemy of the environmental movement in Congress, and is head, by seniority, of the Senate committee that deals with the subject.

The failure to see the importance of preserving our natural treasures is mind boggling, and those groups involved in promoting the environment know they have a massive challenge to keep what was given to us, and until the 20th century, was being gutted by rapacious capitalists in the oil, coal, natural gas, uranium, and lumber industries who only saw, and still see, only the almighty profit motive, including lack of concern for danger to wildlife!

Republicans Declare War On National Parks And The Environment!

The Republican Party, already in its death throes as a respectable party, are now moving to repeal the Antiquities Act of 1906, passed during the administration of Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, allowing the President the authority to create national parks and monuments, and save our nature preserves and environment from industrial destruction.

Every President since TR has used this law to add to our national treasures, but now the House Republicans will vote to repeal the Antiquities Act in an attempt to favor the voracious and selfish business interests, particularly in the energy industry, including the Koch Brothers.

Fortunately, the Senate will not follow through, and the President could and would veto any such attempt, but it is worrisome that a possible GOP Senate in 2015 could raise the ante on this outrageous action, and were the GOP to control the Presidency and both houses of Congress in 2017, it is likely that our environmental record of pride for the past 108 years would lie in ruins. Possibly, a President Jon Huntsman might veto such action, but any other Republican would, almost certainly, sign such legislation!

Theodore Roosevelt is turning over in his grave, but realize Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter were also exceptional on the environment, and really, all Presidents, Democratic and Republican, have utilized this law to provide wonderful national parks and forests and monuments for the enjoyment of the American people!

This is just simply another outrage that should motivate those who care about this law and the environment, to come out in droves and insure that the Senate does not go Republican, and attempt to turn the House to the Democrats as well!