Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wants to return national monuments to ‘traditional’ mining and logging
By Mark Sumner
September 18, 2017
Daily Kos
TheWashington Posthas obtained a copy of a reportfrom Secretary of the InteriorRyan Zinkesuggesting that millions of acres of public land be given away while millions more should be opento mining and logging.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended that President Trump modify 10 national monuments created by his immediate predecessors, including shrinking the boundaries of at least four western sites …
Zinke actually produced the report back in August after a review of national parks and monuments created all the way back to the Clinton administration. Expectations were that Zinke was going to go on a tear, recommending big reductions, if not outright elimination, of multiple monuments. However, when the report was completed, the White House assured everyone that no monuments were to be destroyed. Then …they promptlyhid the actual reportand produced only a summary that failed to give details about what the Interior secretary was actually suggesting.
Even with the entire report in hand, it’s still impossible to tell just whereand how much public land Zinke wants to take away from the public and give to “affected industries.” But it is clear that he wants Trump to not only drastically shrink several monuments—including Bear’s Ears,Cascade-Siskiyou, andGold Butte—he wants to open these monuments and more to both mining and extensive logging.
The secretary’s set of recommendations also would change the way all 10 targeted monuments are managed. It emphasizes the need to adjust the proclamations to address concerns of local officials or affected industries, saying the administration should permit “traditional uses” now restricted within the monuments’ boundaries, such as grazing, logging, coal mining and commercial fishing.
Coal miningis now a “traditional use” of these areas …just as it has been since never.
Allowing traditional coal mining isn’t meant only for the areas being cut out of the monuments, and it’s not just restricted to the four monuments being reduced in size. It’s what Zinke intends everywhere in all monuments. Of course, the good news is that few of these areas even have any coal. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t have other materials that can be mined, forests that can be logged out, areas that canbe destroyed by access roads and any other “traditional” industries yet to be invented.For the monuments that are actually marine sanctuaries,Zinke wants the return of commercial fishing, which is sort of the definition of not a marine sanctuary.
Of course, Zinke contends that the monuments only exist because Obama (and possibly Bush and Clinton) hate American businesses.
“It appears that certain monuments were designated to prevent economic activity such as grazing, mining and timber production rather than to protect specific objects,” the report reads, adding that while grazing is rarely banned “outright,” subsequent management decisions “can have the indirect result of hindering livestock-grazing uses.”
That’s right. It’s not the beautiful landscapes, diverse habitat, endangered creatures or ancient artifacts that caused these lands to be set aside. It was done to make things bad for coal mines. Which don’t exist. And make things tough for ranchers. Although ranching continues to be permitted.
Previous administrations have steadily added to the store of the nation’s parks and monuments, but few have felt compelled to tear down what their predecessors built up. The destructive impulse puts Trump and Zinkeon new ground.
If enacted, the changes could test the legal boundaries of what powers a president holds under the 1906 Antiquities Act. Although Congress can alter national monuments easily through legislation, presidents have reduced their boundaries only on rare occasions.
But this is Trump. There are few things others have built, that he can’t destroy.