By Nick Jensen
For conservation advocates like us, the first 100 days of the Trump Administration have felt more like 100 years. Many of you have surely been following the news about harmful changes to bedrock environmental laws, leaked plans for national monument reductions, and damaging changes to management of forest lands. It has been a busy and heart-wrenching few months.
Today, I have the unfortunate duty to share with you a time-sensitive threat to thousands of acres of irreplaceable habitat on national lands: budget reconciliation. I say “time sensitive” because there is something we can do right now – this week – that could help us fight back. Please read on for more.
“If we have people in our lives that we love, that we think are going to be around in 2050 or 2070 or 2100, we owe an obligation to them to act right now.” – Rep. Dave Min
What happened
Last week, the House Committee on Natural Resources approved its budget reconciliation legislation, which would accelerate fossil fuel extraction and significantly weaken environmental regulation. Notably, members squeezed in a last minute, late-night amendment to sell off public lands in Nevada and Utah. Representative Dave Min (CA-47) called the reconciliation package “The Environmental Liquidation for Billionaires Act,” adding that “If we have people in our lives that we love, that we think are going to be around in 2050 or 2070 or 2100, we owe an obligation to them to act right now.”
If this amendment is cemented into law, it could set a dangerous precedent for public lands across the country, including in California. In April, a leaked Department of Interior report targeted our new Chuckwalla National Monument as one of six national monuments it aims to shrink. These threats are real and active, which is why members of both parties have formed a bipartisan public lands caucus to stop a sell-off of public lands. They need our help now, as the House prepares for floor votes next week.
Why is this happening through budget bills?
The budget resolution contains “reconciliation instructions” that congressional committees must follow. For example, this year’s budget resolution requires the House Committee on Natural Resources to reduce its deficit by $1 billion. The committees must then come up with a method by which they meet this target, typically cutting spending or raising revenue. The methods by which each committee proposes to achieve its budget goal are then packaged up into a single bill that must be voted on by both the House and the Senate. The members pushing the sell-off see our public lands as assets, numbers on a spreadsheet that can be disposed of. We cannot stand for this.
You can make a difference this week.
Please–and do this now–call your elected representatives in the House and Senate and tell them to oppose any sell-off of public lands. Urge them to vote no on the sell-off of any public lands in the budget bill and fight for what belongs to all of us.
Voting begins as soon as May 19. Time is of the essence to stop actions we won’t be able to reverse.
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Dr. Nick Jensen is the CNPS Conservation Program Director. You can support CNPS conservation work by becoming a member today!
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