Three Years of Revolving Doors, Huge Campaign Contributions, Reckless Decisions Leave Public Lands Users Footing the Bill
Today, Western Values Project — an Accountable.US project based in Montana, defending America’s public lands — released the latest in a series of corruption reports highlighting how the Trump administration is costing public lands users across Western states. Today’s report focuses on Montana and can be downloaded here.
“Donald Trump and his friends are getting richer by shutting the rest of us out of our American birthright,” said Deputy Director of Western Values Project Jayson O’Neill. “It wasn’t too long ago that the scandal-plagued former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke actually apologized to the same mining executive that has been labeled a ‘bad actor’ by the state of Montana. Now, with former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt running Interior, the Trump administration’s rampant corruption and unchecked recklessness have reached new levels. Any member of Montana’s Congressional delegation who purports to care about public lands must act to actually protect those lands from this unprecedented level of exploitation. A good place to start would be stopping President Trump’s war on Montana’s public lands.”
A revolving door of staff and huge campaign contributions to the President and his allies have paved the way for special interests to jeopardize some of the most iconic landscapes in the state. Strikingly, the report shows that top drillers with vested interests for developing Montana’s public lands have a close relationship to the administration:
- If the Trump administration approves the Hecla mine in northwest Montana, streams could run dry leading to a severe loss of endangered bull trout. Countless more acres of other endangered wildlife habitats, particularly for the sage-grouse, are also at risk thanks to the administration’s development plans.
- Since the start of the Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management has opened up 446,777 of Montana public land for drilling according to its own calculations.
- Another 377,346 acres of Montana’s national monuments have in the past been at risk of losing their protections through executive action by the President.
Supporting materials for the report can be downloaded here.
The post REPORT: Montana’s Outdoor Heritage Imperiled by Trump Administration Culture of Corruption appeared first on .