Tell Congress to protect our public lands – #RESIST Trump's agenda

Resist Trump's Monumental Rollback

The threat to unravel protections for Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument is one step closer to reality. After a rushed review, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced he recommends eliminating protections for portions of Bears Ears.

An attack on one national monument is an attack on all of our public lands. If all areas in the current Bears Ears National Monument is no longer protected, what is fate of the 26 national monuments also under review, our national parks, our wildlife refuges, and other public lands and waters?

It’s clear that the Department of the Interior and the Trump administration have a common goal -- auctioning off our public lands and waters to those who put profits before our historical, cultural, and natural heritage. Now, Congress must step up to protect our special places.

Tell your members of Congress commit to protecting our public lands and waters for generations to come.

I am appalled by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s recommendation to eliminate protections for portions of Bears Ears Bears Ears National Monument. 

It’s clear that the Department of the Interior and the Trump administration have a common goal -- auctioning off our public lands and waters to those who put profits before our historical, cultural, and natural heritage. Now, I look to you to do what this administration will not -- to protect our special places for generations to come. 
 Even in the rush to open up our public lands to destruction, over a million people have weighed in with Secretary Zinke to tell him to keep our public lands in public hands and to protect them for future generations. I hope that you will listen to your constituents like me, and stand up for our special places.

For over a century, Congress has played an important role in safeguarding and preserving our lands, waters, and cultural and historical sites for all people to enjoy. This slow motion threat to America’s national parks, public lands and oceans could undo this work. 

After years of work by Tribal Nations  -- including the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and the Ute Indian Tribe -- and with overwhelming support by people across the country, Bears Ears National Monument became a reality. 

These lands are vital to tribal communities across the Colorado Plateau as a place of subsistence, spirituality, and healing. These lands are home to tens of thousands of important cultural sites, including the cliff dwellings, villages, and rock art panels of the Ancestral Puebloan people. We cannot turn our back on protecting invaluable places like this. 

Based on Interior Secretary Zinke’s recommendation for Bears Ears, the threat to protections for the 26 national monuments still under review by the DOI has never been more real. These are extraordinary places that showcase our country’s wide-ranging geography and cultural history. Spanning two oceans and 12 states, these national monuments feature ancient coral reefs, giant sequoias, expansive deserts, snow-capped mountains, breathtaking canyons, flower-filled plains, red rock wonders, and wild forests. 

Our national monuments tell the stories of cultures dating back millennia, continue to be a sacred place for many Native American Tribes, and offer people endless opportunities to experience the great outdoors. We cannot allow our public lands to be opened to development and changed forever. 

 Our parks, monuments, and other public lands define who we are as a nation. Please be a leader,  stand with the public, and protect our  public lands and waters.

Tell Congress to protect our public lands


MORE PETITIONS –

Make a public comment to protect national monuments from Trump! | Greenpeace

Bears Ears: We Must Protect This Spectacular, Sacred American Monument

Urge Secretary Zinke to Protect our National Monuments - Earthjustice

Help us fight back against the Trump administration with a monthly donation | Sierra Club

This is what we're up against. The minute Trump took office, he scrubbed every mention of Climate Change from whitehouse.gov.

– His new energy "plan" will make your blood boil:

President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan...

"We must take advantage of the estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves, especially those on federal lands..."

The Trump Administration is also committed to "clean coal" technology.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

We are mobilizing and launching an emergency grassroots campaign to stop Trump from derailing everything we've worked for.

Fight back every day for the next four years. Make a monthly donation to the Sierra Club this second.

Thank you,
Michael Brune
Executive Director
Sierra Club

CLICK HERE TO DONATE: sierra.secure.force.com/…

Trans-Pacific Partnership | The Sierra Club is deeply concerned about the lack of transparency around the TPP and the deal's environmental implications.

The United States recently struck an expansive free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Eventually, every Pacific Rim nation may be included.

The Sierra Club is deeply concerned about the lack of transparency around the TPP and the deal's environmental implications. Here's why:

• Extreme Secrecy. The TPP negotiations took place in extreme secrecy. Still no drafts of TPP texts have been released. And public input has been drowned out by dominant corporate input; more than 600 corporate advisors have actively worked to shape the agreement while the public is being kept in the dark. 

• Threat to Forests, Wildlife, and Fish. While the TPP environment chapter should set strong and binding rules to address conservation challenges like illegal timber and wildlife trade, its rules will likely be too weak to have an impact on the ground and are unlikely to be enforced, rendering the chapter essentially meaningless. Read more here.

• Unfettered Rights to Corporations. The TPP will include provisions that give corporations the right to sue a government for unlimited cash compensation -- in private and non-transparent tribunals -- over nearly any law or policy that a corporation alleges will reduce its profits. Using similar rules in other free trade agreements, corporations such as Exxon Mobil and Dow Chemical have launched over 600 cases against more than 100 governments. Dozens of cases attack common-sense environmental laws and regulations, such as regulations to protect communities and the environment from harmful chemicals or mining practices. Read more here about how harmful investment rules included in other trade pacts have led to the attack of climate and environmental policies.

• Increase in Dirty Fracking. The TPP may allow for significantly increased exports of liquefied natural gas without the careful study or adequate protections necessary to safeguard the American public. This would mean an increase of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the dirty and violent process that dislodges gas deposits from shale rock formations. It would also likely cause an increase in natural gas and electricity prices, impacting consumers, manufacturers, workers, and increasing the use of dirty coal power. Read our factsheet on the TPP and natural gas exports here!

Learn more...

Trans-Pacific Partnership | Sierra Club