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ACTION ALERT: Protect our National Monuments: Keep it in the Ground!

Description: President Trump has ordered the Department of the Interior to review all designations of national monuments greater than 100,000 acres created since 1996.  Removing Monument protection will open the areas up to potential coal, oil and gas exploitation that would increase greenhouse gas emissions, hasten global warming, and cause untold harm to public health and safety, infrastructure and property, and ecosystems and species.

 This is the last week for comment: deadline is July 10, 2017.

Background:  On April 26, 2017, the White House issued a Presidential Executive Order on the Review of Designations under the Antiquities Act, directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to review certain National Monuments designated or expanded since 1996.  Removing protections will open monuments to coal, oil, and gas exploration, .  The Secretary of the Interior will use the review to determine whether each designation or expansion conforms to the policy stated in the Executive Order and to formulate recommendations for Presidential actions, legislative proposals, or other appropriate actions to carry out that policy.  The list of National Monuments under review can be found here.

Contact Information:  Submit comments online through regulations.gov (Docket ID# DOI-2017-0002).

Suggested Scripts:  Indivisible Washington Environment Network and others are sharing comments to inspire and inform your own.  Limited in time?  Use the generic script and submit for as many monuments as you can.  If you have more time, check out the aditional suggestions below.

Generic Script (adapted from several sources)

I oppose any effort to reduce the size of this National Monument.  Reducing National Monument protection will open the area to coal, oil, and gas exploration and exploitation, protracting the demise of an industry that has little future viability and delaying the transition to clean energy.  Considering the external costs of fossil fuel-based energy (associated with impacts to public health, property damage, and natural  resources provisioning), clean energy is safer, cheaper, and creates more jobs.

National monuments protect significant natural, cultural or scientific features for public benefit now and for future generations.  Commercial use of public lands costs the taxpayer without providing sufficient benefit, amounting to an enormous taxpayer subsidy to some of the richest corporations in the world.  Giving over more of our public lands for this purpose is not to the economic benefit of the American taxpayer—to say nothing of the cost of lost ecosystem services, and recreational, environmental, cultural, and scientific resources. 

Communities in the vicinity of National Monuments benefit from the tourism, outdoor recreation, and quality of life associated with healthy and protected public lands and waters. The Department of Interior would be hard-pressed to shrink, eliminate, or alter national monuments without undermining the very cultural and natural resources they seek to protect.

Please protect this National Monument. I am firmly opposed to any effort to revoke or diminish protections it, and I urge you to support our public lands and waters and recommend that our current national monuments remain protected.

Additional Script Inspiration

Modern Hiker

Nature Conservancy

Center for American Progress

Headwaters Economics

Indivisible WA Environment Network

Additional Information: