No plausible co-existence with Republicans.
Failure to wipe this disease off the face of the earth means total destruction of the planet.
12
I am genuinely uncertain what to think. On the one hand, I trust not the intent or claims of Zinke and the Trump administration; on the other, I trust not environmentalist claims about how much land is necessary to protect sage grouse or any species. Their protectionist impulses have been so expansive, and have damaged with impunity so many rural economies and peoples, that I see bad faith on all sides. I am yearning for dispassionate analysis of the social and environmental impacts of policies, but experience had taught me that other areas of environmental policies, especially in the fisheries, which I do know, suggests the NYT is itself prone to unnuanced and less-than-dispassionate reporting in this area.
1
NOT LONG AFTER the close of the second world war, a gathering took place in the upper Mojave Desert; among those in attendance were Dr. Bertrand Russell and Dr. Edmond Jaeger, the dean of American desert naturalists.
Around the campfire one evening, the topic under consideration was Right and Wrong.
After listening to the discussion amongst his distinguished colleagues for a fashion, Jaeger turned to Russell, whose white wispy hair and pipe smoke were outlined in the flames, and said, "The environment, since it cannot run away nor defend itself, must be protected. And THAT, sir, is the difference between what is Right and what is Wrong."
Seven decades later and in the face of the greatest natural calamity to face the Earth since we humans arrived on the scene about 300,000 years ago — including the sixth global mass extinction in the planet's history, now well underway (and our very first to experience) — that definition of absolute morality has gained orders of magnitude greater currency. Not even the multi-billionaire kleptocrats will be unscathed by what we had had an actual opportunity to mitigate, but squandered.
"The grand agents of nature are indestructible."
— James Joule, FRS (1818 - 1889)
Sic transit gloria mundi.
7
What is missing from this is why we need to do it. Is it just because it is there? Are we going to keep destroying all of our natural ares until there is nothing left to be strip mined or contaminated? Right now there is a world wide glut of oil. Under Obama we made great strides in moving away from fossil fuels and that is what we should be continuing to do. One of the reasons Trump wants to do this is for that reason, he wants to undo everything that Obama did. The Republicans have made it very clear they do not care about our public lands. We once had forward thinkers that recognized the value in setting these beautiful natural areas aside for all of us and the generations to come. Once they are gone there will be no bringing them back. This is a golden goose scenario and the Republicans are ready to take an ax to it all.
13
MAGA baby!
1
What gives man the right to endanger any species? I guess many feel we are a higher form of life so that gives us the right.
We need to find a way to live without endangering any species. We owe that to the Earth.
9
I do understand both sides of the issue.
I don't understand our behavior that outcomes be a winner take all game, i.e., either no drilling at all or we throw caution to the wind and let drillers rape and pillage the earth, air and water.
Where is the win-win approach? Why not caveat the privilege to drill by making drillers actually HIRE the enviro types to create new bird nesting grounds that are safely out of harms way and then relocate the birds to these areas.
Have we ever even tried to meet each other in the middle and work together as a team rather than as adversaries?
6
@Mike couldn't of said it better myself
What goes around comes around.
To call Trump an idiot is to insult idiots. He is profoundly unaware of humanity and reality in his golden cage.
Mean, cruel, cowardly, and dangerously evil, he's determined to have his way if it kills us all.
14
The sage grouse is not the only one in danger. Why do so many US citizens not realize this? How long will we allow the destructive policies of the present administration to threaten us? If we want our future generations to have a chance at a better life, how can we stand by while the lust for power and money put our lives in great jeopardy? The obvious inhumanity behind those in power now across the globe is in no way subtle, yet it remains unchallenged by the intelligence we rely upon to govern with insight and ethics.
13
So let me get this straight. You closed off drilling to save some grouse. Ridiculous. Grouse use to be all over northern Colorado. They are gone. Who cares. There are more hawks, eagles etc. in this area than ever before. Other food moves in for the predators and the rest of food chain.
If every environmentalist's house hold and every NYT reporter's family had to contribute a son or daughter to fighting in a mideast war every one of them would change their tune. That is what it comes down to. We fight in the mideast for oil only. Besides oil those countries beside Israel are unimportant. The fact is if we don't need their oil, we don't have to fight wars there.
The average drill site takes up 4 acres, 4 acres! I am an oil and gas lawyer, I have negotiated many well sites. All the drilling in the west is very deep and horizontal so many little land is affected. 4 acres per well within millions of acres. To save the lives of our young people and unleash billions of dollars of royalties and taxes to families, schools, local governments and farmers and ranchers? That is not worth it? I will give up some stupid birds for that.
4
@Brad
We don't just fight in the middle east to secure oil. The second Iraq war was fought to prevent Iraq oil from hitting the world wide market. Before 9/11 there was a lot of talk about lifting sanctions on Iraq. Iraq was poised to produce up to four million barrels a day. That was when oil was selling for $20 dollars a barrel. four million additional barrels a day would have devastated oil producers. The same oil producers who helped put George Jr, in power. Don't forget that Arbusto, the oil company that Jr founded, had at least a million dollars of Saudi money invested. They never found any oil, but the investment paid off when the price of oil shot to $150 per barrel after the invasion. " Mission accomplished".
2
@Brad
The sage grouse is a proxy for nature.
Just remember, it has the only seat at the table and it bats 1000. We, earth's apex predator, have gotten too big for our britches, and we're in for a dodgy time.
We don't need more fossil drilling; we already have enough reserves to kill the planet. And drilling is a dirty business, in every way, moral and physical.
6
@Brad
Please let me set you straight. The choice is not between saving kids and saving the sage grouse. The choice is between reducing our dependency on fossil fuels & preserving a habitable system for all of us versus continuing to subsidize an energy system that is harming us. Wars in the Middle East are not fought because of sage grouse or environmentalists. They’re fought because of greed and mismanagement.
And I’m plain sick of government enriching the few at the expense of the many and then pretending that it’s for my own good.
I wish I could help you understand that we are not separate from nature. We are nature. I think the sage grouse should be protected because they’re beautiful and perfect, because we need biodiversity, because I’d like to ensure that all of our kids inherit a habitable planet.
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.“ John Muir
10
This is not about employment. These greed driven slavers are bent on destruction of the public good and the beauty which remains in North America....Someone, please...stop them.
7
Once its gone its gone.
7
“It’s ironic,” said Mark Squillace, an expert on environmental law at the University of Colorado Law School. “If the species is listed, it will trigger all kinds of federal actions.”
Aren't those the federal actions Zinske and Bernhardt are actively rescinding?
I think more action is needed to make sure any and all revenues are shared with the American people, not just added to corporate coffers. That is the true devastation being wrought upon the American ideal. "We the people" own those vast swaths of wild-lands.
1
Once again, it is ignorance and emotion which will kill everything around us, until we go, too.
5
LIke all of his environmental actions, Dumbo Donnie and his pals are living in a dying world: even the auto companies recognize the need to move to electric vehicles or vehicles powered by natural gas. Oil is dying. The focus is moving towards renewables-wind and solar. We need to protect this earth-it is the only one we have. Coal is a dying industry and for the poor folks (all 70,000 of them) who are fighting to preserve this way of life-for what-lung disease? We need to be honest: train these people for other work. Wake up Folks. Climate Change is happening. Focus on preserving this earth not destroying it for cash.
6
For those saying "who cares about sage grouse" I say we all should.
According to Wikipedia, "According to a 1998 survey of 400 biologists conducted by New York's American Museum of Natural History, nearly 70% believed that the Earth is currently in the early stages of a human-caused mass extinction,[49] known as the Holocene extinction. In that survey, the same proportion of respondents agreed with the prediction that up to 20% of all living populations could become extinct within 30 years (by 2028). A 2014 special edition of Science declared there is widespread consensus on the issue of human-driven mass species extinctions.[50]
Biologist E. O. Wilson estimated [13] in 2002 that if current rates of human destruction of the biosphere continue, one-half of all plant and animal species of life on earth will be extinct in 100 years.[51] "
Sage grouse now - WE THE PEOPLE soon. Why? So the most insatiably greedy, morally/ethically bankrupt, socially unconscious, demented people on the planet can make more money? To add to the MULTI-TRILLIONS of $$$ they have already inherited/stolen?
I, for one, will not stand by and allow them to destroy OUR lives and OUR planet.
7
The only consolation here, beside the fact that Montana is expected to continue sage grouse habitat protection, is that trump appears to be headed for the endangered species list when his ecosystem changes on Jan. 3. And like the woolly mammoth, we will only know he was here by the fossilized remains he leaves behind.
6
Supply and demand.
Insatiability for more, whether needed or not.
After decades in the oil business, I have seen it play out over and over, with much suffering for the professionals who perform the actual work, whether indoors or outdoors.
The so-called Independents need cheap land in order to speculate with OPM - other people's money.
Applies to large companies too, that are not shy about a little exploitation, of things more precious than refinable hydrocarbons.
If we should focus merely on jobs, I would imagine that these workers might also be happy with careers related to renewable sources of energy; building wind turbines, solar installations, and geothermal plants offer just as much “dignity,” and - dare I say - income. Also, the aforementioned energy systems do not, by their inherent nature, pollute the environment. Finally, when the oil, natural gas, and coal are gone, there go the jobs, leaving behind an often scarred environment.
3
I see more counter point posts. That’s a good thing.
More subscribers to the Times!
And, more dialogue.
How powerful should be the office of the presidency?
In this case, it opens the door to cronyism and greed.
2
President Obama said “you can’t drill your way out of high gas prices.”
That’s exactly what happened.
Basic supply and demand economics.
3
Trump Rx for Climate Change: More leeches.
"Can't you see the patient is very pale. Quickly, more leeches!
3
I, for one, applaud this effort to continue our American way of life, namely to drive gigantic 4x4 trucks, usually with no passengers, kept in pristine condition and never with any actual payload in the bed. I only ask that any sage grouse smashed against the grill of said truck be properly preserved and sent to the right authorities for study.
3
@Jack Klompus
Of course you live in Florida where the entire population of wildlife has been replaced by golf courses. Why should you care?
@Kim Runyon
I think Jack is joking. At least I hope he is. He could have added that he applauds the right to leave our car engines running just because we don’t believe that we should be obliged to turn them off whenever we have a quick errand to run at the hardware store or post office or just want to sit in a running car for 30 or so minutes. This is stuff I see all the time.
So, why are people complaining about high gas prices?
You mean the sage grouse might have to make do with only two MILLION acres? Heavens!
Get a grip, people. We can have energy and animals. And perhaps even the occasional grouse cordon bleu!
4
@Chris Growing up in rural Idaho I hunted, it was basically a right of passage. As a young man, we hunted many species of birds ruffed grouse, blue grouse, sage-grouse, pheasants, ducks and geese. I have stopped hunting. I gave it up a number of years ago. Why? The birds which I used to hunt have become increasingly scarce. The sage grouse not only has to compete with its natural predators, but it has to compete in an ever shrinking habitat. Cattle ranching, industrial evelopment, urban development, humans encroaching upon its habitat, and now drilling rigs. True 2 million acres is a lot of land, but not all of this land is prime real estate for the sage grouse. During mating season, the sage Grouse requires a specific habitat for this to occur. So all those two million acres, only a percentage of that habitat would be appropriate to sustain a sage Grouse population. Once this bird was was plentiful all across the West. Soon, maybe our grandchildren will look at Sage grouse alongside the dodo bird and other animals which are now extinct. It is a big price to pay to allow companies to drill for oil and gas. We have better options available to us and we should explore them before destroying that which can never be replaced.
17
@Chris
Oil drilling, how bad could it be? Go look at Wyoming. You'll find lagoons of heavily polluted, oily toxic water. Roads appear where none existed before. By the way, you may not realize that workers and others using those roads aren't creeping along at 20 mph. There will also be mines, irrigated alfalfa farms and lots of guns. So if you throw all that habitat change onto a bird already barely hanging on, the math doesn't add up. The decision here is to add this species to the endangered list. All for the sake of a quick buck.
8
Thank you POTUS. Only a leftist could think that an ugly little bird like a sage grouse is more important that mining cheap beautiful pristine American oil. Drill baby drill. We had an election. Remember. Trump won in an electoral landslide. There must be no more dependence of the middle east. We need oil, jobs and economic growth to repel the 8 socialist years of the miserable Obama regime. Piece by piece, Trump has systematically jettisoned Obama's thin as gruel legacy.
2
@Steve
And when the oil and the sage grouse are gone?
@Steve
So glad you pointed out he won by an ELECTORAL majority, because he certainly didn't win by a majority of the voters.
"Ugly little bird like a sage grouse". You miss the point entirely. Preserving each species adds up to preserving the planet. I'm thinking of my grandchildren and yours.
7
I wonder what Trump's kickback will be on this "deal"?
5
If there is one constant in Trump policies it is that his incompetent minions will not have done their homework. Expect this “rollback” to be a slapdash effort to capture headlines but poorly reasoned, without stakeholder input, and without a scientific foundation.
This is a protection act for lawyers who I hope can keep implementation on hold until Trump slinks away for good.
3
Just wondering how many, already millionaires and billionaires, Trump is benefiting. And how many millions he is going to get after he’s done in two year
5
@Think bout it I don’t know, but $2 a gallon is a lot better than what they’re paying in Europe. Ask Macron how his people feel about high energy prices.
2
@Scott
$2 a gallon is a lot cheaper.
Cheaper and better are not always the same.
Ask the people who have lead poisoning, for example.
1
@Marc Lead poisoning? Lol. In the case of a nations energy cheaper is far better.
Some things I will never understand about this country. If this is a representative democracy, what gives Trump the right to make decisions like this, which just gives land to the large oil companies at will. Lets face it our form of government is bought and run by huge corporations for their benefit only...Our system of government is capitalism and screw democracy!
14
This land is your land, this land is my land. How can the general population stop the destruction of our land, and it's nature and cultural heritage?
Thousands of acres on the north slope of Alaska were just leased to foreign companies to pillage the fossil fuels. When will people conserve natural resources of their own will? The many are mighty - they just don't use their collective power to control the flow of money.
18
Dumb and dumber. I guess this administration knows more than our scientists. And if they’re wrong? We’re talking mad max. The human race is in trouble.
6
We need jobs and minerals, not sage grouse. they are useless and ugly anyway.
1
@No Pretty much all animals that we don't use for food are useless and not necessary to the survival of humans. Why not get rid of them as well?
1
@No
We need a liveable planet, also. All the oil and jobs in the world will mean nothing when our planet is so polluted, the animals have all died off, and we're fighting over clean water and land.
I had not known anything about this prior to reading this article. What struck me most about it was the clear implication that this bird, its habitat, and its continued existence in the wild, is far more important than the thousands of workers who perhaps could have the dignity of supporting their families were it not for the supreme necessity of keeping this bird happy. It's not like we could breed it in captivity or anything...
1
@Kathleen880 I don't think you understand the general consensus here. It's not just the birds' lives.
It's the permanent damage to the land and the contribution to the climate change.
I understand that jobs are essential. But without clean air, water, and land. The bare necessity for healthy human survival. Without the bare necessities, without a healthy planet, our future generations are doomed.
11
@Kathleen880
History has shown that oil jobs follow a boom-and-bust cycle. We're much better off with industries that create stable jobs less affected by wide swings in the price of oil.
2
I would imagine that these workers would also be happy with jobs related to renewable sources of energy; building wind turbines, solar installations, and geothermal plants offer just as much dignity...and - I dare say - income.
8
This is just about or even primarily about kissing the sage grouse goodbye in exchange for oil.
Those 9 million acres are the habitat of many animals
Those 9 million acres are public land which will be destroyed as habitat and as places the public can enjoy. Drive from Lake Sakakawea to the Montana border without being near an oil rig - there are 36,000 of them in North Dakota. The Dept. of Interior administers 5,500 leases in ND.
The Federal Government virtually gives this land to oil companies. The Department of the Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) leases this land for $1.50 per acre plus $1.50 administrative fee per acre in the first year. Drilling companies can build roads, drilling pads and put in tanks, pumps and pipes, which destroy the land for other public uses. If they drill dry holes they can walk away. If they find oil they can continue to lease the land for another 9 years for a total fee of $16 per acre.
This is all about giving public lands to private corporations to build their stock value, which is what increasing reserves does. Much of that oil will remain in the ground.
Oil companies 2017 reserves are estimated to be a 42 to 50 year supply of oil. The world is awash in oil, with Saudis even cooperating with Russia (the friend of their great enemy Iran) to reduce production
If we burn oil for 50 more years we will be awash in water
32
This is what goes on while cable news is transfixed by Russia. trump and Co are awful. And winning...
8
Trump supports anything that inflicts pain and suffering on humans and animals, and hastens the destruction of the environment that protects planet Earth. We are all doomed.
6
Greed Rules all.
8
And after Mr. Bernhardt finishes his stint with this administration, he'll receive his industry bonus.
This makes me sick.
4
nobody loves sage grouse with all the trimmings more than Ryan Zinke. mmm-mmm! you can hear him sharpening his carving knife from here.
do the foxes now living it up in the Washington henhouse have a natural predator?
why not sink a couple of exploratory wells on Trump's Bedminster golf course? that should tear up the greens! then, he'd need to have some of his undocumented help go out to clean up the mess.
7
The only problem on earth: humans.
8
Horrifying and heartbreaking...the man is so defiant...so heartless...has no soul...so full of revenge...someone wrote a big disconnect from nature...oh he is a big disconnect alright...I think from all that is...
5
When I look at my 8 year old daughter it saddens me knowing the narcissism and greed of the GOP is killing the earth and her future.
9
"Go ahead, you’re allowed to destroy the habitat.”
Let's try a thought experiment. Suppose we have 2 choices: 1) Open the land so that oil companies could drill on it, which would kill off much of an endangered species, and would continue the wide-spread polluting effects of burning fossil fuels. Or, 2) Open the land so that enough wind towers could be built to heat the homes in all of America west of the Mississippi River in perpetuity. And, as a side benefit, that land would also support vast arrays of solar panels to generate enough electricity for all those western homes as well. And the grouse would live happily ever after.
Which is the better solution?
Many would say that building the wind towers is a better choice. And from many aspects, it would be. No pollution, lots of essentially free energy which would never run out, the creation of many new permanent jobs. What's not to like?
Well, the problem with that is that all those wind towers would go against the political grain currently infecting the country. The poor oil companies wouldn't be able to drill there, inhibiting their self-perpetuating goals of keeping the country dependent on oil so that they can keep on reaping evermore profits. And with less profits, the oil companys' political donations would dry up, too. And all those poor politicians who depend on that campaign money would dry up as well.
So, which is better - the grouse goes away, or the corrupt politicians do?
I think we know the answer.
5
@Max Dither perhaps there isn’t enough wind west of the Mississippi to cost justify your suggestion?
@Scott Oh, right! I forgot about the giant wall Trump built along the Mississippi to keep the wind in the East...
Consider my example of the wind towers as a metaphor for renewable energy, of all the varieties it comes in. We are on a path away from fossil fuels and toward renewables, so that is where new investment needs to be made for our energy needs. This article points out that Trump is perpetuating his typical model of political influence and corruption instead of doing what is right for the country.
I worry about the future of the poor grouse, but I worry more about the future of the American people and the world at large.
3
Trump is not only an existential threat to our Republic but to the environment as well. We the people need to remove this threat.
3
Just to be clear. Over the past decade there has been unprecedented effort by federal, state, and local partners across the west to implement the current sage grouse conservation strategy; aiming to support development while keeping the bird off the endangered species list. This is just a naked power grab by the oil/gas industry that will inevitably trigger endangered species listing. Watch for the new attempts to further gut the Endangered Species Act. The US is was once a leader in sensible environmental conservation. Now its looking pretty pathetic.
7
@Pat
You are so correct. Trump is driving a muddy truck through the middle of a stakeholder crafted management plan. He then sets up a big right wing whine session when the ESA kicks in to restrict development once the grouse lands on the endangered species list. They will have conveniently forgotten this incident by then. Same old same old.
It continues to be mind boggling that a leader so corrupt and under investigation for treasonous activity is allowed to use the full power of his office.
I know Larry Nassar was allowed to keep working despite all the mounting evidence, and that was wrong, too.
Congress should, in light of the tide turning against Trump (Tucker Carlson called him "incapable" last night!), be pumping the brakes on allowing Trump to operate.
Too bad the GOP is just as corrupt.
6
C'mon, who is more important -- human beings or the sage grouse? That's a trick question. Of course the sage grouse takes precedence. So what if energy production is the one indispensable industry which makes all others possible? So what if modern mining and drilling is responsible for the greatest standard of living humankind has ever known? A bird is "threatened!" When so-called environmentalists cite human life as their standard, they are lying. They hate human progress and they regard human beings as a virus, a plague, a threat to all the lower animals -- indeed, to the planet itself!
I have no doubt that, given enough power, America's environmentalists would happily sacrifice you and your family for a ground-dwelling bird. Happily they will never have that power, as Americans still possess a bit of common sense and a hierarchy of values atop which humans not birds reign supreme.
1
@Ed L.
So you're willing to let this species go. How many more? Do you have a limit, or are you a guy happy to sit down to eat the last one? With over 7 billion of us, should humans become a little more careful about activities before it's too late? Keep in mind that were talking about keeping gas cheap so that big autos are still attractive. We're not even trying to avoid this. Trump is simultaneously working on gutting fuel efficiency standards.
I say no development until and unless we get serious about green energy, and then only if absolutely unavoidable. Certainly not for mere profiteering.
1
I believe the sage grouse is far more worthy of preservation than the not so sage POTUS.
7
In one fell swoop Trump is not making America Great Again (as if it wasn't), he is making in dirtier, more toxic and running the real risk of accelerating volatile extreme weather, violent storm, droughts and of course devastating forest fires. A thoughtless reckless act by a thoughtless reckless leader. It's bizarre to find a leader of a modern nation to institute a "scorched earth policy" on his country. I guess that should not be unexpected as morally, politically, economically he is imposing a "scorched earth" policy on the United States of America. President Putin must be proud of him!
7
Ironic that the president enjoys his comparison to Theodore Roosevelt.
He speaks loudly, regardless of the size of his stick. He has an aversion to action (in the form of bone spurs). And he continually degrades efforts to preserve America’s natural world.
5
To consider the distinctive mating dance of the sage grouse should not be sentimentalized insofar as this is, it occurs to me, a natural display of what it means to be unique, in connection with “the other,” and free. In other words, a message to us to mimick in national and worldly living. The “table” must be set in the spirit of inclusion for the sake of life in its totality. The goal of “energy dominance,” as this report quotes of Trump, is anathema to life really because, in the case here, the environment is not merely an object to be dismissed as basically humankind’s slave of not consequence. “Mother Earth” is, for example, not exactly a meaningless expression; indeed, it is rich in wisdom. From this we ought to be humbled. One doesn’t have to know very much to know that! As Trump & Co. continue to teach us, however, the obsession with self is a serious threat to our very lives, if not to those who may come after us. Talk about concern over national security! It is worthwhile and timely to remember the life of President Bush 41. One has to be sure that being in love with life is not really being in love with death. So looking at the sage grouse in their mating dance would seem instructive, if not in-forming and reason for hope.
2
Terrible news but, as the clock runs out on this Administration, it is very unlikely that these new regulations will take effect. A Court will enter an injunction and years of litigation over them will ensue, with the likely finding that they are "arbitrary and capricious" and therefore invalid. Even if a Court were to rule otherwise, there would be appeals which will take longer to litigate than this Administration has before it passes away either through impeachment or the 2020 election.
6
Danny says, in the most favored comment, "We are a doomed race."
WE THE PEOPLE are only doomed if we sit idly by and do nothing to stop the Robber Barons who want to destroy OUR lives and planet.
Every single person who values the lives we have led since Teddy/FDR/Elanor Roosevelt put social safety nets into place to protect 99.9% of us must pick the one thing they value most and fight like hell to save/restore it. If every single one of us take one small action it will change the world.
NOW is the time.
6
If I were still in my early eighties job in a group which vetted all major projects and provided guidance on long term issues, I would say don't pay any attention to this. The next president can change it.
2
Normally I would be concerned, but it really no longer matters what any person or entity thinks or how it acts. We have now reached a point where at best we can maybe delay by a few decades, or mitigate the impact in some small way the array of many looming disasters.
Trump: "we don't need no stinkin' sage grouse"
Posting the following for the umpteenth time:
Let us focus on the main issue, and less on the kaleidoscopic array of side effects. The facts demand that we take action, although it is likely already too late.
Population explosion: At 7.6 billion, increasing by 80 million annually.
This drives everything. This alone swamps out any and all attempts at 'damage control'. And we are not going to do anything about it. The population of this planet more than doubled in my lifetime. It's all over folks.
Climate change is simply one of many looming disasters.
The Keeling curve currently at 411 ppm CO2 and rising drives the rise in sea level, temperature, and acidity. This is already baked in, and will continue for many decades to come no matter what mitigating attempts are made.
We have already passed a number of tipping points. I'm not going to enumerate these any more. It is an exercise in futility. I will support any person or entity that will do the right things, even though it is utterly pointless at this point.
7
@oldBassGuy Agreed. Especially, the fact that current CO2 concentrations and climate effects will persist for centuries--even if ALL emissions were halted today.
However, I always struggle to understand the downside of working towards improved energy efficiency, alternative energy and zero net carbon energy sources, decentralized power production allowing these alternatives, modernized grids, “saving the rainforests”, changing transportation and food management, etc...all things that benefit US economy, national security, infrastructure, and societal needs while leading the world towards the same?
4
@oldBassGuy
We agree. Most people seem to consider the rich industrialists ignorant morons that deny climate change, when it's quite the opposite. I believe they know full well the planet is going to undergo changes that will cripple it's ability to support life in the near future. They are just doubling down on being among the richest survivors.
2
What is with our current administration dismantling many of the EPA rules and regulations for money?
Is money that important? More than the cost of permanent damage to the only planet that we can inhabit?
Our insatiable appetite for energy is leading us to our demise.
8
I've worked for the past 15 years as a member of one of the local working groups that helped create this core area concept.
This plan, which Wyoming came up with and many other western states adopted, was crafted with everyone at the table: agriculture, oil & gas, conservation, mining, local government, BLM, Fish & Game, NRCS, and public at large. The core area plan we came up with collaboratively is the only reason the sage grouse was not placed on the Endangered Species List. For Zinke and Trump to throw this plan under the bus is not only going to accelerate the demise of the sage grouse but is also a rejection of democracy and civil, collaborative solutions.
This upsets me beyond words.
10
@CLP
Follow the money.
Well, not a surprising development, but now that the US is a neutral to net surplus oil producer, this action is totally unnecessary. It would seem to me that the economics of the investment decision would not make sense. I think we could agree that the cost to produce a barrel of oil in this area would be greater than $50 per barrel. $50 per barrel seems to be level that makes recovery possible judging by fracking, so that means in order to make a profit the cost of recovery, production and transportation are less than $50 per barrel. I see no way that recovery cost below $50 per barrel could be achieved in a seven to ten year horizon That said, if you are an energy company executive, then you know these economics would not meet the required expectation of shareholder return and would require a significant use of cash with a questionable payback and return on investment. Alternative energy sources are coming on line and in order to remain a going long term concern, then I would not be investing the company's capital in the "past assets" but I would be looking forward to the future.
4
Another over-reach! A number of Western Governors will not be happy with this - they worked long and hard to get the compromise that was in effect under the Obama rules. Plus, that compromise was intended to forestall pursuing the listing of the birds as threatened or endangered. That pull-back by environmentalists will now undoubtedly go forward. I have no doubt that many ranchers will be pushing back on this move by Trump, because formal designation of the species will restrict ranchers to a greater extent than the current rules do.
9
I expect my government to make mistakes, serious ones that compromise our integrity and make us less safe, put others in harms way. But I don't expect my government to actively work for the destruction of the world we live in, to have incontrovertible scientific evidence of looming dangers and say ok, lets throw everything we have at increasing that danger.
Yet that is what this administration is doing.
18
There could be a violation of oath of office here as the president is suppose to defend the constitution and the constitution does state that they will promote the general welfare.
So someone would have to raise the issue that his policies like this and his EPA's cut backs are not promoting the general welfare.
Granted it's a long shot but he needs to be stopped.
9
The family of grouse that pokes around in front of our house in Colorado in August peacefully competes with a family of robins. We talk to them and they ignore us and we appreciate them all the more for making us just part of the landscape. Their presence represents the quiet hospitality of nature. To imagine them more endangered in the name of slimy oil is to think something unthinkable, that only a monster would do such a thing. And now a monster has.
13
We don’t need more oil. We are currently awash in oil, with prices trending downwards, much to the dismay of those in the oil and gas sector—I know, I live in Houston where oil and gas is the number one economic driver. This move is completely unnecessary economically and even worse, horribly destructive to this planet that is our shared home.
18
Energy dominance? The play here is renewables or alternative energy sources. Bring back manufacturing by leading the world in building the hardward for alternatives. I foresee China seeing the economic dominance in that area and the US having only MAGA platitudes in the serious business of energy dominance. With fault will also be squarely on the energy industry, looking for the quick shareholder buck and not the long run.
13
Every species pushed to the edge of existence brings the human race closer to its own demise.
26
You are so right. We’re talking mad max. Wounded animals trying to survive.
What is it again that the conservative Republican Party and its leader wants to conserve?
21
How about doing oil exploration in Mar a Lago?
25
@Faith Jongewaard
Trump's already suffering from sink hole syndrome at the front gate. The whole thing is built on swiss cheese lime, so it's only a matter of time.
Why not really drain the swamp and search for oil and gas in a more likely spot under DC. The search would at least find where all the “Hot Air” went to.
This comes at the same time that the U.S is bragging that we have become a net oil exporter. Prices are $50 a barrel. You have to question the behavior of a country that exports something at $50 and imports it back at $120. Sheer genius, huh? We do this while destroying our environment and burn fuels that will burn up the planet. Go ahead, celebrate. The hangover will find you, I promise.
11
The green wave is or should be coming
It depends on us
The destruction of our environment is on par with the selling of political souls- all for a few more $
There will be no place to spend it in the doom
Michael Bloomberg is correct here, 1 per center or not
The environment is the single most important issue
And it will kill the GOP the nail in the coffin
IF WE MAKE IT SO
So Vote like America depends on it
Better still America depends on a clean and safe environment
Not dirty old backward looking resources that kill
The green wave has just been mobilized
Thank you Donald
13
The House Democrats and any thinking Republic party people who care about their grandchildren and the likelihood of a planet decimated by climate change and mass extinction over the next immediate decades, should make clear that any projects that energy companies make will be stranded.
4
No demands, no supplies. Ultimately, it is our responsibility. Trump is a big symbol of our own selfishness.
6
“In one stroke...”? Surely, this will be challenged in court, and like many other moves stopped.
4
One word comes to mind and that is greed. Pure greed. I have traveled extensively in Utah and Montana and have never seen such sprawling beauty. I have back packed into the depths of Glacier National Park, trekked and biked through Arche's National Park and Escalante National Park and goddammit, I want these lands and all their inherent species preserved for future generations.
Trump is disconnected from nature, as well as animals. I doubt he's every hiked a day in his life or careened down the Grand Canyon on a raft. He has never seen a bear paw print. Heck, he has never even owned a dog. He is about greed. He and his bought advisors will do anything for money.
The article states it would be hard to turn back some of these initiatives once they are started. I can only hope that that is not true.
18
don'tcha love him?
Make America Greedy Again!
1
Is there no legal recourse against these heinous and dangerous acts? Are environmental groups not going to rise up against this disgraceful threat?
The sage grouse is only one victim - the rest of the world is at risk of destruction from this Administration’s flagrant disregard for climate science. The last thing we need is MORE fossil fuels and less natural resources. Someone stop him, I beg you!
8
I hope those who are complaining here in comments are not currently driving gas-guzzling vehicles, fueling the “need” for gas.
Sickens me how consumers will complain about oil rigs yet still purchase gas-powered vehicles.
8
@Taylor Loutsis
Sacrifice for thee, not for me.
1
RE: "the bird gets placed on the endangered species list."
There is only one species that Trump believes is endangered and worthy of protection: Wealthy White Men. And specifically Weathly White Men and their women too of the Trump variety.
Everything that Trump has done and has said is for the preservation of WWM and specically wealthy Trumps feeling that they are being attacted and laid waste from all sides.
11
The world does not need more oil and gas! We do need to protect this world we live in for us and future generations and for all living creatures.
5
Part of Trump's failure to protect lands in the West and the flora and fauna that inhabit them is his complete disconnect with nature and the environment. His experiences are manicured golf courses and ski-slopes and the gold kitsch of indoor living. The man has no appreciation for wildlife or the planet---just his pocket.
10
Nature is not in Trump's lexicon, unless you're talking golf-course grass. He enjoys destroying wilderness and threatening biodiversity (and Zinke 'loving' any species other than beef cattle is risible). And Trump is a climate denialist - it's a 'Chinese hoax' in his tiny mind. The plan reported here comes at the moment when the IPCC report - and subsequent national reports - reveal a 12-year window to divest of fossil fuels and achieve zero emissions. Just a day ago Trump's administration also rolled back a climate change rule restricting new coal plants.
Thus Trump systematically drives climate change while destroying water safety and protection of lands and wildlife. Some of this damage is localised, but ultimately it is global. It is one of the tragedies of our time that governmental policy can ride roughshod over environmental protection. Britain has suffered from this: it's an island depleted, from soils to biodiversity. But the United States is a vast country, and wilderness and protected lands are one of its supreme defining glories. Other vast national repositories of nature are just as intent on land grabs and resource depletion. As China pursues its 'pave paradise' project around half the globe and Trump and fellow eco-clods like Bolsonaro set out to destroy the earth under their rule, I am beyond horrified and disheartened.
Trump is an environmental as well as a socioeconomic catastrophe. Dinosaurs, it seems, still thump around on our beleaguered planet.
9
First, let me thank the Times for staying on top of environmental stories like this. Keep them coming! With so many other, competing stories of political malfeasance, it is easy to lose sight of the misguided efforts to promote more extractive industry like oil.
This little bird may seem like small potatoes to some readers, but the condition of species like this is just the most visible signal of environmental damage in ecosystems like the western dry plains where it lives.
3
Sorry, but I am not convinced that sage grouse are more deserving of those 11 million acres than others. No doubt many of those complaining about this decision stuffed themselves with turkey this past Thanksgiving and will eat lots more fowl in the coming year. So it is likely that their purported interest in grouse—who will be just fine given the regulated nature of drilling for gas, is really just an interest in something else. Why don’t we dedicate some of the revenue from the gas sales to forest management (help prevent people and other animals from forest fires) or to improving the life of legal migrants. They are more deserving of those 11 million acres than the sage grouse.
3
@ehillesum
Nobody knows more about sage grouse than you. It's all so simple, right?
Will there be a giant march on Washington to protest this decision? Will there be demonstrations and sit-ins on the land proposed for drilling? Will all the people who seem so outraged by this decision rise up, take to the streets and let the government know that they will not tolerate the destruction of our public lands--lands that have been set aside for us, the taxpayers, the voters, the citizens--to enjoy and escape to? The answer, of course, is no. No "yellow vests" for Americans. Just a few grumbles, and then we accept whatever the government proposes. I wonder sometimes just how much we'll accept, if there's anything that will shake us from our complacency, but I fear the answer just continues to be, no.
4
I don't understand the rules here that allow a single human to discard so much without any checks. Seriously, I'm confused. In a system such as this, we have zero hope of protecting our environment. How is that rational? All it takes is a single president, beholden to heavy polluters and careless of the opinions of scientists, to erase, over the course of 4 years, any environmental progress. Then, in future administrations, we are perversely obligated to fulfill the contracts industry is able to...steal? Not to be a cynic and all but what point is there in resisting, then?
13
@George With you, George, but it has been ever thus. Theodore Roosevelt was far-sighted and (despite his vast 'collecting' of wildlife for the Natural History Museum, which at least left some dioramas and many specimens) hugely eco, so he carried on the good work already in train regarding land protection. Other presidents enacted more. Then you get Trump - just as Brazil, steward of the Amazon, has had both environmental despoilers and champions in the governmental hotseat.
I understand the feeling of futility deeply. But there is a point to resisting both Trump and the fossil fuel industry. It's bad, but it would be much worse without such resistance. Huge environmental-protection advances were made in the 1970s partly because of such resistance from the grassroots eco-movement.
In the meantime, in addition to protest and pressure on Congress, citizens can work towards behaviour change - not paving over their own land, cutting meat consumption (livestock raising is a huge emitter) and other moves, including boycotts. Trump and his ilk are digging fossil fuels out. The rest of us, numbering in our billions, can refuse to consume by working towards zero-emissions lifestyles as rapidly as possible. There are plenty of books out there on how it's done.
2
With a democratic majority in congress, I am wondering whether mandating a fracking well in every back yard of red states, and every back yard in red districts, while relocating every federal facility to a blue state - would do the trick. It is easy to live dangerously if Wyoming and Montana are strip mined while one lives in Texas; it might be a bit tougher if your back yard is dug up by oil companies using laws related to imminent domain.
4
My parents were huge conservationists and supporters of protecting the air, water, land and its plethora of inhabitants. One of the reasons they were Republicans was because of the many proactive and protective measures introduced by the Roosevelts when they were presidents. One of the many reasons why Alaska and the American West remained so beautiful, pristine, and filled with an abundance of natural resources and wildlife is because of those protective measures.
The proposed actions of this administration in California, Alaska and the Southwest don't simply impact the sage grouse or the Porcupine caribou, but the entire environment now and its aftermath of what these actions will eventually create and cause.
While I miss them dearly, I am grateful that my parents are not alive to see these deplorably destructive decisions and actions take place in the very near future. I do believe these heinous, greedy and horrific acts would horrify them to the point of causing grave physical and emotional consequences.
27
@Marge Keller While Theodore Roosevelt, ecowarrior extraordinaire, was a Republican, FDR certainly was not. And the radical environmental movement of the 1970s that pushed Nixon towards regulating environmental protection was not composed of Republicans.
Trump is certainly more brazen about openly showing his contempt for environmentalism than other politicians, but I wonder if we're all just kidding ourselves when we imagine that there will be places on Earth that are perpetually off-limits for drilling.
Humanity needs fossil fuels to function in our current energy paradigm, and there is no real indication that we are on track to change this. Usage of fossil fuels has increased and will continue to increase because no one can stand the prospect of austerity now in exchange for stability later.
The future of this energy paradigm is trivially easy to predict. We will eventually drill and mine every single square mile of the planet for fossil fuels. It doesn't matter how endangered, how revered, how pristine the land is, it will all be stripped clean of oil, natural gas, and coal. When every country on Earth is screaming for more oil because there isn't enough to go around, nobody is going to concern themselves with birds or bears or clean waters. All of these things will be destroyed as we attempt to stave off a return to the pre-industrial age.
I'm sorry to be so pessimistic, but I feel like no one really acknowledges that this is the way we're headed, with almost no possibility of stopping. Maybe if we can get public perception of the problem to shift substantially, we can change this future. But I don't see it happening.
13
@Kal Al
That is the saddest comment of all.
This IS America! The land of "Can Do!", Yankee Ingenuity, the American Spirit! What happened to that America?
The Industrial Revolution. The advances made in short order to win WWII. The national highway system. The space program that landed men on the moon in July 1969 less than 9 years from when Kennedy asked Congress to approve the funds. These are just a few examples of Americans focusing on a goal and achieving it.
"We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too"
Waving MAGA hats won't make American great. Crawling into a hole in fear of others won't make American great. Doing the things that are hard, accepting the challenage, rising to the occassion with purpose and passion is when we were, and are, at our best! There is absolutely no reason we need be dependent on fossil fuels except to power the machines that will eventually die or our become collector items. All we have to do is care and work at it. Americans have shown a willingness to work together in the past for the future. We can do it again!
3
More money for the 1% - What a disgusting and inhumane creature Trump is!
332 days until the 2020 elections.
19
"Why are we not putting these resources into renewable and carbon-neutral energy sources? "
BECAUSE whereas in the past people were enthusiastic about forsaking old technology for new technology, today we are being held hostage to technology that was perfected 100 years ago. This technology benefits a few rich people and they won't stop using their wealth / power / influence in order to maintain that hegemony over everyone else.
It's time to stop buying oil and gas.
14
RE: “It’s practically irreversible once you have the commitment of these lands to industrial uses.”
And here is the fundamental difference between conserving (I.e, a conservative approach) such as what Obama's administration did and consuming such as what Trump's money men want. When it is conserved it is available for future generations. When is it comsumed it is gone. One and done. The options are gone but as long as someone gets wealthier along the way all is well.
It is ironic the so-called conservatives don't understand the principles of conservation - the essence of conservatism. "Expediency" not "conservatism" is the basis for Republican actions. Expediency: the quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly being improper or immoral; convenience.
So-called conservatives should not be allowed to usurp the name to provide cover to their actions and taking of the moral high ground. They should properly call themselves Expendients. As should we all.
6
Trump has been grousing about virtually everything good in nature and decided that the ground-nesting grouse should not be left off the list. As he takes away their home, I am sure that if they could reflect and act, they would take away his in return. Not mentioned, but I think it is still true, that the corporate wealth acquired through this giveaway is built on a requirement to compensate the government in prices established in the later 1800's. Back when even grouses were happy.
3
What can we actually do--as individual citizens--to fight this action? Don't reply, "Vote"; I did. I mean is there some practical concrete thing we can do?
12
@Laurie
Stop buying oil / gas.
1
If we truly believe that democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people, then why is it that we are powerless to stop a President bent in destroying this earth? We already know that since his election, all he has done is to move away from the public interest to favor the interests of the regulated industries. My biggest fear is that by 2020 it may be too late to repair the damage done to public and environmental health.
12
The lands and species not destroyed by oil and gas drilling are being destroyed by livestock production. Same devastation, different industry and rich campaign donors Please cover this industry, too.
12
Why are we not putting these resources into renewable and carbon-neutral energy sources? Fossil fuels are not only toxic, but they are finite and obsolete. In case there was any doubt about who controls the actions of our government, this expansion of oil drilling is yet another piece of evidence.
5
@Richard
Our politicians are selling whatever they can to increase the profits of the wealthiest corporations. Money buys power.
1
Great article... it may just be me, but does anyone else see a glaring dichotomy between oil/coal investors laudably providing a financial nest egg for their kids and grandchildren.... while destroying the Golden Goose of the environment?
11
The Sage Grouse rules that are now rescinded were just a clever mechanism by environmentalists to prevent any oil in gas development on lands, public and private, stretching from Texas to Wyoming. This is the sort of overreach by the federal government that not only inhibits responsible mineral extraction but leads to revolts like the yellow jackets in France. The oil and gas industry can safely and environmentally exploit these lands and the Sage Grouse will thrive.
2
@Mark V - overreach by the federal government
The overreach is the oil companies and the like believing they have more rights to public lands than the public does.
22
@Mark V
And what about the harm to the environment? How many more hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, and fires will it take for you and your pals in the White House to understand the threat these fossil fuels wage on all of humanity?
2
Humans are precipitating a mass extinction on this planet. Little can be done to stop it. Trump is the perfect "leader" to usher it along.
9
does anyone really think that's a drilling rig is going to stop what they're doing because they see us Sage Grouse nesting. they're going to go to drive a truck over it and bury the evidence. nothing to see here folks.
we keep pushing the Earth... very soon the Earth is going to push back. the laws of physics don't need a Super PAC to illustrate its points.
Trouble Is by that point president con man will long be gone and we'll be left to deal with the consequences
12
Clearly, the right to vote belongs to the wrong species.
11
This is an outrage, coming at the very moment when we are finally beginning to wake up to the catastrophe occurring to the planet thanks to the (mis-)use of carbon. More drilling for oil? Does anyone in this administration have a brain?
It really IS time for civil disobedience on a massive scale.
9
What a terrible Trump move. It gets worse with every Trump decision except for stop illegal immigration.
Nice bird. It'll look nice in the Smithsonian next to Martha.
3
Oil and gas - move in, extract, move on - boom and bust! Great for the owners bad for local business and workers. And of course fracking in the West - it doesn’t need any more earthquakes. All through executive actions!
3
I can’t wait for the 2020 election, and neither can our beautiful planet...
7
You are an optimist. @Svante
Another tragic story about the damage the GOP is inflicting on the world we inhabit and the fellow beings we inhabit it with.
2
It will be tied up in court challenges long enough to be halted by a new president in 2021.
5
The President is irate because his GOP is blaming MBS, while he does not, for the killing.
He is also aware that higher gas prices at the pump will lead to more inflation, hence more interest rate hikes.
OPEC is mulling cuts, this is his version of "art of the deal".
Drill baby Drill, and the assumption that "earth is only 7000 years old" is the firm belief of his base and GOP at large.
They know the Lord is coming soon, to SOS
The poor Sage,may become an Oil Martyr, but will in extinction, create new Oil Millionaires, aka like in ND state,
2:41 am here visiting San Diego . Can’t sleep....crying. How much worse is it going to get?
4
@Linked
The sad signal is overwhelming your capacity to cope, so you must cancel it with the gratitude signal to get some relief. This is not a solution; it is symptom management, because we all are in this mortal condition together.
Seriously, have you considered the beauty of what you have left? It is not surrender to give tender attention to what makes life worth living even if you know it's on borrowed time. You gotta go out and enjoy the sea side. Take a ferry ride. Walk Coronado or Mission Bay. It's too early to go at 3 AM, but you can surf it online before hand instead of giving into the grief of loss before dying. I know you will get a GREAT parking spot.
1
@Abby
Thank you.
Well I'm counting on Mother Nature, i.e. Earth, to START FIGHTING BACK. I don't know honestly how much more pillaging it will put up with. Something's going to break and it won't be pretty, sad to say. Trump and his cronies ought to be the first to be hit on their heads, moreover.
5
@Sam
Mother nature IS fighting back-- California wildfires, more frequent and deadly hurricanes, droughts, famine in various 3rd world countries, higher food prices, etc. The most vulnerable will always be the first to suffer... then it proceeds up the ladder to you and me. We have swapped temporary JOBS ! JOBS ! JOBS ! for the eventual destruction of the Earth which God gave us to WISELY manage, conserve, enjoy and pass on to our children. Our "Businessman-in-Chief" is making another bad deal.
1
Just destroy everything and everyone so long as Trump can shovel money into his or his friends pockets. He doesn’t care now and, like every good conman he is, he’ll be long gone when the bills come due. Young people ought to be rioting in the streets but I guess they are more comfortable believing his lies.
9
Well, that makes sense. Worldwide oil glut, so why not open up 9 million acres to unnecessary drilling and as a bonus, wipe out an annoying bird species? Sure! Just a little added gift from Trump - you're welcome!
7
It is becoming clear that the Trump Party (formerly Republican) has become downright wicked.
I can see no other word to adequately describe the selfish greed and twisted need to destroy all that is good or wise upon this earth.
Just plain wicked.
8
Trump is the Destroyer-in -Chief. How many times must he prove himself as such before action is taken by his party.
How many ways can he do his dirty deeds before he is stopped?
Money is not more important than Nature or this Planet.
5
Every day my PTSD is triggered anew—
President Trump Stress Disorder.
6
The prime reasons people formed and submitted themselves and their resources to governments are two:
protection against things within and without that would truly harm them
and to secure knowledge, negotiation, organization, strategy abilities beyond any they alone could muster to advance their survival potential and ease their burdens.
The above is simply put but intellectually honest people see the profound truth and implications.
Anyone with a modicum of historical awareness can see how that dictum applied in the primitive past and applies even more now.
Anyone that can connect the dots across time can see that as things became more complex (for the better for the most part) governments and their responsibilities and protections had to grow.
Any sane person with normal intuitive philosophical acumen can logically determine a good government and a not so good government - there is ample obvious empirical evidence to judge/form/support "better government" models/leaders.
And any socially moral sane person should opt for governments/leaders that fit the "better government" model.
It angers this old patriot that 58% of us have allowed 42% our fellow citizens to prevail and install worse government model/leaders.
And saddened this 42% relish the retrogressive actions of this worse government. Actions that WILL profoundly negatively affect our progeny.
A 42% so willfully ignorant, selfish, narrow-minded, shortsighted, amoral they seem embarrassingly insane/immoral.
2
So let me get this straight - a policy that took nearly a decade to finalize, that involved negotiations among conservationists, hunters, fishermen and extraction industries as well as federal, state, local and tribal authorities and whose goal was to not only protect the sage grouse but also prevent it from being listed under the endangered species act (prompting more draconian rules) is being undone with the flick of a pen simply because Trump can't shower enough love on the coal, oil and gas industries? Why even bother any longer with scientific research or consensus building politics when all that matters is whoever gives the biggest campaign contribution wins.
276
We don't need any more of our remaining open lands ruined by oil drilling. The planet cannot even afford the burning of the oil already drilled. The ravages of climate change caused by burning carbon fuels, the horrible fires, the unprecedented floods, the spreading of diseases, could have been prevented. We and our descendants will pay for our delays in acknowledging and responding to climate change. We are massively destroying the other living creatures who share the planet, and putting all life on earth at risk.
233
Still glad you voted for him?
Your grandkids won’t be.
592
@Rony Weissman
Trump's grandkids won't have it easy with his record.
6
...if the rising seas and extra hurricanes from the fossil-burner climate attack even let us have them.
5
This is just sad. I wish there was something to do that could stop the destructive path we as human kind is on, but I can not see it.
3
Why are we tolerating this? Tolerance does not mean accepting unacceptable behavior. When are we going to stand up to nonsense that endangers us all?
5
45's destruction to and disrespect for our only planet are staggering - yet not unexpected. His resignation, impeachment or end of this term cannot come quickly enough. Hopefully, it will not be too late then to un-do the damage he has wreaked.
5
The grouse is just a small casualty of the relentless destruction of or environment by the Donald and the GOP in favor of the big money that is pulling their strings.
They don't care if it gets too hot to live outside and work, air so polluted you can't breathe, water that is undrinkable...because with their riches they can afford to build themselves comfortable environments to protect them while the rest of us suffer!
5
I honestly don't think I can ever look at a Republican the way I used to before this election. NOTW.
4
During this administration, I have developed an ulcer and anxiety. Lately, I foresee a planet where private sanctuaries are the only places where people can gaze at wildlife that used to live free. All around us will be a spent and scorched earth with people trying to survive and failing. It is happening.
5
If people could just see sage grouse or prairie chickens gather in the early morning on a lek once, they would fight for their protection. It is one of the most magical displays in nature. There is nothing else like it.
Everyone should make an attempt to see them before they disappear. These birds do poorly when there are any structures whatsoever for predators to perch on. This is a terrible decision, one more reason Republicans must be voted out at every level.
13
Well, what else can we expect from an administration that gets its substitute for scientific information from Fox News and requires anti-intellectualism as a test of loyalty to the Emperor? Any mention of an ecological chain to these people would sound like a new type of saw to denude the forests. Meanwhile, cheaper gas increases demand for bigger gas guzzlers to spew more exhaust into already diminished air quality. January 3 cannot come quickly enough.
4
Rather than digging holes to find oil and coal and, at the same time, destroying the environment of our country forever, Donald should ask his buddy, Xi Jinping, to show him how China is creating extremely large amounts of non-toxic wind and solar energy in their Taklamakan desert. They started more than ten years ago and now have hundreds of thousands of these giant solar panels and windmills already connected to their grid and feeding clean energy to many Chinese cities, and they have more to come because they have not one, but six deserts.
Our sun and wind will last forever (unless there is a world war involving atomic weapons, and then all bets are off.)
5
Instead of creating a big furor over one goofy ground-dwelling bird that probably should have become extinct long ago, those who want to protect this land should find a more logical reason that would expand their base of public support. Everyone else in our society is supposed to appeal to all sides to come to an agreeable compromise on stuff like this, this should include the environmental lobbies as well.
2
I really thought that this was an environmentally friendly and reasonable representation of this administration's concern for all things of nature, especially the part about applying for a waiver to pillage the nesting habitat of the native species. Another example of the lack of concern for anything that might possibly restrict the pursuit of money.
1
As stated in the article, much of the substantive work on the sage grouse protection plan was performed by former oil industry lobbyist (assuming one can be a "former" oil industry lobbyist) leading me to believe that I must have misunderstood the president's statements about "draining the swamp."
4
“These plans will conserve the sage grouse without needlessly stifling economic activity.”
But it's not just about a bird. It's about unspoilt nature. It's about being stewards of our wild spaces for future generations; commodities that are more precious than oil, of which we have enough. We can no longer afford or abide an arsonist regime bent on destroying all that is pure and good about America.
53
This article is but one out of hundreds published by the media since January 2016 that provide another story about the devastating impact of the Trump administration.
Scientists believe the world may be going through a 6th Mass-Extinction Event, with a loss of species that is estimated to be some 5,000 times greater than the natural extinction rate. Yet we have another effort by the Republican Party to reward the largess from their biggest political donors - the oil and gas industry - at the expense of the rest of the nation.
If there is any hope at all for this country, this country has to get rid of every Republican in government and make that party go the way of the Whigs. If not, I fear we are headed for a horrific end to this experiment called America.
61
Amid fast deteriorating living conditions on earth whatever little space was left for me humans, rich variety of flaura and fauna to grow and thus add to the fine ecological balance in the planet seems to be under threat from the highly destructive environmental policies of the Trump administration. The detailed plan offered by the Trump administration to allot 9 million land in the West to the oil drilling and mining sector which poses a serious threat to the already imperilled sage grouse variety of the bird species is simply reflective of the environmental myopia of the Trump administration that deserves serious opposition and correction.
26
Pioneers, like my great great grandfather fleeing the Empire of France and the Civil War, saw these sage grouse every day as they rolled west on the Oregon Trail.
My grandfather taught me to hunt grouse, which he called pheasant, but they were ruffed grouse. It's never been legal for me to hunt sage grouse.
In 65 years of walking their habitats, I've only seen two. One, my setter got up as we visited where Wild Bill is buried on the hill above Deadwood. It flew over his grave. It was big, brown, gold and gone. Magnificent! The other was in the snowy sage brush by where Custer died at the Little Big Horn.
(Custer and Trump are blood brothers forever charging ahead for glory -- without knowledge, reflection or self doubt. All Trump knows about nature came fighting for trophy bucks in New York city. We know the type.)
Very early one morning, 4 years ago, I went down to the lounge of the Sun Valley Lodge. But the peace was shattered by a New York financier loudly making currency trades, in the millions, on his cell phone.
After 15 minutes of this I went over and poked him hard. He stopped and put his hand over the phone.
"When we finish destroying life on earth," I interrupted, "What good will your money be?"
He motioned me to wait. He had to finish his transaction. I didn't wait, but I've figured out his answer since. These millionaires and billionaires think they will be the last to die, in their bunkers, protected by their private armies and firefighters.
76
I live in a state where the sage grouse is protected. My state is a beautiful state in the Rocky Mountains. Our main industry which has kept the state going through good times and bad times is tourism not oil. If they start drilling across our great state we can kiss that industry good bye and the millions of jobs it creates. I hate this administration.
58
I’ve hunted/fished throughout the Western States over the years, I completely agree with you.
3
The world is now experiencing an oil glut. So this is the perfect time (not) to destroy our environment to increase the production of oil. This makes as much sense as giving corporations a massive tax cut when they already are awash in cash, and the economy is at full employment. See a pattern here? Intentional self destruction.
47
Having had a few drinks -- enough to make me whimsical -- I'm considering the extraordinary arrogance of the species to which I belong that can justify the extinction of another species.
31
No. it is time to stand up for the planet.
27
We do not need renewables like the sun, the wind. We need more oil, more coal. It brings jobs and profits to rich oil and coal companies. We want the investors and owners of these companies to enjoy the benefits of life in America. Electric cars, good water and air. mansions by the sea, in the mountains,on the plains. We want to help them buy 30 million dollar condos.,buy football teams, invest in companies that own porn sites on the internet,back conservative policies that back trickle down economics so they get theres first. Anything they want. And we thank them for helping us see the light.
13
The number of comments is listed as 666 as I reached the end.
That's an appropriate number.
The commentators have accurately identified this needless, evil destruction of our common land as the devil's work.
18
To quote Woody Guthrie: “This land is your land, this land is my land..”
Does Trump control everything? Does everyone Kowtow? Does Zinke have a stuffed sage grouse in his D.C. office?
11
Trump is selfish and heartless. May God forgive him; I cannot.
18
How can this, like everything else, EVEN be happening? What has our government, democracy come to? When one party can stall to uphold a Supreme Court Justice nomination, when a state can push late night legislation through to remove power of a newly elected official, {who} has power to avoid just this? When a party, or one elected “official” has this much power or perceived power, by the individual, or the community around the individual, we, the citizens no longer have any say/power/authority. How can one person (?) simply decide in an erratic tweet to back out of the Paris Agreement, attempt harshly to cancel Affordable Care Act, redact world trade agreements, make a supposed decision on emigration and how to treat people and their children, and grossly foul our sacred Nationally Protected Areas and National Forests? WAKE UP AMERICA, things are changing if you don’t speak up, and make a difference.
25
The NRA, hunters and farmers are not happy with Trump’s decision nor are environmentalists!
Please Mr President, know your audience before opening your mouth and inserting foot.
2
They are not?!?! Where did you read this? That's a key point to be aware of!
Just another example that conservatives only care in the world is money.
10
@RA Hamilton They certainly don't care about "conservation".
When I was a kid and went to Sunday school, they always talked about "stewardship". It meant a Christian responsibility to care for the environment and all other species. I haven't heard so-called Christians use that word in decades.
14
Of recent it's become even more terrifying to see headlines and the heartache below. Surely there will be expanded environmental lawsuits. Please. Pure evil on speed. So....democrats will command the house---we will await and hope for relief. Hope is on limited supply.
12
I was persuaded to study the grouse at my University. i learned a lot about the grouse and how the were a living barometer for the health of the prairie and the vast environment. In protecting the grouse and studying its habitats (changed and unchanged) it’s mating habits (successful and unsuccessful) it’s population and longevity one
learned the importance of this bird in our lives.
Trump is an old cod who cares only for riches and
not natural environment. This is a guy who thanked himself on Thanksgiving. Wonder what lies they’ll say at his eulogy.
18
I say bring on the earth's rapists so that we squeeze the last drop of fossil fuels from the earth as quickly as possible. Then and only then can we can move on to protecting whatever remains.
1
@Hank - I fear there will be little or nothing remaining by that time.
You might as well include Polar Bears in Alaska and all other wildlife across the U.S. that will be threatened by this catastrophic rollback as well.
This president clearly doesn't understand or care what "extinct" really means.
9
@N. Smith He figures at 72 he only has a few years left so he might as well make hay while he can. Here's hoping Mueller puts trump's whole clan in jail for decades where they can't enjoy their pelf.
2
It's not just the sage grouse that is at stake. It's a whole cascade of inter-dependent land, animal, and water systems that are put at risk.
35
Your coverage of environmental and climate news is excellent. Might you be able to include information about whom to contact should we wish express our displeasure with these damaging decisions?
17
The reason why Trump is so engrossed in unravelling just about everything, especially the environment, is because he senses that he’s operating on borrowed time. His agenda and that of the GOP has an indeterminate but looming expiry date, and, if he’s going to serve his class as expected, he has to hurry. At best, he’s likely a one term president. At worst, he’s going to be in even more legal peril than the sage grouse. His party and influences understand this even if he doesn’t. It will take years to reverse this madness for any successive government of reasonable ideology, matched by the resistance of the powerful who profit from it the most.
19
@Marcus Brant
One term, huh?
Bush got reelected.
2
@WishFixer The other Bush didn't. Let's say it's 50/50 for him being on term, and in general Republicans are definitely are on borrowed time unless they change their ways. The question is how much damage they will do before they fade away.
4
This agreement to protect the sage grouse was hammered out over many years involving many stakeholders. The goal was to protect the bird without having to put it on the endangered species list.
What a farce-fest this administration is.
24
"... since loosening the environmental restrictions would most likely benefit hundreds of companies and numerous industries — not just Mr. Bernhardt’s former clients — it is difficult to claim he was acting with the specific intent to help the former clients." :
So what? The conflict of interest nevertheless exists.
7
And for all the Republicans in Flori-duh that voted for Scott/Senate and DeSantis/Gov. Get ready for the oil rigs off the coast. Already approved and in the works , seismic testing. (That means blasting). The BP oil spill didn't choose to just damage Democrats. Good luck to the commercial fishers, stone crabbers and lobster folks in the Keys. You deserve what you get. Only Key West went blue.
24
Give me a break: God wiped out an entire planet with His "Snowball Earth"--and minor and major extinctions along the way. Man now thinks he's a god. Sorry, sage grouse, time to find another place to breed. Best of luck.
2
May I offer you the same advice? C.L. Kornbluth tells me that Venus is absolutely lovely, this time of year.
5
Well, Alice, last time I looked the Trump administration and the oil industry aren’t God. So maybe they should take off their God-the-Destroyer hats and avoid intentionally ruining the world we share with the other species lest God think them to be arrogant and indifferent to the many blessings bestowed upon them. We wouldn’t to make God angry, would we? That’s a good way to be struck down, after all.
8
One more tiny thought:
who is more God-acting-like? A billionaire who potentially destroys land and creatures in order to extract wealth, donate part to a politician, who says, "Help me get elected, and that land over there is yours too"
or
A scientist studying birds and how they live, presenting a paper at a conference about habitats, and species at risk, which ultimately leads to legislation to protect some ecosystem.
Tell me?
Scientists and ecologists are often relatively modest if they are good. They study and work with amazing miraculous things like our world.
Some say it was created by a God.
The folks in the first paragraph are acting a bit like an old testament god, power (and money) thrown around, reckless arrogance, insecurity, amorality, violence and destruction
5
Oil is dead. What part of our death toll doesn’t this administration hear?
10
@Stephanie B
Oil is so dead we are still burning more of it every year.
I have this fantasy of a Sage Grouse pecking Trump-I won't specify where. Trump and his friends and supporters are a Plague on the Earth.
All we decent humans can do is get them out of power asap, however
21
The nightmare continues. What’s next — eliminating shore birds to accommodate oil spills? Defoliating the West to allow for an expanded border wall that stretches from Idaho to Arizona? Trump is obviously over his head when it comes to handling the economy, so he resorts to lashing out at grouse. What a despicable monster he is. Unlike George H. W. Bush, Trump will leave the world a much, much worse place when his putrid regime comes to an end.
18
Oh my god say this isn't so.
This corrupt, awful, greedy, destructive administration is killing us.
The grouse are magnificent, irreplaceable - along with their environment. The world is choking on oil and other fossil fuels, which are killing us.
I am going to cry now.
38
@Sophia me too re cry...recently...polar bears, tortoise beauties, whales, dolphins, and now such beautiful birds. What a misery
13
Why don't we just speed up that process and let Eric and 'the smart one' go and machine gun the things? The birds are obviously standing in the way of 'progress' towards the decimation of the planet. The aliens are here, and they are, well sort of, us.
4
Just another step toward the US becoming the Oil Kingdom of Trump.
Don't you just know he idolises and envies MBS.
4
Good stuff, at last, coming out of DC.
Can someone explain how he does this so easily? Were the protections not put in place by a process of fact finding and hearings and economic impact studies and the like? How is it so easy to reverse these? NYT, can your reporters give some more context and background on this?
16
Can we please no longer have Trump as our president.
13
Trump doesn't belong in the White House. He belongs in prison. Most of all for his crimes against animals and the natural environment.
19
Bravo. Drill baby drill. That was on the ballot. Trump won. Get over it.
@Steve What a very Steve of Long Island thing to say. If the natural gifts of Long Island were as polluted, strip mined, and permanently ruined as some of the lands and waters Trump has set his sights on it would mostly just be the outer boroughs with a longer commute. And I say that as someone from the outer boroughs, fully aware of how much people don't like to live in polluted and degraded places. Drill, baby, drill in your own backyard
10
@Steve
Ah no. He didn't win. Electoral College votes don't reflect the will of the people. So drill baby drill lost bigly.
Trump has no mandate for his destructive agenda.
12
Interesting that you lot haven’t gotten over shrieking that we need to get over it.
5
Cute little bird. But if the planet is destroyed as surely will occur why does it matter?
Antidepressants, and take a walk each day, breathe....Rx
1
You clearly know nothing about the crashing state of the planet or the impact of loss of species, sub species, air, the ocean all of which are I peril. Sad.
Destroy it all, we can relax on 130 degree slabs of concrete when the day is done.....
3
The Republican Party has become the enemy of the world.
30
Sure, go after the grouse too. You’re a mean one, Mr. “trump”, ...
15
Why aren't you good people seeing the real villain here? It is Ryan Zinke. He's probably the worst Sec. of Interior we've ever had. From slashing national monuments to this appalling gambit, we've never seen anyone this unrestrained.
14
What experienced businessman, facing an over-supply of the widgets he manufactures, orders his company to double or triple widget production?
Oh, it would be the clown who wants to achieve widget dominance at a time when the rest of the world is moving away from widgets. He's the one who wants to be king; in this case, king over nothing.
8
Trump is intent on destroying any of the Obama initiatives and also the environment. The first shows his vindictiveness and thirst for revenge and the second shows his ignorance and loyalty to the oil industry which contributes to his personal wealth. On both counts Trump should thrown out of office. We cannot have a thug for president.
11
Everyone missed the big 9.1 million acre picture; That land is the possession of the American public, not Trump or the Oil Companies. I don't want rich people getting my oil only to charge me for it later. Argue all you want about the Grouse, but the point is Trump is stealing American's property to enrich himself. He must have many of his millionjs invested in fossil fuels and related industries. He's truly a devilish thief.
22
The extraction industries will all be lining his re-election coffers. That is the only reason our public lands are being destroyed.
7
@Shakinspear
Well, I hate him more than anyone, but to say he is enriching himself with this.........oh, alright, who'm I kidding.... it only means we just have yet to figure out how.
Is there no piece of American rock or soil, no sacred place, no native creature, no law wrought with toil and determination that can withstand these carpetbaggers?
11
Yeah, but the Trump Sage Grouse McNuggets are going to be pretty yummy.
Bribes offered and accepted? If the Federal “Dictatorship” does not give a “Hoot” about the future of our Flora and Fauna do you believe it gives any thought to the future of Humankind. In my opinion, it has forfeited its right to rule. It is up to us to defend all of God’s creatures and not just the “Robber Barons”.
5
Birds evolved from dinosaurs after living several 100 million years.
Humans from mammals lived much less than that.
I wonder who is the smarter species with the wisdom to survive?
Obviously not us.
Wonder when the big brain GOP and their supporters realize that?
How about investing in alternative energy solutions instead?
8
As Michael Tomasky wrote a few months ago, if capitalists are afraid of the proliferation of socialists, they should stop creating so many of them. Nonsense like this is an example of what he was talking about.
3
I do not believe the Trump administration is going to be in office long enough to implement this change.
6
PTG you are correct
3
Alright, so your wimpy "Civility Policy" sank my comment. Let me restate it without calling Trump what I did;
Those 9.1 Million acres are American's property along with their resources, not Trump's or the Oil and gas industries. Trump has no common law right to dispossess me of my oil out west to give to the rich oil interests to get money from me by selling me my own oil.
Argue all you want about the Grouse, but we are getting ripped off as usual.
9
As a student of history, I can’t help but notice the similarities between Trumpism and imperialism of the past, the sublime notion that Man and the country he belonged to, had a sublime and inalienable right to dominate or eradicate foreign lands and the species they harboured. India’s tigers have been reduced to paltry numbers, the dodo rendered entirely extinct, and, almost, the buffalo etc. The examples abound.
Trump is an unwitting and unwitted emperor, and, for all of its rejection of imperialism, America is an empire. It was built on forcible occupation of land that belonged to others, justified by the Frontier Thesis of Frederick Jackson Turner, inspired by the self reliance expounded by Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is why MAGA seems stultified but vaguely familiar. It’s a rehashing of an old chestnut. However, the world has changed since the venerable rule of Victoria; imperialism wears a new face. Previous Republicans recently attempted the ruthless, lascivious, imperialism of invading, exploiting, but not improving the territory and population of the Middle East in stark contrast to the archaic imperialism of the nineteenth century where countries were remoulded and possessed in the image of the hegemon. Trump’s imperialism is more inwardly focussed like the Turnerian frontier imagining that the intellectual territory within US borders and the American people are fit for conquest.
The sage grouse doesn’t stand a chance against this revisited notion of progress.
5
Neither does our freedoms.
1
As usual the NY Times greatly exaggerates the potential ill effects and completely ignores the positive. The 9MM acres cited is mostly quite marginal habitat and is a small fraction of the total area protected. Wyoming and Montana alone , for example, have over 48MM acres of habitat which stretches over large areas of 10 western states.
Additionally if one examines the details of habitat enhancements one finds that this activity has increased sharply under Trump compared to how much of this critical work was done under Obama,
One could almost believe that the NY Times wants to make it's readers less intelligent!
4
The Obama administration was big on US oil production so we wouldn’t be as dependent on the Middle East. At the same time, as more disturbing reports of global warming came out, they invested heavily in renewable sources of energy.
3
Attention hunters and anglers, this administration is eroding our great American tradition of hunting and fishing on public land.
5
Trump won’t believe his own government's intelligence reports about the heinous murder of a journalist and defends the man who evidence shows ordered the mob-style"hit" ostensibly in order to keep oil prices low. More money in his pocket—not ours—is the driving force in his life. If he won’t speak-out about the murder of a journalist, he sure isn’t going to stop his pursuit of riches because scientists warn about the extinction of a species of bird.
Our leader disregards the advice of experts and refuses to seek wise guidance in making decisions, no matter what life form is at stake—even though his own species is also at risk because of our fouling of the Earth.
That's what we get when we put an ignorant, narcissistic, greedy buffoon in one of the most powerful positions on Earth.
6
The forces propelling Trump and the GOP could not care less about any life on the planet. If they’ve no interest in saving their children and grandchildren from the now nearly inevitable miseries of rapid climate change they sure aren’t going to care about some “wild chickens” in the middle of nowhere. Money is all they care about. Sick people, these folks.
4
Oil expansion? Why? Who needs oil?
Do we not realize that when we deplete underground natural resources we create voids that result in earthquakes, sink-holes, earth subsidence, and encroaching seas onto lowered-level shore lines? Do we know why Louisiana and Texas have such devastating floods that wash land into the seas or permit seas to flow into the sinking land? Why is south Louisiana a "sponge"? Is there substantial land under the city of Galveston?
Do we really want the earth to collapse into itself? Why are we so dependent upon fossil fuels when the sun provides us with the warmth we need?
And fracking is the worst extraction method ever devised by evil minds......
3
I can’t wait until humans become extinct. The sooner the better.
6
@Earth Lover
For who? But, yes, coming up soon, so enjoy!
What are Trump's plans for when the oil is gone? He has no plans for alternative energy and oil won't last forever.
8
@Linda
Lol, he seriously does not care. He'll be dead. Please don't mistake any of this as making any more sense than craven poke us in the eye 'n laugh at us when we squawk stuff.
2
Water is already becoming scarce in the midwestern states. Increasing drilling and mining operations are very water intensive operations. These states, Trump supporting I might add, should think twice about the precarious situation their citizens will face in the not too distant future with these actions.
12
Trump is trashing our environment in exchange for campaign cash from Big Oil - He claims "energy independence" is his goal, yet he has devoted no energy or resources to developing technology for renewable energy resources which would be much better for the environment and create high paying jobs. Under Obama gas was 2.25$/gal at the pump, and now it is 3.70$/gal. Billionaires profit huge, while the environment and the majority of people pay the price - welcome to the trump economy !
18
If DJT were diagnosed with colon and lung cancer tomorrow I wouldn’t shed one tear. Once this land is raped and pillaged for the profit of a very few it can never be restored. The use by the American public of federally designated/protected lands is at an all time high. There is no shortage of fossil fuels in our country. As we transition to non carbon based energy resources we should be designating more land not less.
21
@Prog-Vet I’d be throwing a party should that happen!!
My only criticism of this action is that it does not go far enough.
The Constitution says nothing about 'national parks', so called.
All 'national parks' should either be returned to State ownership, or if they never were under State ownership, simply given to the several States.
If you want the federal government to own 28% of the total land area in all of the United States (up to 87% in some States!!), then amend the Constitution.
The federal government is authorized to own Washington, D.C. - nothing else.
6
Dennis, states are now running such deficits they can not afford to manage the lands.
2
So "state ownership" means exploiting the land that all beings need for the profits of just a few? Just make sure those oil companies also give up their generous Federal subsidies, that all cirizens are paying for.
2
@v
Perhaps States would not have done what Trump is planning to do?
Yessir baby drill, drill, drill. How many more auto plants will close as gas sinks under $2 a gallon?
Apparently being raised in and living in Donald Trump’s world the laws of cause and effect didn’t apply. Thus they were never learned.
5
I don't know where the million acres will be but I do know people who are avid hunters and go to states like Idaho every fall to hunt sage grouse. Part of the draw is that it is so elusive. But no one wants them to be impossible to find at all! And Trump is probably ignorant of the fact that many hunters are traditionally conservative voters but want their open lands protected.
And there are those of us who hunt with cameras that will be stymied in our hunts as well. I'm sure the four corners area of the West which is being opened up more and more to drilling will be over run with photographers before the rigs take over. Just this year I have received far more emails about photo trips to the at risk areas than ever before.
5
Another Trumpeting Greed headline. Is there any end to his pandering to his cronies and stuffing his pockets? The sage grouse stands as an icon for conservation, preservation of our land, good stewardship of our environment, and even more than a beautiful bird's survival.
9
@dutchiris I am also concerned about the future of cattle ranching. Will we someday need to import the meats that we have always been able to raise for ourselves? Opening the west to more mineral extraction will not only destroy the beautiful natural environment, but will limit/destroy agricultural pursuits for which the world admires us. The family farm is disappearing, but even "big-agri" will have difficulty with adequate water and grazing leases for beef and lamb, not to mention corn, wheat, and other staples of human consumption.
Will we some day import our food from Africa, South America, Asia? Will our bottled water come from the Nile or the Amazon?
Yet another gift to the energy industry, at the expense of the American people and the earth.
He wants increased offshore drilling, opening the Arctic wildlife refuges to drilling, shrinking the size of public lands, etc, and now this.
He’s doing such damage to the planet, and as I see it, he’s stealing what belongs to all of us.
11
Bad press for the President going into tomorrow’s sentencing hearings for Flynn and Cohen.
Distracting, disturbing announcement by the Administration about opening up 9 million acres of land to oil and gas drilling.
The pattern never changes. Is it because the tactic is so effective, or because it’s the only trick he knows?
7
Decades of conservation work undone in the name of tearing up some of the most beautiful and delicate land in the United States. All power to the environmental groups who take this administration to court on behalf of the sage grouse (& countless others).
13
Doesn't anyone in the Trump administration realize that we as a species are not yet ready to move to Mars? We aren't even doing the absolute minimum to keep this planet livable. How much more of the earth do we need to destroy?
5
No, no no. We can't imperil this bird, this one of nature's wonders.
Senators Wyden and Merkeley will mount a resistance and response.
Stop the profiteering and the greed.
9
@NextGeneration
The bird is doomed. So are we.
I'd love it if the NYT could add links to donate to any groups who fight the latest act of boundless corporate greed. I can't keep up with all these horrendous rollbacks, but I do know there are a lot of great people and groups who work hard to protect the environment, wildlife and vulnerable people adversely affected by this administration.
To anyone who can afford it, please donate generously.
8
The article. The picture. It all hurts my stomach and my heart.
13
I bet live and let live has never crossed his mind. Our climate, animal protection, inter connection between all life never occur's to a ruler/authoritarian.....only to us who have heart's. Of course we need to balance business with conservation, but this is hardly that. I'm so glad y life is not all about money. It's an ugly way to go. Money is important, no doubt, but how much does a person really need to live well and with heart? Really? When 45 is in the ash heap of History, we will remember our humanity and act accordingly.
I'm betting on it.
4
It is clear that trump cares about nothing more than enriching his family, his cronies, and most of all himself through whatever means necessary and regardless of who or what he harms. trump is single-handedly wrecking the environment for future generations and the destruction is nearing irreversibility.
For the sake of your children (and yourself, for that matter), VOTE him out of office in 2020.
6
I thought His Fatness said our future was in clean coal. Is it not dirty enough for him?
1
Isn't there SOMEONE who can stop this lunatic before he does further irreparable damage to protected and endangered species ?
This summer, I witnessed the Army Corps of Engineers bulldoze an Oystercatcher nest. Horrified, I called the National Fish and Wildlife Association, and was informed that "Under the current administration, the incidental take (killing )of migratory birds is legal."
Before Trump was President, it would have been a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 to take (kill) an Oystercatcher. -Period.
Now, it's open season on migratory birds, endangered species , Jews praying in Synagogue on the Sabbath,among others.
If we American citizens do not speak up for these helpless creatures, who will speak up for US ?
8
The sad part is that the violence that will be necessary to remove trump and his kind from our society won't be considered until it's far too late for our society and planet.
1
With all due respect: the sage grouse? 1.8000,000 acres? Come on. Let’s come up with some more substantive complaints.
3
At the rate this president is going,eventually the only areas left protected in this country will be those with the word "Trump" in the title.
1
If the wealthiest people on the planet, in many cases, exponentially, will resort to this, the Earth is doomed. This is more shameful than other periods of American history, including slavery or Vietnam, yet where is the outrage?
4
He wants to end reliance on Middle Eastern oil and make the US an energy dominant society. Why don't we wait until the Middle East uses up their reserves then become an energy dominant society. Oil is relatively cheap now so I don't see the point in drilling more.
4
According to the Audubon Society this proposal has the potential to seriously degrade prime sagebrush habitat. Members of the public have a 30 day period to comment on the plans announced today.
Audubon states "Among other pro-industry provisions, the plans would remove a requirement that any sagebrush habitat damaged by development be offset with restoration projects elsewhere, instead leaving it to the states to enforce that mandate. In Utah and parts of Wyoming, they would no longer prioritize areas outside sage-grouse habitat for oil and gas development." And Brian Rutledge (director of Audubon Sagebrush Ecosystem Initiative) says, "they would trade a landscape approach to protection-one that refect's the birds need for sweeping, unfragmented habitat-for a piecemeal approach that only considers the local footprint of development."
8
Donald Trump has diminished the great natural resources of this country. He isn't going to lose any sleep over this but for anyone who does care about these natural resources they will sleep less easy and wonder what he will do next.
9
There are 165 million acres of sage grouse habitat. Much of it on private land. The government refused to list it for an agreed 10 yrs. before Trump came to office. Don't make every move that he makes some environmental crisis. This certainly isn't.
2
@John Sullivan. I’m intrigued by the 165 million acres statistic. Could you please tell me where I can read about it? Thank you.
@John Sullivan Not a crisis, until it is. A little forethought would be helpful.
All his moves are adding up.
This is really good news in several ways.
The more domestic oil the US produces, the less dependent we'll be on Middle Eastern countries. By driving prices down it also weakens Russia.
But the biggest beneficiaries will be Americas on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder - those who live paycheck to paycheck. For them, reduced energy prices free up funds for food, clothing and shelter.
For those of us for whom high gas prices are merely an annoyance, it's easy to forget the impact on folks who make a lot less than most NYT readers. Perhaps we should tip the balance more toward those folks than the sage grouse, which I suspect will do just fine on 1.8 million acres.
1
And let's not worry about the environmental impact all that drilling would have. I'd rather see wind turbines there.
8
@Son of Liberty. Where can I read about the 1.8 million acres open to the sage grouse? I am intrigued! Thank you.
1
@Son of Liberty
The oil companies don't want the oil to make us independent, they want it to sell it offshore!! They are already doing just that since the ban on selling our oil off sure was LIFTED.
The administration releases a(nother) devastating report on the dire challenges of climate change and the drastic steps that would be needed to address the issue, and a couple weeks later this happens. Before too long the endangered species list will be pointless. We are ignorantly chugging full steam ahead in the opposite direction on environmental and energy policy, and for whose benefit?
10
If I were a sage grouse, I'd be very happy with 1.8 million acres of undisturbed land in which to grow and prosper.
3
@Rolf Really? What would your family say about having their range reduced to this size? And how contiguous are the sites? Population reduced, potential mates hard to find...great solution!
2
Hard-won environmental protections are so vulnerable to the incessant attacks of wealthy corporations. When industry is set back by such rules, they only need to wait for a different political atmosphere to pursue their goals again. On the other hand, once the land and water are ruined and the wild ecosystems are destroyed, there is no going back.
It's so ironic that the Greatest Generation is followed by the Greediest Generation.
19
My question is: who owns the oil? If this is federal lands, the revenue should go to federal coffers, with a significant portion going to protect the environment and offset climate change. That could be a win-win.
Unfortunately, I expect the profit will wind where it usually does: in the pockets of the 1%.
11
Anyone who has ever sat quietly on the prairie waiting for the sound of the sage grouse drumming the ground in its courtship display cannot imagine the world without this mysteriously weird and beautiful bird. We will be lesser when they vanish. I would wish that Trump could be moved by something other than rewarding his extraction industry and fossil fuels enablers, but I would be wishing in vain.
31
The grouse, the land and all it holds, the climate; none of it matters. What matters is that the oil companies get their money.
46
It is as if every morning Trump and his cronies wake up, determined to find a way to speed the destruction of our planet and all its species, just for oil and gas to enrich their donors. Climate change and the destructive impacts of carbon emissions are NOT arguable. This is slow murder-suicide at the hands of the Republican Party. Do these people not have children or grandchildren they love?
68
We need more grouse and less oil. These people are criminals.
83
@libdemtex
Basically, I agree, but the Trump administration goes far beyond mere criminality.
4
@libdemtex
I'd like to thank everyone for not making a "grousing about" comment (is it a pun? )over this story. Much appreciated even though I lost a bet over it.
@Ellis6 Of all of them, may his daughter be accepted nowhere and made to understand that all the time spent making over her face and body while examining nothing of her conscience and associations was a grave error. One can create a whole series of books based on things one can tlell his grandchildren he helped destroy. "Arabella, Grandpa Killed The Sage Grouse," "Arabella, Grandpa Let Trophy Hunters Help Kill Elephants" just one volume in that nightmare collection. The absurdity and audacity of Ivanka acting as if any valid criticism is "haters" or "noise," with her father's same twisted "Power of Positive Thinking" meets spoiled self-pity...
1
He won't be happy until he assures the death of the planet. He is pure evil.
105
can things get any worse?
31
@Clairé adis
Clair, I used to ask myself that question under W's administration. The obvious answer is that yes, things can and are getting exponentially worse by the day, and through the actions of this impossibly corrupt republican party, we'll see the end of life as we know it.
I can't help but wonder if the people who are bankrolling all of the fossil fuel $ may actually have a place to live on this earth that's somehow exempt from the ravages of climate change. They certainly behave as if it's not going to affect their children or their future generations.
20
@Clairé adis
Yes, and unless American voters wake up, things will get a lot worse. They keep supporting a party and a man neither of which believes in democracy.
1
@Clairé adis
Sure they can! Just stop adopting pro-growth policies like this one.
I just finished reading the story about greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuels and now I have to read this story about opening up more land for drilling?
Tump is right, I am tired of all this winning.
Please make it stop.
45
This scorched Earth approach to the environment undertaken by slovenly old men is starting to wear thin.
53
@Dan, Is the start of wars, they are coming.
1
The only thing that makes me feel better when I see these articles is comments like yours and other like-minded citizens.
2
Trump drives another nail in our planets coffin.
40
@Sharon
We all must keep fighting. I've waked up to little things I can do. Read, read, read to know what is happening. Turn off the TV. When I turn it on, I usually hear something I already know. Spare myself the daily onslaught of Trump tweets. Give small donations to the many groups I hear from online. Emily's List, Daily Kos, & various Democratic sites are only 3 of many reliable places. In earlier elections I've also been able to call voters in different states to talk to Dems with info. Nancy Pelosi and the new House are already planning action.
7
Yeah, the US is not producing enough oil already.
What a bunch of clowns. His idea of wilderness is anywhere in Central Park where the lawn isn't cut regularly.
23
Message to Trump base: you do know you have to breath the same air as anyone else? Eat the same number of calories? Hope your rich enough to have your own source of oxygen, food and fresh water - doubt anyone is going to share with you.
39
@Barbara Snider
Barbara, do you really want to breath the same air as the Trump base?
At this point, seriously, who would ever expect our Old Grouse to do anything sage - anything at all?
11
Next, Trump declares first American Bald Eagle hunting season. This Administration cares nothing for the rich natural heritage of this great nation.
23
@Derek
And the sons Trump like to hunt wild and exotic animals. The morals of such 'hunters' of trophies show how shallow they are.
can't even go half way - has to take almost all of the land - so typical - and the russpublican trumpateers wonder why most people can't stand them.
11
I wonder what the Republicans will set as the bag limit.
2
@Marvant Duhon we have had a 2 sage grouse per day limit during their short open hunting season for decades in NV. They cross highways and drill roads all the time, I work around the birds on a daily basis.
2
Can’t the House stop this in January? If not why not?
We need to amend the ancient constitution for many reasons but protecting the little that we have left of pristine ecology should be a top priority.
We cannot afford Trumps of the future even attempting to destroy what we have. The idiots that make up the GOP leadership will sell their own mothers for short term profit let alone the commonwealth that belongs to all of us.
27
We’ve lost 60% of our wildlife since 1970. You published an article this weekend about the disappearance of insects. We are greedy rapists of the earth. When will this nightmare be over?
37
@Sam Cheever
Contribute to the League of Conservation Voters.
3
The end of Homosapeins will be soon, no worries.
Shorter tRump: Who needs those pesky sage grouse anyway? The MAGAts just want cheap gasoline for their SUVs.
7
Trump is probably the worst that has happened to planet Earth since the Cretaceous. This is not a figure of speech, it is not an irony, and it is not a joke. Trump is, in fact, a representation of Evil in a way that no other human being has ever been able to embody before - not Nero, not Caligula, and not Hitler, none of whom, despite their evil natures, were "existential" threats to the whole of humanity. Of course, Americans and American institutions, such as the Press, find this impossible to grasp. But the fact they can't comprehend it doesn't mean this is not true. By the time Humanity comes to terms with the notion that America has spawned evil incarnate, it will be too late.
19
When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money
34
Things will crate long before that.
For several months, my wife worked for a gov't contractor who was assisting DOI to save the sage grouse. Neither she nor I would have believed it if someone had told us that 3 years later DOI was going the complete opposite direction. How sickening...
31
@Sean B I am very glad for her work and theirs and can't imagine the feelings of those who have worked for the government with the best intentions. There needs to be an open, national conversation about the value of expertise and trying to excel toward it. His twisting and rebranding of "deplorable," which was never meant to describe all Trump voters, is cover for the fact that we never say there are people who voted for Trump didn't do their best-not to say many don't work very hard but they often work harder because they didn't plan or obtain credentials to have options. Our country has a problem saying white people ever need help excelling. No, they are painted as victims of change and in Trump's world everything should be halted and much ruined to give them validation, progress in energy, conservation, science, education in so many forms honestly dumbed down instead of finding it more validating to help people stay current, gain more credentials and skills, and change. George W Bush's phrase "soft bigotry of low expectations" comes to mind. No one looks down on his followers more than Trump does.
No species is safe - including humans - while Trump is in the White House.
24
I think 1.8 million acres is enough for those darned birds. They don’t have China and Russia to worry about.
2
@Ed Not for sustainable populations with enough genetic diversity to ensure the species can survive catastrophic stochastic events or environmental change. What Trump is doing is basic degrading 80% of this species' habitat (not contiguous, by the way...setting up potential for habitat fragmentation, leading to lack of gene flow between populations), making sure it is listed as federally Endangered in the future (already listed as Endangered in multiple states). And there are already enough species listed that we don't have enough money to manage and bring back from the brink of extinction. After all, the US Fish and Wildlife Service's annual budget is less than the cost of one poorly equipped warship for the military...who cares about our natural heritage? The problems with China and Russia are human-caused and so is the 7th mass extinction that is occurring around the world.
24
Just remember, public lands aren't at the disposal of the
president to make money out of.
I hope the new members of the House coming in will have
the courage to stand up to the thief in chief.
Or we have stood by to the dismantling of this beautiful country.
10
Oh, I am quite sure the Democratic House will stand up to the Resident and his MAGAts in the legislature whenever and however they can. The people have spoken.
Greed trumps all in this administration.
6
Where is the outcry and push back from all of America's Hunters [NRA Members]? This is a prized game bird and very delicious. If hunters are the true "stewards of the land" and "pro-conservation" as they always claim- why aren't they saying anything about this?
11
@Aaron exploration for minerals has to be done on a strict plan with reclamation bonds and environmental impact assessments. It will not result in extinction of sage grouse or destruction of these western states.
@Aaron: Please don't assume that all hunters are NRA members Which you are doing by confusing gun rights issues with Hunter conservation and envirionmental involvement. We do not "claim" to be stewards, we ARE stewards and we ARE speaking out in a miriad of ways. Without the efforts of hunters woldlife conservation in this country would have died long ago. A little bit of basic reasearch on your part would confirm this. Hunters and conservationists cannot do it alone. We also need the general public to become more involved.
All of which this administration is doing away with. Say goodbye to the sage grouse.
The sage grouse is a species that indicates the health of the ecology in which it lives. When it goes, the entire ecology is on the edge. Is destroying something forever worth extracting a mineral that is in ample supply and the use of which is bringing us closer to a world wide catastrophe? Trump thumbs his nose at survival.
10
In defense of Rs: if you can't destroy the environment irreversibly and cause sentient beings horrific pain in the process, what's the point of being R in the first place?
7
Let's "roll back (legal) protection" of Trump and "open up" prosecution of Trump and his family, theeby creating a much-needed open season on Trump by Federal, state, and local prosecutors.
That would "spur" production of justice greatly and rid us of nest of environmental and criminal pests and parasites.
16
We are sticking our heads into the oil bearing sands, refusing to accept reality, wanting oil over all. Why are we also excusing a murderous Saudi prince -because we need his oil too? There can never be enough money, oil or power to satisfy the deranged mind of Trump. He will stop at NOTHING. The complete degradation of the whole world is meaningless to him.
9
Trump is a person to whom the wilderness of the USA is just a commodity for the highest bidder. The closest he ever gets to nature is a golf course.
10
Oh no! Let's save the sage grouse at all costs!
2
Oh no! Let's drill and pollute!
@Suanne Dittmeier ... yes by all means, the interests of the sage grouse should take precedence over those of working people.
US must plan major rollback of Trump. Let us hope that the species of Trump become extinct very soon.
7
We shouldn't blame Trump. He is ignorant of what is being done by his minions. Someone is in control of this administration's attack on the planet, but I'm not quite sure of who is leading the charge. Further digging is necessary to correctly place the blame. But rest assured, there is a GOP factor.
3
@GP If you think DT is not aware of all that is going on in this administration, you are in some alternate reality - the man is a control freak. Trump and McConnell are bound and determined to erase every move made by the Obama administration, no matter the consequences.
1
Trump is the perfect storm of a city boy with no connection to nature, and a greedy city boy with no qualms about how that money is made. It's ironic that his greatest appeal is in rural areas, but only among those rural folk whose view of life is that it's short, nasty, and brutish. There is where their thinking aligns perfectly.
4
Nixon was a "crook", but nearly fifty years ago he understood more about the environment than does the collective group of Republicans in Washington D.C. today. I can’t help but worry about how long it will take to undo the damage Trump and his cluster of clowns are doing.
10
As Trump says, he will not be around when the ramifications of his policies and unrestrained capitalism destroy large portions of the earth. The effects are evident now. I am actually glad that I do not have children.
4
1.8M acres would be about 1/3rd of Massachusetts, quite a bit of protected land for 1 bird. 11M acres would be half of Tennessee, too much. lets compromise and do 5M acres
1
@Sukhjeet If you understood the species ecology, you'd understand why protections are that large. The sagebrush habitat this species use to occur on was around 300 million acres historically. So, comparatively, 11 million acres is a small proportion of their habitat to conserve, especially considering invasive species like cheat grass, cattle grazing, oil/gas development, and increased drought and fire exacerbated by climate change are have widespread negative impacts on the sagebrush ecosystem. Sage grouse are important components of that ecosystem and their presence indicates good ecosystem health. And 11 million acres is what a coalition of ranchers, the oil industry, conservationists, and the US government agreed on in 2015 to prevent the species from being listed as federally Endagered, which would restrict grazing and oil/gas extraction from a substantially larger area. So conserving a whopping 3.6% of their habitat was the compromise.
5
@Sukhjeet
Compromise is not a good idea. The protection is not just for the Sage Grouse, be clear. The lands grab that it lives on will not remedy the damage that will be done to it. We will not see oil that will remedy oil shortages by doing this: reducing the land set aside. Greed is what this is. Nothing more/less.
2
@cordie
thank you. i was too depressed by yet another betrayal to express all that in my comment.
I rarely see any comments on Trump being a misanthrope. Time after time there is evidence of his person. Most everyone knows his childish narcissism. I don't think he even likes his own children other than he was involved with their being - to serve to glorify him. He sits with arms folded across his chest, and a scowl on his face, protecting, defending himself from those human beings who do care about other living things, not Trump.
We all know what the importance of the dollar is to him. The water, the sky, the birds, the animals, all that is worth living, is not on his radar. Just the dollar. How depressing that someone with this dark-sunless vision is changing our lives.
7
When will someone roll back the protections on 5th Ave real estate millionaires living in towers? He should no longer be a protected species.
Oil prices are tanking & he wants to open up every piece of land that is protected. Pipelines, refineries, selling off the future of America & wildlife just to make a buck for his mega rich friends. There has already been complaints that the refineries are not making enough money because the price is down. Job loss to make money go figure.
Saudi Arabia & OPEC will cut drilling to raise the prices & trump wants to drill to keep prices down. How exactly does this work out for endangered wildlife & environment in the world?
Greed rules in America. Lock up Zinke, trump, & the fake EPA.
9
I give up. Our planet is doomed... As a left leaning Conservative, I just can't get over the greediness of the ultra-rich who control these things. I mean, they live here too and their children and grand children will be choking down the same fumes we will.
I just don't get it.
6
Pioneer just announced the Delaware field has twice the reserves fo the Midland field in the Permian. Totally unnecessary, another evil act from an evil man.
3
So the payoffs to Zinke were worth every penny.
7
The Administration revealed plans to construct a National Nuclear and Hazardous Materials Reserve and 18 Hole Trump International Golf Course in, and over the Grand Canyon. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Notso-Swift, reached at her gun range, shouted: "Mr Trump will prove he loves the environment more than anybody by 'dumping all the bad stuff in, then building on top the most tremendous resort ever seen, with so much green grass instead of that ugly gash, and the world's deepest 18th hole..." She concluded, wiping a tear, "people are saying the President trying to make a buck off of filling in the Grand Canyon is, well, very cool and very legal." In related news, the Interior Department issued the White House a permit for hot spotted owl wings on the Trump's holiday menu.
4
No price too high for cheap oil.
3
Yeah, what does the planet need animals for right? Let's just destroy all of the forests, kill all of the animals on land and the ocean. It will be so much easier to find oil. And you know, since it ensures our own destruction if we burn the rest of the fossil fuel in the ground, it really makes a lot of sense!
Thank goodness for humane globally conscious souls like Ryan Zinke and Donald Trump. They don't stop to think, they just see more money and do whatever it takes to enrich themselves at any cost. What a great American hero's we should all aspire to look up to.
3
Coloradans take pleasure in celebrating the annual prairie chicken (sage grouse) festival in Wray . A delight that attracts visitors from all over the world. Pre event dinners, early morning bus rides to prairie sites, and loads of educational talks. tickets well out almost a year in advance. Just his year, 75% of Coloradans identified as conservationists which included farmers and ranchers. (up 10% from 2016)
The land grab is not going over well and Zinke is considered a pariah. Out west, environmental issues are paramount....and protection of our lands critical.
We are the canary in the coal mine.
9
Aren't CO2 emissions "accelerating like a speeding freight train"? Aren't we supposed to be moving away from fossil fuels? What about the realities? Coastal flooding that will ruin the coasts, Hurricanes that are happening more frequently, migration of the people's of the world trying to escape corruption and starvation. Wild fires that ruin whole communities in a blink of the eye. Bernie is the only leader talking about it, he is our John the Baptist!
3
I have just returned from 2 months traveling in Nepal and India. What at one time must have been a beautiful natural habitat for incredibly diverse wildlife has been relegated to an environmental wasteland smothered by garbage and foul air and water. I return to my homeland and am reminded how fortunate we are as Americans to still have large natural areas in relatively pristine condition where animals like the sage grouse can exist. I have viewed their mating rituals in my home state of Oregon and consider it one of the top natural experiences of my life. Let’s not let the current administration destroy what is the envy of the rest of the world.
4
Our economy, believe it or not, is based upon a stable climate and the diversity of earth's flora and fauna. We're just a small cog in an incredibly complex machine.
Consider this:
". . . a staggering 86% of all species on land and 91% of those in the seas have yet to be discovered, described and catalogued."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110823180459.htm
We may also be witness to the "Sixth Mass Extinction", and may be solely responsible for much of it.
Humans share what other species do in terms of short-term thinking and planning; it may relate to our eventual demise.
5
Just when you think it can't get worse, Trump comes up with another diabolic scheme -- to benefit the rich and destroy the environment .
Having refused to even read American scientists' top report on the impending dangers of global warming, he charges straight into the fray of further polluting the world. This man cares for no person, is not a public servant in any way, and invariably choses the most damaging, and/or most costly route to the majority of Americans.
Coal baron Robert E. Murray literally gave Trump an "Action Plan" for how to govern days after Trump was elected. Trump has followed it to the letter, and it is definitely the impetus for the destruction of human and environmental protection. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/09/climate/document-Murray-Energy-Action-Plan.html
You may look at this sage grouse and be unimpressed. But does giving up 11.8 million acres of beautiful Federal land to coal and oil barons chill you? Remember, Trump has removed all clean air and water protections, so the runoff from these operations will directly affect drinking water (human and animal) and water for crops (it could kill them).
Profits from this work go to very view, plus their investors. I imagine Trump invests big in fossil fuel.
Trump doesn't mind killing for money. If you're not worried about the sage grouse, wait until he takes away your Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid...your life is also of no concern to him.
6
This latest Trump salvo against the environment comes on yet another day of startling news about climate change ("Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accelerate like a 'speeding freight train' in 2018"). This is the epitome of human arrogance and a false sense of human autonomy over creation. Drilling for more fossil fuels is like a slow--with increasing speed--suicide for humanity. We cannot allow corrupt corporate "leaders," and especially corrupt, immoral political "leaders" to continue this greed-based, short-sighted destruction of our natural world upon which we depend.
We need to stop this. But how do we get rid of the corrupt corporate and political interests that continue to thwart the Common Good in this and so many other facets of life? I used to our votes could make a difference. Here in Wisconsin the Republicans just voted to thwart our newly-elected Democratic leadership.
This dismissive attitude towards the poor Sage Grouse is reflective of Trump's view of anyone besides himself and his inflated ego.
4
I think public lands should not be used for such things. We must protect these lands for furtive generations to enjoy.
4
This suggestion may get me shouted down in this form, but I want to give it a try. Making the headline and the focus of the story the sage grouse - when few people know or care about the sage grouse -doesn't seem like it's going to do much for this cause. I think the focus of the story should be opening up drilling of 9 million acres and talking about what has happened in other areas of the country when drilling is opened up- oil spills, earthquakes, deforestation and other destruction and results of air, land, water quality and toxins measurement.
We've become a very selfish, selfish race of people. I think what we have to explain is how this impacts people directly who don't care about any other species other than their particular subset of the human race.
5
There are severe warnings out from the scientists and Pope Francis about continuing use of fossil fuels. These brain damaged GOP are pushing for more exploration. The sad part about this is Trent Lott is a GOP is presently a lobyist for the oil company and coal. He is writing up laws protecting these coal and oil executives so when the climate damage occurs the oil men and coal will be protected and have no jail time. The culture of corruption GOP are playing both sides of the street and I am glad I am 65 years old. I would not want to be young when the damage is done.
3
The grouse has been endangered for over 50 years. When was a, kid in the late 50's my dad told me don't shoot them. The sage grouse is only used by Kremlin backed environmentalist to stop oil exploration in the US.
More than sage grouse roam the prairies. I am tired of the aggressive oil industry mandate to kill off the planet. It is time to stop this unprecedented state sponsored economic drive to have oil dominate our lives and ruin the environment and all who live IN it. That's sage grouse and raptors and deer and foxes, it's antelope and field mice and rabbits and an entire web of life. We are in the midst of the 6th great extinction and if we don't wake up and stop this march towards annihilation at the benefit of the 1%, we will all die, and probably first of grief and then we will choke to death on fumes, and then of starvation.
5
Nothing is sacred, protected and valued under this Trump Administration. I live in a region where hunters and residents alike, respect and appreciate endangered - all wildlife. Who are we to undervalue and trample on a species for our misquided dependency on oil. I'm ashamed.
9
Trump’s intent is to accelerate the demise of the human species, the first species to take itself off of the face of the earth. The dinosaurs could legitimately blame a rogue asteroid, we can look in the mirror and only blame ourselves (or at least those that voted for Trump and so called “Republicans”).
3
Looks like I'd better get my sage grouse hunting in before they're wiped out. Or covered in oil.
sue. and dont stop suing. mueller, i hope all is moving right along...
2
If Obama had passed protections that would make life on earth perfect for every citizen, but even moreso for Trump's family, Trump would roll back those protections simply because they had Obama's signature on them. The goal of the Trump presidency is to erase everything Obama did, even programs that are popular and benefit the vast majority of Americans. It is petty and backwards and ridiculous, just like the rest of the modern day GOP.
6
A coalition came together under the Obama administration and put together a plan in order to keep the bird off the ESA. This will just backfire, get the bird listed, and ranchers and oil men will be enraged. For the bird and the environment, its much better for it to be listed. NGO's will be suing soon to list the bird.
1
With Global oil prices so low is exploration really a priority?
3
Can't these people leave something, anything, for the next generations to enjoy? If the energy situation becomes so dire that they eventually need to trash every piece of pristine land at some point, let THEM do it. It doesn't need to happen right now ... and in my view it'll likely never need to happen if these people didn't make it so easy to do now ... we would find other ways to deal with it.
3
Every time I read stuff like this I think about the people who thought there were no significant differences between HRC and Trump, and ended up voting for a third party. Anyone with eyes could have seen this coming.
9
@halito27 - It might interest you to know that Hillary received million$ from the fossil fuel industry. That's not to say she would be for drilling oil in Yellowstone National Park ... but her views on the environment is complex and, some might say, mutable.
btw, Sanders did see it coming but he was taken out ... by means not particularly evenhanded ... before he even had a chance to run by folks who weren't so concerned about the environment as Sanders, many on Clinton's side. Having eyes doesn't mean much if you refuse to look at what's in front of you.
1
@halito27 Anyone who thought that most likely doesn't give two-heaps of hooey about the Sage Grouse (or little else) anyway. But what is happening to the Sage Grouse anyway? Back in my Dakota bird hunting days many years ago, no respectable hunter would shoot a Sage Grouse because they are a foul-tasting fowl. But it was always entertaining to watch them strut. Frankly, both the existing regulation and the proposed change discussed in this story strike me as extreme so I'm not surprised that there will be significant applause for this proposed change, just as A follows B.
I've come across a sage grouse about 6 times in the past year hiking in the backcountry, and they are splendid creatures. It's always a thrill to see one. What our City Boy President doesn't understand, or care about, is that the sage grouse is just one part in an intricate ecosystem. It's a canary species for the health of its environment. You can call it "chicken-like" just as you can call a moose "horse-like" or a wolf "dog-like" or a bear "raccoon-like", or you can call humans "monkey-like." We're all part of the extended ecosystem. Would be good to see Trump's tax returns if only to see how much he is being bribed by oil interests to sell us all out.
23
We don't need more oil. If we are going to avoid catastrophic climate change we need drastic changes now. We should protect the sage grouse habitat and that of other endangered and threatened species but if we keep emitting CO2 like we are now they'll probably become extinct anyway, as will we.
19
so much for those cooperative conservation efforts intended make federal listing unnecessary.
6
The sooner we move to an economy that uses sustainable energy, the sooner we can reduce significantly the destruction of sacred and important areas that can never be recovered.
18
@ZigZag That will NEVER happen as long as the most corrupt, incompetent, on the take, President resides in the oval office. Any vote for a climate change denying Republican is
another nail in our coffin.
4
@ZigZag
Nice wish but not going to happen. Highly probably things will continue getting worse. Personally, I think that the ladybugs will be the next dominate species of the world after humans self destruct, but there's always a chance it will be the potato bugs.
2
Time to urge both members of both Houses we have to clean up our act or die as a species
If every coal worker were retrained to build, install and repair wind turbines, and they were installed as replacements on every major “high tension” power pole, we could probably shut down most, if not all, non-nuclear power stations. Every single burner.
If we. were to bar refinery “flares” of “worthless” gasses, and demand the gas be used to power the the refinery we would slightly reduce their emissions- by about 70% per, I guesstimate.
If we were selectively, after much needed research, to seed the seas with scrap iron, we might be able to increase the greatest carbon dioxide sink on the planet-that’s why research is needed.
But Trump thinks coal is “clean” and wind turbines are “ugly”. That Science is not to believed because “I’m a pretty smart kinda guy” but he cannot understand more information than fits on a 3x5 file card, and it might ruin time spent golfing at taxpayer expense.
The time to move is centuries past. If you want humanity to survive another century, start work now.
11
The assault on the environment by the Trump administration, rollback of laws and protections is happening quickly and people need to be contacting their representatives in Congress in the house and senate.
Whether it is the important policy on sage grouse habitat (which was a policy agreement negotiated and agreed upon over a decade with negotiations among conservationists, recreational users, oil companies, and government entities at the local, state and federal level). This significant habitat needs to continue to be protected.
Or the Trump Administration's many other plans to develop in many other environmentally profoundly sensitive areas including:
the globally significant protected wetlands at Teshekpuk Lake Special Area of the National Petroleum Preserve (the NPP-A already has 12 million acres open to oil and gas) in the circumpolar Arctic;
considering an enormous gold mine at the pristine headwaters to Bristol Bay, the largest salmon fishery in the world, in an earthquake prone area;
to drill for oil in the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge, with its complete Arctic ecosystem.
to drill in the heart of redrock country with tens of thousands of Native American sacred places at Bears Ears and Escalante in Utah.
All of these environmentally important, premiere habitats, and sensitive areas need to be protected, conserved, responsibly managed and protected for our future, our children's future, and our grandchildren's future.
21
@Sally
I am afraid you are sadly mistaken if you think anyone in congress actually represents any interest but their own. It's actually, in a way, charming (and totally frightening) that some people actually might believe it.
Appropriate federal regulation is part of the ultimate solution to saving the planet, it’s creatures, and its resources. But current political biases and paralysis precludes that as a timely option. The drilling momentum will only shift when it becomes too risky financially for the energy industry. State regulations, forward thinking utilities, successful marketing of non-fossil fuel transportation, and even changes in individual behavior are more flexible tools.
4
@AB
What you, and most commentators herein, seem not to understand is that fossil fuels are not going away, rather we are (going away) and thus, we are, in our turn, the basis of the next fossil fuels. It's simply a mater of evolution, decay, and geologic time before it happens.
1
As long as the Endangered Species Act remains in place, there is recourse against this plan. Hopefully the courts will step in and stop it before any damage is done. A lot of people -- from government agencies, conservation groups, science, ranching, and industry -- have worked very hard at the local, state and national level to develop these plans. The idea was to work together and prevent the sage-grouse from *needing* to be listed, rather than scrambling to fix the problem after they're already endangered. It's arguably the largest coordinated conservation effort in US history. The plans are not perfect, but they're an important win for a more proactive and cooperative model of conservation. It's not just the sage-grouse at stake here.
15
Is this another example or Trump's distain for process and procedure. Or is it just another display of Trump's fealty to what he thinks is what the oil companies want. Or is it part of his attempts to make the US ungovernable at home and impotent abroad.
1
We need to move 100% from oil to battery power in cars, and to a range of clean energy alternatives for other needs. Greenhouse gases must be reduced if the earth is to remain inhabitable for our children. Stop the madness and get the priorities straight. Congress, where are you? Set some goals, provide incentives and help move the U.S., and the world, to clean energy.
7
How do we stop this madness? I cannot wait till January but the environment can’t wait till January. Do the Republicans care about future generations? Is it really just themselves today?
23
@AT
Pretty simple, get everyone to stop voting for Republicans and to refuse to vote for any Democrat that accepts campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry.
Do the petroleum companies even want all of these lands opened up to drilling? I mean gas prices have been going down and some people say that with petroleum coming from the areas in west Texas that there is going to be an over supply.
I think that The Con Don heard that these safeguards for the sage grouse were put in by the Obama administration. That is all he heeded to order that it be undone.
The Con Don knows nothing about economics or the petroleum business -- of course we have known that for several years.
35
Just hope Javanka and children are still alive when Mar-a-Lago slips underwater permanently. They can beamingly explain to them,
"We and your grandfather did everything we possibly could while he was in office to make this happen! It will only get a lot worse during your lifetime and beyond. Thank God we bought the place in New Zealand. Say bye-bye to this dump, get on the jet and let's go. Here comes the mob, hurry up now!"
28
Everything Trump touches dies.
80
Except him & his family
1
Just more uglification of our land.
12
His disregard for our planet, animals and plants is just disgusting. He tries his best to break our hearts everyday.
36
The human mantra: Death to all species that gets in Homo sapiens way. Nothing shall stop us from making a quick filthy buck. Not Pacific salmon, bumblebees, wolves, grizzly bears, orca whales or sage grouse will stop us.
25
@Dave Thomas
No its the Trump mantra. The oil companies facing a surfeit of oil and gas from well developed fields, have no need to explore these new areas. They are logical profit seekers, not egomaniacs and fools.
2
Hey Christians, just a reminder, God gave us the mandate to care for the animals.
53
Call Me Abe,
Right. Think St. Francis of Assisi.
We're supposed to be stewards of the earth. I'm an athiest and I know this.
8
Is the Trump administration sabotaging our environment for Putin?
5
@Daniel Kinske hypothetically (in reality?), this hurts Putin because if the US produces more oil it reduces prices which cuts Russia's profits when the sell their oil. Trump just wants to be as anti-Obama as possible, regardless of the consequences.
2
Killing the canary in the coal mine with your bare hands does not enhance the miners’ chances of survival. Just stop!
19
A constructive outlet to help with our helpless outrage: learn the facts and support the organizations who will help us fight this, such as the Audubon Society. Give them your time and your money.
https://www.audubon.org/news/audubon-warns-interiors-industry-friendly-plans-put-sage-grouse-risk
17
@Jule good advice!
2
Trump became president by, well partly, promising to get rid of regulations. People cheered and voted for him, believing that regulations was what prevented them from being rich and happy. Trump went to work, got rid of rules for consumer protection, removed regulations that kept the banks from playing fantasy games that was rewarded with tax payers money and he got rid of regulations put in place to save some of the planet for future regulations.
He is doing exactly what he said he would, so in a sense he is just making good on his promise.
Where I think media has failed, both before and after the election, is to educate the population about the fact that most regulations, and all of those that Trump is targeting, was actually put in place to prevent corporations from cheating, polluting and grabbing stuff that was not theirs, including tax money.
Trump will sell this as a part of MAGA, as a victory for the working class. And half the population will buy.
26
Oops, where I write "save some of the planet for future regulations." I mean of course "future generations"
2
I believe that environmental groups will sue the administration in order to stop this.
We need the sage grouse more than we need more fossil fuels.
20
@Bevan Davies Here are some effective Grouse litigators. Send them a few bucks.
Western Watersheds Project
Advocates for the West
Western Environmental Law Center
Center for Biological Diversity
Trust for Public Lands
Earthjustice
2
@Bevan Davies
We need the sage grouse more than we need Trump. Someone has to stop him from destroying our planet.
2
This isn't about grouse per se. They are using these birds as a high visibility way to attack the general principle of setting aside critical habitat from resource exploitation. The drill baby, drill gang figures that a "chickenlike" bird won't evoke much anger from the public. They neither understand nor value the broader principle that threatened and endangered species like the sage grouse are sentinels of threats presented by habitat destruction and environmental degradation. The same factors that place these animal (or plant) species in danger also threaten human well-being. It is a mistake to focus exclusively on these species, without also discussing the broader threats to them and us.
65
Trump takes away our future. Let's take away his. Mr. Mueller, please hurry up and lock away his corrupt, lying, looting children. But do it after you take him down, because this behavior is unpardonable.
109
Last month The Times missed the ironic juxtaposition of pushing avian cuisinarts in situ—euphemistically called wind farms—and bemoaning the greater sage grouse's looming extinction.
According to an Audubon alert, "wind turbines kill an estimated 140,000 to 328,000 birds each year in North America, making it the most threatening form of green energy."
A bit hyperbolic, perhaps, but it is undeniable that these cutting-edge contraptions have given "gone with the wind" new meaning.
No wonder wind farms are forbidden in the line of sight of the Kennedy compound. Last year, the Kennedys killed the Cape Wind project, the first U.S. offshore wind farm. But it was self-defense—the 130 whirling dervishes would have killed the view from the Kennedy clan's estate.
7
@Marian Non-sequitur comparison. House cats kill in the range of 3.5 billion birds a year. You can picture the difference between a couple of hundred thousand and a couple of billion, right? The Sage Grouse is a "keystone" species, preserving the necessary range for the grouse preserves range for many other species, flora and fauna. Absolutely no need for the fossil fuels to be harvested from our wild lands, very difficult to replace/restore them once they are compromised. Of course Trump doesn't know a critical habitat from an annoying habit, and doesn't care.
23
@John Griswold
Would like to know your source for "in the range" of 3.5 billion birds a year killed by "house cats." Who investigated stomach contents of the cats? Who counted the birds? I realize you are making a final point that I agree with, and that it is not really a part of your larger message, but I am honestly curious on how this statistic was collected. Something more than "everyone is saying." Thanks.
@Searcher I just googled "house cat bird deaths". There's lots there. As far as bird deaths, we know that city lights, tall buildings particularly with expanses of glass, massive habitat reduction through wall to wall mono-culture agriculture, and of course the Armageddon of insects through agricultural spraying all take huge tolls on bird populations. Then there are the food deserts we create with our non native yards, riparian zone development...
2
This is par for the course for Trump as why would he care about the Sage Grouse when his position on global warming puts the whole human race on the endangered species list.
244
@VMG Truthfully if American voters were given a choice between sage grouse and oil there's no doubt in my mind that an overwhelming majority would happily and blissfully choose oil. Look at the cars we drive, the houses we live in, how we live our lives. This doesn't mean the extinction of the species. They probably will do quite well on 1.8 million acres.
4
@Bill Brown
Maybe the sage grouse will be ok in only 1 million acres but how will the rest of us be with oil and gas drilling all over the beautiful places we now go for recreation.
5
@VMG-Worth noting that millions of acres of U.S. land and water systems have been polluted by oil, gas, fracking, and toxic chemical spills since 2000. How can we hope to recover from this--when more public lands are put at risk?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_spills
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-22/almost-10-000-tons-of-chemicals-spill-annually-into-u-dot-s-dot-waters
3
One of the biggest threats to the Sage Grouse is ranching - which also takes place on these 11-million-plus acres.
Current oil prices mea no one has an incentive to do any drilling on this land - our land by the way. But if there comes a time when they do want to drill - they are going to run into a ton of very angry cattle ranchers.
And the cattle ranchers might just have a better incentive to come to the aid of the sage grouse than to side with the drillers.
Since Trump is wrong virtually ever time - it will be interesting to see who forces him into a retreat first - cows or birds.
15
@Wilson1ny Welfare ranchers at that. Rangeland subsidies to these cowpokes runs in the hundreds of million$ every year.
1
@Wilson1ny
Please explain the reason why ranching threatens the Sage Grouse, since the birds lived with bison/antelope/deer, ulall ruminits.
Also why would ranchers oppose leasing the mineral/drilling rights to their land. Of course if its federal land, its clear the ranchers would not get paid and would oppose.
@John Goudge
The Reason: Cattle do not use the land the same way as wild ungulates unless they are managed by the ranchers to propogate environmental health. But that is too much work( time is money) for the majority of them so the land suffers from overgrazing, streambank degradation, habitat fragmentation, spreading of noxious invasive plants among other things. All of which is detrimental to sage grouse.
1
‘The Trump administration on Thursday published documents detailing its plan to roll back Obama-era protections for the vast habitat of the greater sage grouse’
Why doesn’t Trump just set the prairie on fire and throw two climate killing stones at the same time.
At some point, crimes against the environment need to be codified and enforced with mandatory minimums in low lying swamps with a single dirt access road.
24
Trump is the environment's wrecking ball!
21
I feel bad for all the Manhattanites who have to live with guilt that their presence on that island has resulted in the eradication of almost all native species. Building skyscrapers, paving over the dirt, and even digging into the earth for subway tunnels and utility lines has destroyed almost all the natural habitat on a 14,000 acre island. The people of Manhattan are collectively guilty of the rape and pillage of this once beautiful natural wonder. Manhattan must be teeming with conservatives, since liberals would never do such a thing. I wonder how they can live with themselves.
9
@Joe
If you were to spread the enormous population across the rest of the US, the negative environmental consequences would be absolutely enormous. Yes, the biota of most of Manhattan has been irrevocably altered and degraded (despite pockets of impressive diversity), but there are environmental advantages and efficiencies to urban life that cannot be matched in suburban or rural landscapes.
8
Dayton isnt exactly virgin prairie...
4
If you ever venture out of Dayton, I’d be happy to take you birding in New York City. We’d get your life list up to 200 in less than one week.
1
This idiotic decision is just like the one open ANWR: Pure unadulterated greed at work, and the most ignorant and idiotic people on the planet making the decisions.
Trumpers, this move towards Total Environmental Destruction is all on you. You voted for it. You own it. Shame on you all for your ignorance and stupidity.
32
Destroying a natural habitat for the purpose of furthering the destruction of our entire planet. This will be the legacy of Donald J. Trump. As he said about the debt problem, he will be long gone when the worst effects of these policies are felt, and one can only hope that it will be deep inside Dante's ninth circle.
64
So 1.8 million acres=2812.5 square miles, more than enough room for the sage grouse.
4
@jaco So you are a graduate degreed wild life biologist then with published papers on Greater Sage Grouse behavior and ecology? Or are you a graduate degreed biologist or ecologist that has done an extensive review on the ecology of the Greater Sage Grouse? Well we all know the answers to those questions and if you don't hold those degrees then you are not sufficiently educated to have an opinion on the subject.
12
@jaco it’s about the destruction of the planet. add it to the list.
2
@Marc Hutton
Are you? If not, both your opinions should be weighted against the evidence;.
Donald Trump IS the grim reaper. He is a man who will kill for money every time, from complicity with MBS regarding a journalist's death & dismemberment to seismic blasting of marine life in the Atlantic to species nearing extinction such as this grassland bird. American grasslands have already been so degraded, so the sage grouse habitat has been decimated, along with many species that depend on grassland. And to add more potent and personal venom to his policies, the oil he seeks will kill us all. This decision is deeply, deeply immoral. I also just read a father from Guatemala was denied a visa to attend his murdered 13 year old daughter's funeral in NC. Does anyone doubt that the US has become a dark and deadly player on the world stage? And it only took 2 years.
22
@Deborah I agree but it seems that enough of the voters in the right places wanted a change and I suppose these actions are supported by them and by their representatives in congress.
3
If Trump does not care about thousands of immigrant children being separated from their parents and the damage that does or about that under his watch we are the only country to pull out of the Paris Accord and eschew climate change in its entirety as an international issue, can we really expect him to care about the sage grouse? Not likely. He's got to keep feeding the giant maw of the oil industry, which redounds to his personal benefit.
15
It's amazing to me at this point what they are emboldened to do..the reality is they have 40% of the vote plus the money and they do not give one thought to the 60% of the rest of us, who care about these things! Look at the power grabs in the States they lost! Democracy does not matter to them, just the money thanks to "Citizen's United"
19
He is the villain in all the super hero movies we’ve ever seen. He doesn’t believe he needs air to breathe or clean water, or a healthy planet at all. He and his billionaire friends can afford healthcare. Evidently he doesn’t care about his kids, grandchildren. Or future generations to come. I’m sure all the states you are selling to your friends now appreciate backing you. Dirty air, dirty water, there goes tourism. Who wants to go to a polluted country , not so pretty. Might have to close down some Trump properties. Only upside.
5
While it may not be evident to these fools now, these “rollbacks” will start affecting the country’s food supply chain in the very near future.
8
I’m in favor of rollback of protections for you know who.
17
National Geographic has already added this to the running list they keep:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/
Democrats must keep track of these assaults on our environment, and REMIND voters in 2020. Many Americans care deeply enough about the environment to influence their votes.
10
I doubt there are any environmental shows on FOX.
The sage grouse is only one animal in a unique ecosystem that will be destroyed if this plan goes through.
There was a Nature special about the sage grouse a few years back. Too bad Trump doesn't watch PBS.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sagebrush-sea-full-episode/12341/
10
Sorry, the link I provided isn't allowing streaming of the episode about sage grouse. :-(
1
@L Unless you have a PBS Passport membership. If you lack that, you are missing out on a LOT of terrific programing!
1
Jackson Goldie,
I'm a PBS member, but they used to have free streaming for everyone.
It seems that now you can stream current shows without being a member but not older episodes.
1
The sage grouse is an iconic bird of the old American west. Settlers in the plains relied on it for food. One child who grew up on the Dakotas remembered, "The grouse (prairie chicken) were plentiful and quite tame. In summer Mother would grab a few stones and when one would come close enough, she would aim the stone at its head. If she was lucky (which she said she was several times), we would have fresh meat for dinner." It would be a shame to trade millions of acres of prairie and sage grouse for oil rigs.
9
It is again most fortunate that we have dedicated lawyers who fight to save the environment from the depredations of Trump and that we have in place the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Those lawyers, using the APA, will require the Administration to justify changing the rules with the same rigor that was necessary to implement them in the first place; call it a form of reverse engineering. If the recent past is any guide, Trump will not be able to justify the prospective new rules.
17
@PeterLaw Here are some to whom I donate monthly:
Western Watersheds Project
Advocates for the West
Western Environmental Law Center
Center for Biological Diversity
Trust for Public Lands
Earthjustice
I am not a Trump supporter. Having said that, just how much land does the sage grouse require to avert endangerment? 1.8 million acres are still to be set aside. Is that enough? I don't know. But I don't see anyone here asking that question.
3
@jbm
Science has been answering that question for decades. As development encroaches the population plummets. A fairly straightforward data set. The problem is that these birds are extraordinarily particular about their breeding environment. Development of any kind imperils the ability to travel between those tiny but critical habitats. Roads are fatal especially in breeding season. Even wire fences have severe impacts.
12
@Jackson Goldie
I am aware of the dangers that humans pose for wildlife. And I am completely in favor of providing habitat for native species. My point was that most of the comments here are about Trump and not the central issue, as i see if, of how much protected habitat is necessary to adequately protect the sage grouse. And I repeat, I am NOT a Trump supporter.
1
@jbm
To put my post another way, the amount of information and data on Grouse declines is vast, and readily available. The answers to your specific questions are easily found. Happy searching!
1
What a beautiful creature. I shall miss the Sage Grouse.
4
Another perfect example of our unending need for fossil fuel at the cost of everything else including the future of not just other species but our own. The almighty dollar means more than to those in power than the balance of our ecosystem. One habitat is lost and then the sage grouse diminishes in numbers it may be impossible to restore do to other factors like climate.
9
Another perfect example of why he will never be thought of or remembered as a great or even a good president. Destroying our nation's wild heritage in the name of greed and profit will never go down in the history books as a heroic or commendable act. He will be remembered for his coldhearted and thoughtless destruction of the environment and his complete lack of regard for our natural heritage, which belongs to the people and future generations, not to him. His only concern is profit, for himself and his donors and backers.
33
Of course he has. E has no sensibility about anything but slash/burn/exploit/monetize. Sage Grouse are beautiful. Not expendable because of greed. Humans don’t deserve this bright blue planet.
7
Obama had 8 years to pass this through the Senate as a Federal law assuring permanent sage grouse protections.
@rudolf:
...and your party refused to work with him on anything.
The disconnectedness to reality is disturbing.
18
@rudolf Riiiiight! the "Party of NO" was very supportive of President Obama's many initiatives.
11
@rudolf
wow! Blame Obama for Trump's behavior. Classic.
In addition, Obama was repeatedly and routinely stonewalled by Trump's party, the GOP. I guess that was his own fault, too.
11
Keep in mind that inside the Tax Bill passed by a Republican led House and Senate, and opposed on a party line vote by Democrats, was to remove incentives to move away from oil and gas and into sustainable options for the future, like tax incentives for purchases of electric cars and solar to heat, instead of gas and oil. Trump supports coal and oil, all the things that are bad for the planet, and now he, and all the foxes the are guarding the henhouses of our environment, Federally protected lands, oceans and lakes, he is pushing forward the agenda the polluters - who will now destroy our beautiful lands forever. We must fight this, until we can get Democrats into office, who can prevent this from happening.
12
Why are they drilling for oil everywhere? Is there an oil crisis?
22
@Siddy Hall The saving grace to all this is that the price of oil is so low that it's likely that, even with a rollback of Grouse protections, it does not make economic sense for the oil companies to even think about drilling new wells. And it's likely to be tied up in the courts courts for the foreseeable future (like many of Trump's executive orders and plans).
10
@Siddy Hall
Not at present. And gasoline was cheaper under Obama. But this current administration is soaked in oil and profits from it are far more important than any plant or animal survival.
2
The price of oil is falling. The only crisis is that those in charge are ignorant, craven, greedy, stupid, enemies of science and facts and have no conscience.
4
Our descendants will curse us. We are ruining the planet and making war on every other species on the planet. I have had the rare privilege of seeing these amazing creatures in thei natural habitat. This habitat is fragile and beautiful. Once degraded, it takes decades to recover. The agreement to protect sage grouse habitat was negotiated over a long period of time. Trump has no appreciation for anything but money. On top of the shameful environmental legacy this will create, the tax payer is ripped off because these leases are laughingly low. A terrible day for anyone who loves our natiral world.
25
Pretty likely that the most "natural" environment Trump has ever spent any time in has been at one of his golf courses...
11
Tie it up in court...
... the administration could not have come to this decision using best available science, thus they are breaking the law.
10
@Todd Eastman Exactly the work these organizations do. And almost always win. That costs money. Help out, will ya?
These organizations have long been in the fight. Send them a few bucks. All are .org
Western Watersheds Project
Advocates for the West
Western Environmental Law Center
Center for Biological Diversity
Trust for Public Lands
Earthjustice
7
I've lived in the beautiful State of Wyoming for over 50 years, and have never seen such an assault on every landscape in this State. I took the miserably depressing step today of writing all three of my representatives, who are willing accomplices to the rape of the environment- climate change deniers through and through. 2020 can't come soon enough.
50
Some people sneer at creating protections or stopping development for animals like the sage grouse. The smaller (and less cute) the animal, the less worthy it is of consideration. (You're out of luck if you're an endangered beetle living on prime undeveloped real estate.) I've found that those people are often the same individuals who feel strongly about the "sanctity of all life" in the abortion debate.
Much damage has been done by "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." If you truly believe in the sanctity of all life (and that all life is connected), who and what counts and who doesn't? Does money make that determination? When do we stop "subduing" the earth?
15
And Trump continues on his path of destruction.
Why do we need to do this? What is the purpose? Judging from oil and gasoline prices, there's no shortage of the stuff. And meanwhile, the use of fossil fuels is a major cause of climate change, which increasingly is an existential threat.
Do Trump and his enablers not understand this, or do they simply not care??
16
@Tom H. I would upvote this 1000 times if I could.
4
Like humans threatened with extinction from climate change, time for the Sage Grouse to tighten its belt and make some sacrifices. That seems only fair to me. Someone please give that poor bird a belt.
1
The Failure-in-Chief hastens our doom at the hands of climate change
9
Just when the headlines blare, "Greenhouse gas emissions are accelerating like a 'speeding freight train,'" and "Saudi Arabia is poised to press OPEC for a million-barrel cut in oil production" due to a glut that's lowered the price, the "stable genius" in The White House announces plans to open up oil drilling in 9 million acres. Talk about "killing two birds with one stone," this may put us on the endangered species list along with the sage grouse.
6
Soon there will be nothing left in the world for Trump to destroy.
6
I guess he's run out of humans to pick on.
6
With "drill, baby, drill" as an energy policy...what could go wrong?
3
Go ahead and continue to destroy the planet, Trump. You are ruining the planet with antiquated dependence on oil, with no regard for anyone but yourself.
2
Is #45 going to leave office one of the richest ex POTUSA?
Remember 2020 is only 2 years away.
3
The only thing Donald Trump cares about is money.
He's selling the environment to the highest bidder. What an ignorant, selfish old man.
11
Blame Mitch McConnell, he runs the show? He has the Senate "in his pocket"!
4
Heartbreaking and evil. Yes, Trump and his minions are evil.
11
Pardon me but I do not understand why Trump wants to open up Grouse habitat for oil exploration and drilling when there is more oil right now on the world marked than we use. The same holds true for him announcing that he plans to open up the Alaska Wild Refuge for oil exploration and drilling. He seems to be hell-bent on destroying this planet, our ecosystem and the environment for money, his money grabbing, wealthy friends and the oil and gas industry. What a greedy and selfish bunch of jerks. When will somebody stand up and defend our environment? It is unfortunate that the Audubon Society, Wildlife Conservation Organisations and the Sierra Club can not attract enough donations to fend off Trump's destructive efforts. It seems that many of Trump's greedy and very wealthy friends have NO intention of saving our environment and this planet for future generations and, never mind, their own children and grandchildren.
7
@GECAUS We are not powerless. Just complacent. These organizations have long been in the fight. Send them a few bucks. All are .org
Western Watersheds Project
Advocates for the West
Western Environmental Law Center
Center for Biological Diversity
Trust for Public Lands
Earthjustice
6
@Jackson Goldie
Thank you for your repIy. Thought I let you know that I do support and make donations to some of these organizations however, I am retired and not wealthy and give what I can with my limited income.
3
Why protest. Republicans approved dumping slag in rivers. They opened multiple generations of children to birth defects with continued methane release. They are willing to trade the long term ability to survive for applause from Fox and Friends. Ray
16
January 3 can’t come soon enough!!!
6
The only reason trump does anything is to take revenge on those 180 million Americans who understandably despise him.
21
I would only consider it news, if the Trumpolini mob ever came down on the proper side of an issue.
7
What would the French do?
Nah..too much effort.
1
@Mr. Louche
Right. Nothing going on in France these past few days. Oh, wait...
Trump is the privileged bully-boy who when he doesn't get his way, destroys the playing field before he's thrown off the team. This man must be stopped.
6
This latest action is truly corrupt and sick. The Trump Swamp administration will ruin the planet until every drop of oil and/or gas and/or coal is extracted. Picture this: those drilling machines working hard long after all the people (and plants) have stopped breathing and the oceans are dying.
There is nothing they won't pursue for money.
9
"Our planet has too many species of life. Let's help Donald Trump extinguish more of them before he is indicted,' said Trump's personal enabler, Lindsey Graham.
4
I guess we know what the Xmas main course at Mar-a-go-go you is going to be.
4
@dave fucio Small boned birds can be injuurious to your throat...
1
@herrick9. Hope springs eternal
....
Once again, this administration disgusts me. Mueller must start dropping bombs. Trump is out of control. Impeachment MUST happen. Sickening all the rollbacks of environmental protections that are happening.
7
Can't wait until Trump and his family are extinct.
11
Donald Trump took a solemn sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend whatever he is hiding from the American people in his personal and family income tax returns and business records.
No Sage Grouse life nor habitat matters on any Trump Organization crime barbarian family property.
Maybe those two big game safari sons of a Trump aka Don, Jr. and Eric want to shoot a Sage Grouse. Or maybe Melania want to cook one for dinner.
6
I wonder how many sage grouse live on His Majesty's golf courses. Of course he would never lie about it or treat them in any harmful or subservient way.
'At the president’s New Jersey golf course, an undocumented immigrant has worked as a maid since 2013 and currently makes his bed'
3
Does #45 plan on being President for Life?
Who is going to stop this damage to the United States of America?
3
@lftash These organizations have long been in the fight. Send them a few bucks. All are .org
Western Watersheds Project
Advocates for the West
Western Environmental Law Center
Center for Biological Diversity
Trust for Public Lands
Earthjustice
7
Sorry if this is off topic but I just wanted to say how much I appreciate seeing climate related stories in my top news feed every day. It's the biggest story going these days but I'm sure it's hard to find ways to cover it every day that are fresh and interesting. I think it's important and I'm glad you guys are doing it, so thank you.
9
Cytoreductive surgery must be performed on the USA to remove Trump.
"Oil Rich". What the heck is that ??
Planet Earth is dying right before our eyes from Global Warming - which is caused by burning Oil and Coal. The very Planet that gives us all Life is being chocked to death. Now, the bozo in the White House wants to open up 10 million more acres of Public Land for Oil Drilling. Trump's greed and ignorance know no limits.
Exxon Mobile, Peabody Coal, wake up. You can't breathe Coal. You can't drink Oil. You can't eat money. Your immediate greed is killing all of us. Do you have grandchildren?
10
Trump's idea is simple, "I will make a lot of money and kill the planet at the same time".
If there was ever someone who only cared only about himself it's TRUMP.
3
This administration is depraved.
12
This compulsion to roll back all things Obama is truly pathological.
11
There’s an article out today on trump’s reaction to being told about the massive deficits and debts he was running up.
“What do I care?” quoth the President. “i’ll be gone by then.”
Exactly. The great crooks always rely in having eased it way, way on down the road before the suckers wake up. And it’s always worked for this fat greedhead: how many broke casinos? How many bankruptcies? How many failed deals?
And Republicans have cheered him on: hey, we’re getting bigots in as judges! Zinke just give my brother a new oil lease! Man, gotta love the two bil Sheldon Adelson just got handed! Look at the campaign check he gimme! Anyway, tax cuts raise revenue!
Problem is, the planetary environment doesn’t just go poof like that. It has a nasty habit of hanging around. And you can only hide Nature under so many rugs for so long. Lie as you like about “putting birds before people,” how birds can “get by on less land,” how lib’ruls all drive SUVs and fly jets, how that whole global warming thingie’s just a commie hoax...eppur si muove, kids, eppur si muove.
You yank all the little wires and bits out, things break down. Pay me now, or pay me later. Penny wise and lound foolish. Nature bats last.
So my question is, you figure you’ll just have eased it on down the road before the bill shows up? Or you just a fat greedhead too, who figures hey, stick the kids with the bills?
5
@Robert
Could you please provide a reference to the article? In my mind for that comment alone he should be impeached!
With gas prices and imports at low levels, this seems completely unnecessary, not to mention short-sighted in terms of generating higher profits for Mr. Trump's most ardent fan base. What's the rush, other than to set the stage for drilling when prices eventually go up? Oh yes. 2020 is not that far off.
2
Why is there a human compulsion to destroy everything we see?
This is a disgraceful, underhanded ploy to open up 9 million acres of public land for oil drilling. And we don't need the oil, so what can be the motivation other than to keep cheap oil, and big profits, flowing?
There is no understanding of the importance of stopping the further ruination of our planet, even though it is a well known saying, "Don't s**t where you eat."
23
Relatives and friends in the US of A. You either get rid of Trump, now or as soon as possible...... or leave him there if you want to get rid of your land, your natural environment and irreplacable wild life. Trump's plans are un-natural. He has no background and achievement which fits him for the high office which he now degrades.
29
To: Mr. Trump and his senseless supporters: speed up your slash, burn, destroy and eradicate policies so that we will go extinct without suffering too long and too much.
18
This is so discouraging. Is there ANYTHING this human pariah and his thuggish cronies won’t wreck?
25
@Roberta
Their own bank accounts...just sayin...
4
Reprehensible. The man is a lunatic and the US political system is too corrupt to stop him.
34
All the environmental destruction being wreaked by DJT and his crew of opportunists brings to mind the lyrics of Big Yellow Taxi, by Joni Mitchell, especially,
“...Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot”
Songwriters: Joni Mitchell
Big Yellow Taxi lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Crazy Crow Music / Siquomb Music Publishing
10
@Sharon Edelson Eubanks
Sharon, I've been reminding people of that song since DJT gave away chunks of our precious national parks. Prescient.
3
What is the matter with this ghastly man?
17
@Carter Nicholas
We're limited to 1,500 characters...
2
He/they are just hell-bent on destruction of everything good.
11
Trump is the most miserable human being on the face of the earth. He hates anything and everything that is enjoyed by other people. He hates anything that Obama put into law or practice. His vendetta against Obama is stunning. He doesn't even think about the ramifications of building a stupid wall on the southern border or putting oil rigs along the Atlantic coast or destroying habitat for animals. The bottom line? He has no soul. He is devoid of feeling or caring about anything other than himself. In my lifetime, I've never seen anything like it. His malignant narcissism will destroy this country.
24
Once upon a time, being a conservative also meant noble concepts like conservation and stewardship. What happened?
36
We need a 21st century economy and not a 19th century economy.
16
This policy makes absolutely no sense. According to an article on Bloomberg the US is now a net oil EXPORTER We don't need new sources of oil. OPEC is trying to limit production in order to increase prices. As with every other Trump policy, this once goes against all available evidence and common sense.
20
When assessing drilling rights, it only seems fair to account for regional interests. After all, the fate of the sage grouse and the effects of drilling in its habitat are mostly regional issues.
Almost all onshore drilling occurs in the West. As for offshore drilling, it is exempted only in the Atlantic. So the West produces almost all our oil, and should rightfully have more of the say in drilling restrictions. That is not to say that the feds and Easterners should be left out -- environmental matters affect everybody, though not the same.
Farming, commercial building, and financial markets are not Western dominated industries though Westerners have an interest in them. And regulations seemingly should be weighted in favor of the Feds and those back east, whose interest is far greater.
If others stopped dictating to us Westerners, they may be surprised. Two-thirds of us want to protect the sage grouse. What, you thought we preferred more oil wells to dancing birds?
11
@michjas it's wonderful that two-thirds of Westerners want to protect the sage grouse. But if so, why did they vote for Trump?
6
Killing the planet isn’t a regional issue, any more than your neighbor building a cracking plant in his garage is his own bidness.
3
It's not just the poor sage grouse that will suffer due to this unprecedented opening of public lands to commercial interests. Humans will suffer too, as climate change becomes worse.
Capitalism is fine, but it must be tempered with commonsense and consideration for all life.
22
Why don't we just let the energy industry run the whole country, just give the whole thing to the brothers.
6
Who can possibly think that this kind of exploitation of the Earth is sustainable? Even at current levels of drilling, mining, and burning fossil fuels the Earth, our Garden of Eden, will be uninhabitable within 200 years. Some estimates have it at much less than that.
Immediate gratification. Profits now! No thought of our young children, and certainly not the lives of our grandchildren. Yet either understanding this or simply being too stupid to understand it, our leaders brazenly forge forward.
Promises of jobs based upon exploitation of the Earth rather than jobs based on saving it. More jobs in solar panel installations than coal production, yet Trump and minions foster coal and ridicule development of solar and wind.
I think the Garden of Eden from which mankind is going to be expelled by its own free will and greed is the Earth as a whole. Forget the myth of Eve and the apple and the Garden. This is now and humans are physically throwing ourselves out of the Earthly Paradise, Garden, by our own greedy choices.
24
a few birds need 11 million acres? I think we won’t miss this one.
2
@Pilot .. Right...NOT
1
@Pilot A typical "trumpian" comment. It is on the order of his remark reported today that he couldn't care less about the effect of crippling national debt. Why? Because he won't be around to face the ramifications of the debt. Beyond SAD.
4
@Pilot As you myopically see it, it's just birds. Are you another fossil fuel fan who supports a man who is giving away our environment to the highest bidder, the fuel industry, while they line his greedy pockets. Pitiful!
6
America is no longer a democracy. Our elected politicians do not listen to the people, and proceed to destroy our country for money, power and social dominance. The rollback is payback and revenge by the powers that be. It is disgusting
I grew up very proud to be an American. This despicable act,
along with the others trump and congress have enabled, has brought shame to America. I mourn for my country and am embarrassed to be an American.
32
@RM I grew up at a time when America was massacring children with napalm in SE Asia, so I have never had any respect for this awful land.
4
@VoiceofAmerica . I do understand.
3
Every time I read an article like this, a part of my soul dies. Another animal extinct because of human greed.
25
Doubtful they teach business majors in universities that anything such as a sage grouse has any economic value. In today's paradigm if you don't contribute to GDP you are essentially worthless, like the poor sage grouse. However, in the end, after a tipping point of species are extinct and humans are next in line it will be too late. GDP might be great, but we'll be dead. Bummer.
9
@Gene Cass
did you mean "if you don't contribute to GDP" or the "GOP"
seems the current GOP has lost any vision of the future that even Nixon had with cleaner air/water and fewer nukes - did we ever think it would get worse than him??
1
I don't think Trump's connection to the oil and gas industry, and his venality, corruption and selfish family interests, explains what he's doing with the environment. I think it's something much deeper.
We already know, on a daily basis, that the man can't stand people who disagree with him, and tries to do what he can to harm them. But his rabid deregulation of environmental protections of our most sensitive areas, to my mind, suggests he might be deriving pleasure from knowingly inflicting harm on animals and their habitats, as well as our air and water. He seems to want to crush Nature--maybe because he lives so artificially, and has surrounded himself with nothing but tinsel, glitz and glamor. Hating Nature would make sense for such a man, for unlike the sycophants who surround him, it's the one force that will never bow down to him.
I get it that pundits and columnists can't say this, but Trump really is an evil man.
57
@Emile . Let's not forget that golf courses are a major contributor to pesticide pollution.
9
@Emile Insightful comments! He has help though. Trump's empty and cowardly bellicosity commands huge amounts of attention. While his aim is mostly to harm and destroy as you point out, his idiotic comments about, for example, wild fire, demonstrate he has devoted zero effort to understand our natural resources. He has drawn the worst of the worst into his kleptocracy. With the focus designed to center on Trump, Republican leadership assures the kleptocrats have free rein to go beyond even the most outrageous requests of industry to generate personal profit and generations of environmental destruction.
10
An “absorbing “ Christmas Carol :
A tale about preliminary raising “bird taxes “ ,
an ornithological field study ... .
1
How depressingly ironic that this Times article about expanding oil production appears right next to one about carbon emissions accelerating like a freight train.
I really wonder whether the Schwarzenegger Terminator 2 character had it right about our species: "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves."
17
There was a serious recommendation to set aside nearly 11 million acres for a chickenlike bird? That’s the real outrage.
2
@Chris - No. The outrage is climate change deniers.
2
11 million acres is half of one percent of the land area of the US. The land was not set aside for these birds. It was set aside as protected wilderness land for the benefit of all wildlife and for the benefit of tourists who appreciate the opportunity to enjoy unspoiled nature. Maybe you should try it some day.
3
@Chris It isn’t set aside solely for one bird - it is set aside as habitat for many species. The Sage Grouse is an index species for the health of sagebrush steppe environments. Nature is a system, not a series of data points. The different parts work together to support the whole. I live in the sagebrush, which is a vibrant and beautiful habitat, although too subtle for a troglodyte like Trump to appreciate. You are clearly part of the problem vs the solution with your callous disregard for a the Sage Grouse - although they are “chicken-sized” they are not a chicken.
5
Has there ever been a President with so much contempt for the natural environment, and so little knowledge or appreciation of looking after the US or the planet?
11
We humans need all that came before us, vast forests or jungles, one example, to exist. Kill off everything and we die without even using nuclear weapons. We evolved and continue to live and breathe according to all of life that came before us. That includes gorillas, microbes, and the sage grouse. Yes, we can mess with it all a little bit, a very, very little bit, and we have, but we should not over do it. The scales are too finely balanced to continue on as we have and now we do have global warming nipping at our necks. Are we going to let an uneducated, ignorant president continue on? He must be impeached.
6
How much more can anyone wish to harm our nation and our world for a few more bucks? How much sicker can a so-called administration get?
5
Trump is an urban animal fond of penthouses, golden toilet fixtures and Manhattan real estate. He cares nothing for sage grouse, other endangered species such as polar bears, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, our National Parks and any other wonders of nature in this land of ours. I'll bet he has never visited the Rocky Mountains, Alaska, the open prairies or seen grouse drumming in a Wyoming lek. He cares nothing for things that do not enrich him nor affect him directly. Thus he is not a steward of our national treasures but a destroyer.
19
@Christy
We are witnessing " Trump Drumming. "
I'm not sure how many more articles like this I can read. Please, Mr. Trump, look into the eyes of your grandchildren and promise them that they will have a planet to grow up on.
4
oil. $poil$.
how about ... you
- park your cars,
- ground your cheap flight planes,
- switch off your air condition, freezers and refrigerators
for starters?
if YOU don't demand, THEY won't supply.
and finally provide ALTERNATIVE sustainable means ...
if there's still time enough, before the globe overheats.
2
See, that's the problem. Who will give up the things that make our lives better, if most others won't at the same time? The sad thing I have come to understand is that we as a species COULD protect the planet...but we won't. We will be forced to migrate to another planet.
As long as money is in politics, winners will favor money. #sad
2
Washington's thoughts? "We have GREAT zoos! PLENTY of wildlife to see there! Who has even seen a sage grouse!??" (Excessive use of caps and exclamation points are PURELY incidental!!!)
2
Trump's utter lack of concern for living beings makes me wonder if he was the type of child who enjoys harming animals - or did he take on this trait as an adult?
6
Over half of all eligible voters (some 100 million) didn't even bother to vote in 2016. And trump is the consequence. Voter apathy is tragic and dangerous.
17
It is time to recognize that we no longer have a Department of Interior responsible for the stewardship of our nation's resources. Instead, we have a department of resource exploitation for the benefit of industry.
Mr. Zinke is the worst Secretary of Interior ever in the history of our country. He should be deeply ashamed of himself.
17
@Chris: James Watt, Secretary of Interior under Saint Ronnie, was from the same mold as Zinke. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, Watt held the record for protecting the fewest species under the Endangered Species Act in U.S. history, for more than two decades. In 2008, Time magazine named Watt among the 10 worst cabinet members in modern history.
1
@Louise: Certainly Zinke is going to be giving James Watt a run for the title before he is finally thrown out of office or resigns in disgrace.
It is indeed a dubious distinction for Mr. Zinke to be compared to James Watt as being the worst secretary of Interior ever. Zinke will be able to look back on his tenure and see the destruction of precious national monuments and the ancient artifacts they contained, the ruin of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the fouling of our coastlines with oil rigs, and the destruction of the sagebrush ecosystems of the west as his legacy.
If Trump would declare December the official Grouse Hunting month, maybe he could convince Dick Cheney to go hunting and maybe......
1
Trump and Zinke and all of the climate-change-denying “oil over flora and fauna” bunch are working hard to make every movie you’ve ever seen about a future climate dystopia e.g. “Bladerunner,” “ Silent Running,” “Elysium” etc. etc. become a reality for your grandchildren. It is appalling.
8
Yet another adverse action taken by the most regressive, inept, narrow-minded, greedy "leaders" in our modern history. All in the name of economic stability. Deplorables? YES. This nation is swinging uncontrollably between right and left, with a giant void remaining in the political middle, where sensibility and rationality exists.
2
Sage grouse are an indicator species for the health of western grasslands. So rolling back their protections will also affect many other species both animal and plant. It is imperative to recognize that that this proposed policy change will not just affect and imperil a “chicken like bird” but a vast percentage of America’s own Serengeti, the unique western ecosystem immortalized in American lore. To remove these protections would not only be a illogical move from a climate change prospective and an immoral act from an animal rights standpoint but it would also allow for the wanton destruction of our natural and cultural heritage.
27
...and with the dropping price of oil...who will want to invest in exploration? doesn't make business sense the way investing in renewable energy does.
now....the ENVIRONMENT! how much is fixing THAT DAMAGE going to cost?
I want to leave my grandkids the legacy of respect for the natural world.
10
Under Trump the EPA should be renamed the EDA: Environmental Destruction Agency. Drilling in the Arctic, rolling back restrictions on building more coal-fired power plants, reducing national monuments, weakening requirements to monitor methane gas, and now this. It makes me sick.
22
I remember the history of another Republican president who advocated conservation.
It is too bad the Republicans either don't know the name of this president, and if they do, fail to understand his actions.
9
@Dan
I've always admired Theodore Roosevelt. He was a man who saw the government as a tool that should be used to protect the people of the United States from being exploited by big business. Think about his legacy - he fought to use the law to break-up big businesses that were exploiting the people; he gave the government power to regulate businesses that were selling poison as health food; he set aside millions of acres of land so that it could be available for the people of the nation to escape the cities and be rejuvenated by the power and beauty of nature.
Roosevelt understood that the government was created by the people of the United States to make their lives better and to ensure that their rights were protected. It is pretty clearly spelled-out in the Preamble of the Constitution.
Sadly, in today's world, the leaders of the Republican party would label Theodore Roosevelt as a crazy communist. I hope that the people of our nation will see the light and replace Trump and his ilk with people much more in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt. Our nation faces dark days ahead if we continue to travel down this path.
5
I would vote for a Roosevelt. But where is he or she?
@SM. Your comment is on the mark.
What did Trump say about the looming deficit? "I don't care, I won't be here." Looks like that applies to everything.
32
This article lacks critical perspective.
9 million acres is roughly the entire area of Delaware, New Jersey, and Connecticut combined. It's equivalent to 10% of the giant state of Montana or 10% of the entire country of Germany, which is roughly the same size as Montana.
Think about how huge of an area that is to allocate to oil drilling in the context of both the recent, devastating reports on the effects of carbon emissions and today's report on how America is now a net oil exporter.
The story is about completely irresponsible land use on a massive scale. The sage grouse just happens to be caught in the middle of it.
19
@AGuyInBrooklyn
The sage grouse and a whole ecosystem of other wonderful species!
2
This is not just #45 and his evil minions, especially the likes of his Lackey Zinke. This is the powers that run the world— the ultra-rich people who run the oil and coal industries— continuing to do what they've always done. They run their operations aggressively, buy politicians to support them and give them tax credits at every turn, crush anybody who stands in their way, and spew a sea of misinformation about anything that might threaten them. They have been doing this since the dawn of the industrial revolution. And these people are all over the world, not just in the USA. They will keep doing it until the world dies or until people rise up to stop them out of desperation for their lives. The current administration is just more openly hateful to nature and more openly and aggressively thrilled by anyone who has money, because it is led by such a person as that. There is another way— a way to recover and heal the planet. But it means stopping the use of oil and coal. But all we ever hear is that the politicians worldwide do not have the will do do that. But it is the oil and coal people pulling the strings of the politician puppets that are making this happen. The sage grouse has no idea what it is up against. Nor the polar bears in the soon the be poisoned arctic national wildlife refuge. And us regular folks are in the same situation as the grouse and bears— our environment will be poisoned further and disappear and we will die. Unless somebody makes them stop.
20
Who is your "somebody?" Why aren't you doing it? if everyone would live their beliefs instead of instructing others what a wonderful world it could be.
I believe this administration revels in and actually enjoys the possibility of causing others harm. It is the only explanation that I can come up with.
24
This is fast becoming a world in which I fear the future.
15
As a tree-hugging, sage grouse-loving conservative, I'm a bit of an endangered species myself. This makes me sick. We're going to open another nine million acres to drilling when the article directly next to this one talks about greenhouse gas emissions accelerating like "a speeding freight train." Sorry for the religious reference, but when I consider our arrogance and hubris because of our position on the food chain, all I can think of is "For those who exalt themselves shall be humbled . . . ."
24
This has to stop. The only form of nature Trump experiences is a golf course lawn. We have to overcome our addictions to greed and oil.
5
Ha! Most of America has a lawn. And lawns are just a "fashion." We can't even curb our desire to see a certain thing out our windows (a green lawn) to save the planet. My point is that it's not just Trump. President Trump is one face of America, and a large segment of citizens admire him as he is kind of a force of nature, like it or not. We could just dig in and try to do better with what each of us believes is right instead of calling each other names.
Sage grouse is delicious! We should be raising and eating these birds instead of chicken! Is there any way to tie their wild habitat to the domestic poultry and cattle industries? We would then have Congressional support and could save these birds!
1
What does trump care, about endangered species, the climate and the national debt?
After all, as he put it, he won’t be around when all the piper has to paid. Obviously he thinks very little of his children and grandchildren’s heritage. The trump name will be vilified for generations.
With that attitude why doesn’t he just resign?
4
What a beautiful bird.
3
Hope the Green Party supporters are happy.
This is all happening because of how they voted.
7
Well it appears we’ve reached bottom. I guess we should just keep digging.
3
If you're a producer for CNN, MSNBC, or the major networks and you're reading this: please give this some coverage in your newscasts. For every hour spent eulogizing George H.W. Bush, there ought to at least be two minutes to spare so that the wider public can learn about Trump's intentions to ravage the environment for the sake of big business.
I know it's not a sexy or heartwarming topic, but the public - beyond NY Times readers - needs to know about what's going on.
18
You are looking at the temper tantrum of a dangerous, mentally ill child.
I actually predicted to a friend yesterday that Trump would pull some grandstand event today, because he couldn't STAND the attention being taken away from him, even for the funeral of a former honorable, competent, well-loved President. It must have kept him up all night try to figure out a way to get even with the world.
10
There is nothing simple here. The global population is still growing and demand for fossil fuels is increasing as poor nations strive towards decent standards of living. Historical U.S. (and European and others’) dependence on Middle Eastern oil has led to a raging tumult all over that region that has millions of Yemeni’s on the brink of starvation, Syrians in an endless civil war, rogue militants trying to found Caliphates, a medieval, ghoulish monarchy in Saudi Arabia, and on and on. The more the U.S. and others can wean themselves from Middle Eastern Oil Addiction by developing their own oil resources and accelerating development of renewable energy, the more we and others can disengage militarily from that region and perhaps even usher in an era of peace, and stem the tide of refugees. In the meantime, it is horrifying how we have systematically pillaged our American Wilderness over the past couple of centuries and this ongoing tragedy leaves us ever poorer of spirit and closer to ecological collapse. The Trump decision is just one more step in this unrelenting process driven by a burgeoning population demanding the comforts of the developed world. The jury is still out on whether renewable energy sources will come online fast enough and in enough quantity before we extinguish ourselves…to the 4 riders of death -war, disease, famine, and natural environmental disaster- we can now add a fifth; human made environmental disaster
3
@anwesend renewable sources won't come online if we don't develop them. The US could be building an economic sector around research, development and possibly production of renewable energy, but we don't. We continue to support coal and other fossil fuels. It is insanity.
4
@francine lamb In the U.S. and abroad there is a huge amount of government, university, and private sector R&D going on in renewables, on every front: wind, solar, fuel cells, batteries. geothermal, tides, etc. It's a long, hard road to replacing fossil fuels, and there is a lot of activity on that road.... hence the question of whether renewables will come online soon enough and in enough quantity to stave off global disaster
We discussed the importance of sagegrouse in my agricultural classes. Back then the bird was still on the endangered species list (it was taken off in 2015 for sustainable population numbers) and the main problem for the sagegrouse were the fires that would destroy the sagebrush habitat. The birds are helpful in the ecosystem to feed Raptors that are endangered. But it is narrow minded to believe that the area that has sage brush and oil doesn't have other purposes such as rangeland for ranchers and grazing land for deer. Both of which are used for human consumption. And grazing also helps reduce fires. There are alternatives for energy sources, but with a growing population being able to have enough food to feed people is also important. Please keep public lands public for everyone to enjoy and not privatized for profit.
5
Foolish, if it needs protection just breed it. Obama always over regulates, always.
1
stay out of the conversation. it's above your level of understanding.
3
Well, that certainly seems to be the policy endorsed by mouth-breathing Trumpists who like to crank out the kiddies.
2
When are we going to wake up and accept that unrestrained capitalism and the over consumption it leads to is an unsustainable economic model?
Its time for brilliant minds to think of another way we can improve human lives without destroying the planet and the rest of life on it.
As a conservative, I believe in conserving life on earth, not in the ability to purchase yet another useless piece of trash that will end up in the garbage pile in no time at all.
354
@Pat It's deeper than that, Pat. Is drilling for more oil and gas really going to improve human lives? Well, maybe for the drillers, short term.
Animals follow their instincts without concern for the future, because they don't have the intellectual capacity to consider the future and act on such consideration. That's true even for what would be better for them tomorrow, much less for their offspring a hundred years in the future. It's sad that humans have the intellectual capacity, yet still behave like animals.
Worse, there are rich people who know better, but are gambling that their families will be rich enough to live comfortably though everyone else has to suffer. Animals also don't have the capacity for that kind of evil.
21
@Pat
Capitalism is the best economic engine the planet has discovered. But capitalism has no soul or ethics in the pursuit of gain. That’s why folks since Adam Smith have known that governments have to set guardrails. Climate change is yet one more obstacle that’s now way overdue to be overcome with suitable regulations and adequate taxes to offset the environmental costs. And, given the willful behavior of the fossil fuel industry despite decades of warnings, we need to seriously consider punitive fines as well.
19
@Pat
Forget conserving life on earth. Insect populations are plummeting, we are on track for the warmest year on planet earth ever, they are finding plastics at the bottom of the ocean, (plastic bags at the bottom of the Marianas Trench), and we have at least 2 more years of deregulation to help it all along. That genie is out of the bottle.
Trump was right about one thing. I would like to see less winning. Mostly because it looks like losing once you get past the money.
7
Once again, a blatant disrespect for all life and what sustains it by this administration. Their perspective is very narrow and self serving in blatant disregard for our ecosystem and our planet in crisis. An outdated heirarchichal position that defies the need for an all inclusive paradigm of our world to help ensure all life survives and thrives.
182
@lolo All life is some bird that can easily exist on 1.8 million acres, or be bred to continue its existence.
@vulcanalex Your comment reflects a significant misunderstanding of the nature of biological complexities.
25
It’s worse than misunderstanding; it’s even worse than knowing nothing. The phrase you want is, “willed ignorance.”
Trump and Trumpists need willed ignorance desperately; something about their splodey heads ‘splodin in the presence of reality.
20
All of this will be undone in 2021.
7
@Brad
Oh, how I hope you're right!!
2
@Brad
Even if we got a change of the presidency, changing policy and undoing contracts is far harder than you may realize. Prevention is much more important than trying to undo things.
4
@Brad
I sincerely hope so.
Meanwhile back at the ranch in the US the EPA is being gutted, the CFPB is being dismantled, Dodd–Frank is being compromised, the deficit is going through the roof, huge chunks of public lands are being sold off, world free trade is being seriously assailed, the justice department is being revamped with a slew of GOP biased appointees, and all while the FBI is being disemboweled.
23
@John Townsend All except the deficit are good things, and the deficit is temporary. Some are actually not happening at all.
@John Townsend
Republican ideology at its finest. What's not to like?
2
Environmental debts don’t just evaporate, you know. And they carry one Godzilla of an interest rate.
3
I am going to permalink this article to every comment that says the Trump administration is still taking actions to mitigate climate change. That pulling out of the Paris Agreement was a tactical climate decision. That the regulations under President Obama were not the best way to fight the change.
Because, clearly, allowing for the drilling for more oil will aid our quest to fight climate change.
People need to wake up.
7
@htg Who thinks that this administration is making regulations to mitigate climate change? And what actions might they be in your opinion? Cap and trade? CO2 restrictions? What??? Drilling improves opportunity, that is what counts to this administration.
@htg Actually - many have woken u. I read 60% of the population in this country believe climate change has happened. I can only hope the Democrats and all those lawyers out there will do the right thing. Otherwise we are doommed.
1
@vulcanalex Opportunity to who? Exxon? It isn't you or me. And reading your other comments, I venture to guess that any dollar is a good dollar no matter the source.....just like 45's dollars.
1
Very often these days, I think the Trump administration looks at ANY program that might have done some good for an endangered species, an endangered climate/environment, national monument or our endangered social safety net/tax policy/democracy, etc. etc...then they ask themselves how can we undermine those programs to enrich their special interest pals and donors and still pretend to care about the "people."
22
@Chip Lovitt Steve Bannon has a lifelong goal to "deconstruct the administrative state". He continues to work his evil from outside of the WH.
More oil and gas production and use will increase global climate change, while creating other air and water pollution and destroying wildlife habitat. This is not for the common good; it is to increase the wealth of a few at the expense of the many and of the earth. How can we stop this?
27
@Sandy
Donate to organizations which have been in the fight for decades. I do, every month. All are .org
Western Watersheds Project
Advocates for the West
Western Environmental Law Office
Center for Biological Diversity
Trust for Public Lands
Earthjustice
1
We have to fight this. Now more than ever, we need to protect our environment and our wildlife, not do destructive things to endanger them further.
41
@Ron McCrary In this situation, the triad of 45, Zinke & Wheeler, the only way to stop this is to vote 2020.
1
This iconic bird already has seen a huge drop in population in Medicine Bow and southern Wyoming because of unfettered fracking. 40% of the population is in Wyoming. The species had started to recover after the protection was put in place. The male bird population has dropped 30% in the past two years. Fouled with the massive waste of water in arid lands, spewing of methane worse than vehicle emissions, we must fight this.
34
I’m not sure where I read this. With fracking, and discoveries of new oil and shale fields, along with the oil produced outside the US, we have access to more oil and oil-based fuels than we’ll likely ever need. We saw this reflected early last year when a barrel of crude dropped to under $30. Right now a barrel of crude is selling for around $50 to $55.
So why the rush for NEW sources, especially when it involves destroying natural habitats? Seems like big oil producers should be re-gearing for solar and wind-powered energy sources.
The problem is that these companies are led, for the most part, by a bunch of very old men who simply don’t know how to change, and don’t give a hoot for a future that won’t include them anyway. Hmmmm, that sounds like an apt description of the current GOP.
So it wouldn’t be unusual if this is another diversion move by Trump to take attention away from the Mueller probe(s), which seem to be closing like a noose around the Donald’s ample waist.
Spoiler alert Donald: It won’t work.
24
@HeyJoe Likely never need when? Nobody is drilling for resources that don't have a market.
I agree with you, there is, and for a very, very long time will be a demand for oil.
But with the market already glutted with oil, and OPEC today unable to agree on production decreases, at what price does NEW product come to market? Frackers break-even at a price of around $50 bbl. Because fracking is much easier (and less costly) to stop and start production, they simply won’t drill as long as oil prices remain low.
So this may actually be much ado about nothing. Trump can open all the public land he wants for drilling. But drillers simply won’t work an unprofitable field, whether it’s 1 acre or 11 million.
1
@vulcanalex You are wrong about that. Oil producers hold on or release their product to manipulate the market. There is not an existing market that every drop of oil flows into.
2
This fascination with oil and aversion towards renewables by Americans really mystifies me. This is the country that sent humans to the moon. This is the country that prides itself on being at the forefront of technology and innovation. However, when it comes to energy, we are perfectly content being backwards and regressive. Forget climate change for an instant. Even if you don't believe in it a whit, wouldn't you want the US to lead in this sector for decades (perhaps centuries) to come? It would be a huge geopolitical advantage: being truly energy independent, not having to depend on the likes of Saudi Arabia, having greater leverage over the likes of Iran and Russia.
21
I agree with you Santa. The problem is that as long as oil is cheap, it prevents renewable-energy companies from developing business plans that makes sense financially. Add to that America’s love with SUVs and trucks (and throw in cheap oil), and these companies can’t get the funding they need to launch.
I’m hoping that changes as the electric/autonomous car industry grows. GM, while much criticized for the recent plant closings and layoffs, is betting its future on electric/autonomous cars. And we’ll get some indication/validation of this strategy as early as 2019, when GM plans to aggressively launch autonomous vehicle services.
America certainly could (and should) lead in renewable energy. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t add up right now. I expect that will change sooner that we can imagine. And I hope this is true, before we destroy what natural beauty we still have.
1
@HeyJoe If they have good prospects they can easily get funding, see Tesla for a great example.
Because the pols and their buddies all profit heavily from the oil industry. They could care less about the environment
1
The democrats will have control of the house come January - they need to step up and fight this. There are many ways to inhibit many of the environment-related initiatives of the Trump administration from taking effect.
13
Funny thing is... modern horizontal drilling technology already makes it possible for sage grouse to exist in their current state (which admittedly isn’t that robust) alongside a lower impact extractive industry. It used to require multiple drilling pads in a certain area of acreage to produce what one modern drilling pad is capable of producing. Less drilling pads = less access roads = less use that cuts into sage grouse habitat. Rolling back these protections isn’t really necessary to the extractive industry’s ability to produce.
Same goes for coal. Rolling back stream protection in Appalachia isn’t going to bring jobs back when Powder River coal is cheap and the industry has become more automated.
This is what happens when critical thinking aren’t taught; hollow policy changes are viewed as victories despite being irrelevant to the base to whom they’re meant to appeal.
26
@Ben L Fabulously put. I couldn't agree more with you're phrasing of "this is what happens when critical thinking aren't taught"... the results of which seem to be more prevalent with each passing day all across the political spectrum.
3
@kate This is what happens when people are considered more important than some small bird.
@vulcanalex I'm not sure I follow your comment. I think people and birds are equally important and more often than not, the birds deserve the help and support far more than most people.
1
"We are a doomed race."
The most recommended post here.
Unbelievable lack of perspective. Actually, hard to believe!
11
@R. R. Feel very sorry for the Sage Grouse. Just contemplating a world without the bird leaves an emptiness in my gut. The horror of the impending slaughter!
@R. R.
Pray tell what my lack of perspective is?
@Danny
If you think we are a doomed race, you have no perspective.
When Americans stop buying > 70% of gas guzzling SUV's and trucks, you can criticize this.
15
SUVs are getting very efficient now, so that the best of them get about 28-30 mpg. That could be better, but it's not gas-guzzling. And some of them are now hybrid. Most engineers believe in climate change too.
@Patricia
Americans are voting with their $ against really efficient vehicles.
Maybe you do not want to see what is reality.
2
@Patricia
The best of them get about 28-30 mpg. Pathetic.
And it's not just the mpg, it's miles driven. We are a nation of adolescents who think they need to hit a drive through for a cup of coffee.
1
You would think the sage grouse with such a well developed thorax would automatically make The Donald's protected list.
6
Some more nationally-assisted suicide with your delicious breakfast coal, Trumpistan ?
The human species cannot survive without millions of other species that make up the plant and animal kingdom.
There's nothing wrong with killing yourself; that's your human right.
But killing millions of other humans and species with Grand Old Pollution is genocide and specicide.
Decent humans and sentient beings do not vote for Republicans and raping Mother Earth.
The Party of Death is no one's friend.
120
By taking steps that further endanger, if not doom, the sage grouse, Trump risks alienating people who would normally be his constituents namely hunters. He may encounter more resistance here than he expects. But this is yet another distraction from the main event, the Mueller enquiry, Trump is getting twitchy, keep up the heat.
18
Trump.Zinke and the Interior Department have to be thwarted before they commit our country to further degradation by fossil fuels.The latest Climate report indicates that by 2030 our economy and way of life will be severely affected by climate change.That is just 12 years away.All the fuel they can pump and sell to others will not pay for the destruction we will see to cities and infrastructure and health.We are close to a climate acopolypse and all they propose is hasten the days of reckoning.We and the grouse need protection from more oil exploration-now!
36
We have the natural gifts of sun and wind, but don't put them to proper use because fat cats in the fossil fuel industries all over the globe lack the imagination to develop new technologies - technologies that could save the planet, and us.
Poor sage grouse. He can't help himself. We could, but we won't even save ourselves.
84
The states that most of the Sage Grouse live in are Red states when it comes to elections. Fortunately part of them are moderating their political choices toward a more reasonable choice for protecting the public lands. The Sage Grouse is considered the canary in the coal mine for wildlife, when the grouse don't do well all the other wildlife also suffer, sometimes even more so.
28
I read that we are this largest crude oil producers on the planet. Who will benefit from oil drilling? Will the people in the area see major tax breaks or benefit in any way? We will as Americans benefit the crude oil they produce. I don't see the this as putting Americans first since they export the oil. I just don't understand!
4
Walling off 11 million acres to protect a little chicken bird that isn't even endangered is OUTRAGEOUS. Lot's of commenters here are screeching the "but, but, but, climate change..." line. This limit was imposed on the basis of protecting a bird, not to help with climate change. If that was the main goal, then the Obama administration took this action under false pretenses. Either way, it should be reversed.
5
@DRS It's the oil drilling that concerns climate change. The loss of habitat for our native American birds and animals strikes a tragic blow to our national self-image. But the fact that we're killing off country's own special species so we can produce yet more carbon-based fuel says something unpleasant about the future that is heading our way.
11
@DRS
Not sure you understand exactly what is going on here. 11 milllion acres is NOT walled off from anything other than huge corporations exploiting our commons (read RUIN) by drilling for oil and gas. There seems to be plenty enough around here allready - witness the oil price drop - and many frackers and drillers in the Permian Basin are halting their drilling because of this glut.
Seems every week another announcement of a new, huge find of oil and gas.
All that aside, we The People only have so much Commons to our name. Destroying our Commons might be too high a price for us to pay.
11
@DRS
You completely miss the point on Climate Change regarding this topic. It is the opening of these lands for drilling and mining. You know, those "clean" energies.
The Sage Grouse is just one more Moving Target on the path to our self-destruction.
10
Trump's goal is to desecrate and destroy all that is good, beautiful, and natural, including people, animals, oceans, trees. He is insulted by kindness and beauty. He worships the ugly, the profane and the corrupt. He is a message from the universe that we need to change. Let's start by ridding ourselves of him.
109
@Spucky50 - Amen, Spucky!
1
@Spucky50 True, all of that. Add this; another horrific distraction from our attention to the Mueller investigation. This is how cornered rats behave before they are snared.
2
What God created Trump and his cronies will destroy.
20
The people in favor of this might as well go out front, pop the hood on their SUV, and start yanking out unnecessary wires and stuff. Who needs it? This sucker’ll run fine without all that liberal stuff.
Or hey, how about I drop by with a CO2 tank and pump some into your central air? Hey, it’ll help your house plants grow.
By which I mean to say that these imbeciles are messing with a vastly complex, intricate, interconnected ecosystem that covers the planet and makes our lives possible, as well as lovely. They might as well be monkeys with hammers, chittering away as they happily smack the side of the quantum computer.
By the way, we get lectured a bunch on how us lefties need to be more civil, more thoughtful. Okay, I agree. I just wonder when Trump and trumpists and the shabby likes of Zinke get their turn in that particular box.
When do THEY have to start knowing anything, and listening to others? When does that have to happen?
26
@Robert Interesting points, but I listen to me, not to some biased authors.
I take it that you have a very good brain, in fact a stable genius brain. My question is, where are you keeping it?
1
I love this bird. How is it that Trump and his administration can just decide to destroy publicly owned and protected land? Aren't there any innate protections - a fifth rail if you like? Some things, such as healthcare and land protection should be right out of the political realm. You can't keep messing about with things like this.
13
@annberkeley2008 Your first question-- An error, a false assumption, a misunderstanding I, too, recently held. In short - the lands they are opening are solely and separately the property of the Federal Government. Until such time as they have specific use, the public is -granted- access. Those lands are /NOT/ owned by the public. They are just called 'public lands' (lands of the republic) Here is a good explanation.
(I can't post the link: but you can find it with ggle:
youtube cgp grey "what is federal land")
I am keenly against the prospects of mining and drilling on these places. But the reality is that they are not 'public lands' as you, or I, once thought. There is a another side though:: Just because the fed opens these Federal lands to resource _exploration_ ... Doesn't mean there will be extraction. The lands are open for exploring. Doesn't mean the oil or minerals are there. If no resources.... no body's gonna drill or dig - regardless of how much land is opened.
1
Another criminally insane policy, being forced down the throats of an American majority by a illegitimate minority government purchased by nihilist, sociopathic oligarchs.
34
As a requirement before approval, let's all learn---making it public---besides the Trump crime family, who in government will profit from this rollback.
5
This is yet another example of why we need to get money out of politics. The decision making of politicians hinges on the size of campaign contributions.
The oil companies will anonymously give millions of dollars to politicians who are "friendly" to their needs and wants - or, against those politicians who are not. They spend millions to gain billions, and given the huge tax breaks from Republicans, they have plenty of extra money to spend.
Republicans are sacrificing future generations who will be faced with enormous unpaid debt, and the future of the earth, simply to fill their campaign coffers.
A sage grouse is a small price to pay for Republicans wanting to stay in power.
14
Because greenhouse gas emissions are "accelerating like a speeding train."
The current administration prefers bullet trains . . .
11
@Kalkat
they may prefer bullet trains but they don't seem to have the wherewithal to invest in infrastructure projects, oh that's right, they just choked off the revenue so they could reward themselves instead of investing in our country's future.
1
If it’s so nationally critical that we scour all the last pristine places in the United States for energy and minerals, how about dropping a giant drilling derrick in the middle of Mara Lago.
46
@AndyW
Because they'd only strike hot gas. Smelly, hot gas at that.
8
@AndyW
Mar a lago and the rest of Florida,were specifically taken off the list for oil exploration. No favoritism here. To be really fair, an oil port should be within sight of Mar a lago, but this nation is too corrupt for that.
9
@AndyW
Add a few wind turbines on his golf course, he hates those.
1
Enough! Will someone please just get rid of this guy - and the entire administration?
53
anything he can do to destroy whatever is great about this country. Shortsighted fool.
79
We'll stand up for them in California . . .
10
In reply to the comment that we are all in cooled or heated environments thanks to oil, there are a couple more considerations that are relevant: 1) we have such a glut of the stuff that we don't need more drilling in sensitive areas; and 2) there are other, more sustainable fuels to accomplish much of what oil does.
We don't need to kill off the sage grouse to have all the oil the world needs to send us into radical warming and climate change.
89
@Tony c Our cooled environments have also, in fact, made our cities hotter, since they just spit the hot air into the streets. Architecture that actually takes the climate into account would have been a far more sustainable solution, as it has been for countless people in the arid zones throughout history.
2
The Democratic Party has failed to demonize Republicans for their "War on the Environment." This needs to be the message that Democrats relentlessly send.
282
@brian At this point, the Republican Party has become a caricature of its former steadfast (if at times too slow to move) self. They have transformed into the party that is waging a war on anything and everything that is good.
21
@brian The Democrats currently are not in control of any branch of Government. They could not fight this if they wanted to, until they have control of at least the House of Representatives, which they will have in 2019. The Democratic Party stands for protection of the environment, however they cannot do anything to challenge this until they have the votes. Republicans are doing nothing to confront Trump, Zinke as Secretary of the Interior - etc... Trump has sold our country to oil and gas, plain and simple, and the Republicans, as long as they can push their agenda through - see tax cuts for the less than 1%, right wing judicial nominations, the Supreme Court, they are fine with this immorality play.
9
@Sarah
The Democrats need to remind Republicans that they were the ones that created the EPA, The Endangered Species Act, The Clean Water and Air Acts, and took measures to combat the ozone and acid rain problems. Republicans can continue their legacy if they choose. But that’s a big if.
5
One gets an indelible feeling that Mr. Trump would like to nullify every piece of legislation that Pres. Obama had passed, sort of scrub out his accomplishments every way he can!
17
@Roshni yeh we got that a long time ago...just saying.....that is obviously Trump's intention... but then again, who knows he could be just doing it because he's a racist and hates President Obama.
5
Who needs a sage grouse anyway? They don’t produce jobs. They don’t pay taxes. No one eats them. And they probably vote Democratic.
5
@Grey
Thousands of people eat sage grouse. They are a hunted species in most of the states where they still live. And they can continue to be if their populations are managed wisely.
3
@Grey Did you read yesterdays news about how bad ours and our children's and grandchildren's future are going to be due to climate change issues...and that since Trump took office it is rapidly turning back to a worse scenario? For you? The use of fossil fuels is killing the plant and Trump is turning back the progress on clean air and water. If you don't care about the Sage Grouse, maybe you care about humans? But also all creatures have their destiny and place on earth...they deserve to be here as much as we do...they are a food source for certain predators....and they keep in check what they eat. Science might be a good read for you possibly? So you think that we are the chosen ordained to be here and no other creatures? And that if other creatures are here they must be here only to serve man? How about the American Bald Eagle....did you want them purely to stick around because we picked them as our national symbol?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-2018.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
1
@Grey Did you read yesterdays news about how bad ours and our children's and grandchildren's future are going to be due to climate change issues...and that since Trump took office it is rapidly turning back to a worse scenario? For you? The use of fossil fuels is killing the plant and Trump is turning back the progress on clean air and water. If you don't care about the Sage Grouse, maybe you care about humans? But also all creatures have their destiny and place on earth...they deserve to be here as much as we do...they are a food source for certain predators....and they keep in check what they eat. Science might be a good read for you possibly? So you think that we are the chosen ordained to be here and no other creatures? And that if other creatures are here they must be here only to serve man? How about the American Bald Eagle....did you want them purely to stick around because we picked them as our national symbol?
We need to protect the Sage Grouse. It has protected us from the rape of our planet (i.e drilling into Mother Earth for oil) by greedy Republicans getting rich from the fossil fuel industry. This grouse has thus far protected the health of all species on this planet from all the Donald Trumps and their greedy supporters.
26
Henry Beston, from 100 years ago on what we would have called pristine Cape Cod, already saw the consequences of development and ignorance (in the active sense) of nature:
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.”
57
@JP that is beautiful and profound
5
@JP
This is one of my favorite quotes and I have it printed out and pinned up in my kitchen. Thanks for sharing this.
3
@JP
re Benton quote
Beautyful. Thank you for this snippet of deep wisdom.
1
Trump is making proud those who see the end of life on earth as some acceptable fulfillment of wacko prophecies. Too bad so many Americans actually voted for this.
26
I'm sure Donald Jr. will get in there first to bag a bunch to put on his wall.
17
No, he prefers killing elephants and lions.
4
The states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island are 10 million acres combined. Why do the sage grouse need 10.7 million acres? Will they really die off with oil drilling? Perhaps they could compromise as in live and let live - or perhaps they are Democrats too.
1
@Eugene Patrick Devany the sage grouse may not die off with oil drilling, but the human race just might. Wake up.
10
@Eugene Patrick Devany Why do we need oil drilling? By the way...Massapequa Park is going to get crushed in taxes thanks to the tax "cuts". Good luck!!!
4
We had a compromise. Neither Trump nor you have the slightest interest in compromise. But since we’re so innarested in territory, how’s about we take your SUV and stuff you into an Ion? How’s about you give up some of your toys and junk, and compromise with us sane adults?
3
Could not hate this man and his administration more.
201
We need sage grouse more than oil.
13
He is a cruel madman proving with these capricious, awful acts that he has the power to do whatever he wishes, much like Henry VIII, except Henry was a brilliant scholar before he went mad.
5
"The hits just keep on coming..." The GOP and the congress and the people at these agencies need to requisition a spine and stand up in the face of what he claims he wants to do.
Every species destroyed adds another step to a path that leads directly to our own extinction.
380
@JP
Forget the GOP... look to our Democratic "leadership." Will we hear from Pelosi and Schumer on this? Probably not. The Republicans are set out to destroy us, but the complacency of Pelosi and Schumer keep it alive.
2
@JP
Please let us remove the parties from the equation. This is being done in the name of de-regulation. Period. Those who care about money are determined to move forward despite the horrible cost to life of all creatures.
5
The people at the agencies are appointed by Trump to destroy those agencies’ purpose.
1
An environmental platform guided by cruelty and ignorance. Every creature it's an intricate part of our whole. Thanks to human- created destruction, our ecosystem is totally out of balance. The very last thing in the world we need is more oil exploration, and the burning of fossil fuels.
26
At face value, this sounds horrible. But to be honest, I find many processes in our government utterly confusing...how policies and laws are made, changed, reversed, etc. So in other words, Trump is apparently reversing a protection put in place by Obama, but then can't the next administration put the protection right back in place, in 2020? Or is the real fear that by then, it may be too late for the grouse?
Either way, you gotta be pretty obtuse to not recognize what a special bird the grouse is.
7
As their children gasp for air, and dream hopelessly for a sip of clean water, a belly full of non toxic food, what will they think of their parents and grandparents?
6
Edward Abbey came up with the solution back in 1975.
6
He's rolled back protections on humans for the production/use of coal too!
6
Seriously, how long does the American majority allow the GOP minority take actions that will cause serious, irreversible damage to our environment and our nation? Waiting for the next election and hoping we get a better Congress and President may not be a wise or even ethical choice if, while we are waiting, irreparable damage is done to our world and our children's world.
6
With oil prices on the decline there is little current incentive to pursue additional petroleum exploration and drilling. So for the time being basic economics are in favor of the sage grouse - a good thing.
That said, however, this president and administration show no concerns about the plight of anyone that does not profit them professionally or politically – in some shape or form - be it immigration, foreign policy or the sage grouse.
Government is not a business and shouldn't be run like one. What is socially or environmentally prudent is not always profitable - and what's profitable isn't necessarily socially or environmentally prudent.
9
The administration refuses to understand that undeveloped public lands are a critical buffer against wider spread environmental degradation. These lands can serve as repositories of clean air, water, and biodiversity.
What can we as citizens do to stop these rollbacks?
52
Another day, another horrible retrograde policy decision. Trump can't seem to do enough evil in the world..From the dictators he worships, to his unbridled corruption and habitual lying and the selling out of the US which he pretends is in our interest, these are dark times. How did we end up with someone who is clearly unqualified, uninformed and lacks any intellectual capacity to do the correct thing? The trump disease needs to go!
62
Of course, protecting the sage grouse is really protecting all of us - let's face it, the movers and shakers on the planet - a miniscule percent of us -- and the only ones with the power, wealth and might to really shift direction on climate change -- has shown over and over again that they just don't care - not about the sage grouse, not about the planet itself, not about polar bears, not about the Arctic, not about people, not about anything but their own wealth. It won't be until they starve to death in a pile of their gold that they will get it - and by then, it's too late for the rest of us.
We need a massive rebellion - why pay taxes to a government that on issue after issue, represents the interests of corporate wealth vs. the interests of the people. THe majority of Americans don't want air pollution, do want federal lands conserved, and do want climate change addressed. Addressing climate change also addresses so many other issues that benefit all of us--pollution controls, better public transit, cleaner and more beautiful cities, more lands left wild for animals and plants, less money on the military and more money to help provide health care--on and on the list goes. The two parties are really not Republican vs. Democrat. They are the Destroyers vs. Those of Us Who Want to Live.
43
So another round of destruction to the Earth from Trump's team... (sarcastically) GREAT.... why don't we just erase human existence right now, instead of slowly killing ourselves off.
3
Don't worry, I heard that he is going to catch all the birds and other area wildlife and put them in a zoo. It's going to be called Trump Zoo and its going to be a great, great zoo.
10
Thanks Donald/GOP; pump more oil to make more money to extinct the Planet. Thx so much. Ray Sipe
6
can we find no incriminating evidence to get Trump booted out? He is going to ruin us environmentally-I fear for all our beautiful places, and the animals that live there. How did this idiot end up president? With all the shady dealings, and law breaking, why do we still not have enough evidence to impeach him?
16
Greed know no limits, and is considered a sin or poison in all world religions.
It is the cancer that is killing us all.
20