My trash is overflowing as I try to form a message that will make a difference. President Trump is damaging so much, will we have the energy left to defend public lands?
Utah is blessed to have so many protected public lands, which most Utahns want protected. In the Colorado College of the Rockies’ most recent poll, the majority of Utahns oppose giving state government control over public lands and even more believe that existing national monument designations should be kept in place.
These lands sequester carbon, improve air quality and water supplies, protect species, wildlife and recreation opportunities — things 76% of Utahns also want (more than drilling and mining).
Polls prove this is a common American sentiment, so why are our representatives fighting for something else? Mike Lee added an amendment to the Reconciliation bill to sell off over 2 million acres of public land. He, Curtis and Maloy have presented bills to limit presidential powers to designate monuments, and the Department of Justice just came up with a new finding in the century of the Antiquities Act policy actions, saying the president can rescind monuments.
If you love public lands and believe they should be preserved for the future, please write your Utah delegates and tell them you do not approve of a sell off of public lands. Our children deserve that we leave them a better world, and right now, if Trump and some other Republicans have their way, we will leave them with more polluted air, diminished water supplies, wildlife and species extinctions, more burnt forests, and debt with few places to recreate.
If we lose our natural spaces, we have failed to leave our children what’s most valuable.
Patricia Becnel, Ogden
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible