Now Public Lands Are Being Militarized for Mining

Because nothing says freedom like bulldozing the backcountry with Pentagon funding.

Turns out, the only thing standing between your favorite national forest and a host of shiny new industrial-scale lithium mines was a little paperwork.

First, they came for the trees—with an executive order making logging the default use of federal forests.

Then, they came for the land—starting by trying to nix two national monuments in California, with many more already under review.

Now, they’re coming for the very earth itself.

Just Thursday, the Trump administration signed an earthshaking (literally) executive order directing federal agencies to fast-track mineral extraction on public lands. And this time, they’re invoking national defense to do it.

If there’s one thing you read today, let it be this line—straight from the order itself:

“Within 10 days of the date of this order,” it states, “the Secretary of the Interior shall identify... all Federal lands known to hold mineral deposits... [and] shall prioritize mineral production and mining related purposes as the primary land uses in …