They Gutted Public Lands in the Reconciliation Bill – And No One’s Talking About It

While the headlines were on Mike Lee, Congress passed a bill that ransacks our public lands. Here’s the only complete breakdown of what’s in it.

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Jul 11, 2025

In the days since Congress passed the “Big Beautiful Bill” and our dear leader signed it with a military flyover to mark the occasion, I’ve searched for a complete accounting of what’s in the bill as it relates to our public lands. There are a few articles from nonprofits out there that talk about the steep cuts to the NPS budget ($267m) or one or two other provisions in the bill, but no one has a complete list. So I took it upon myself to read the damn thing, research it all, and provide my analysis here.

It was quite an undertaking and I wish I could’ve gotten it out sooner, but this bill had a lot to sift through. With that said, if you find this kind of deep-dive reporting valuable, we sure would love to have you join the ranks of our paying subscribers. This work takes time, and we’re building the pressure campaign needed to fight back together.

Anyway, we fought like hell to kill Mike Lee’s outrageous plan to sell off millions of acres of public lands, and we won that fight. But I want to be clear: we are losing the war. Because while this bill doesn’t outright sell off our public lands, it nearly does. It hands control, if not the deed, of vast swaths of our lands over to the oil, gas, mining, and timber industries, stripping away nearly every safeguard, every check, every ounce of public oversight, and replacing it with a rubber stamp.

This is the most aggressive, sweeping attack on America’s environment and public lands in our nation’s history – and it’s now law.

I’ve gone through this bill, line by line. What got signed into law on the Fourth of July is a scorched-earth mandate to turn vast stretches of our public lands into an industrial wasteland for private profit. It guts environmental law, silences the public, locks in decades of drilling, mining, and clear-cutting, and makes it extremely difficult to stop, no matter who sits in the White House next.

Below I’ve gone ahead and compiled every passage that affects our public lands along with my analysis. Every single piece of this would be bad on its own. Together, it’s the most aggressive dismantling of public lands protection in American history.

What follows is lengthy and dense, but you deserve to know exactly what’s been done in your name to your lands, and what’s at stake. I hope you’re sitting down…

Mandatory Logging on Public Lands

Forced Forest Service Timber Quotas

“For each of fiscal years 2026 through 2034, the Secretary shall sell timber annually on National Forest System land in a total quantity that is not less than 250,000,000 board-feet greater than the quantity of board-feet sold in the previous fiscal year.”

What it means: The Forest Service is now required by law to increase logging by 250 million board feet every single year through 2034, no matter what. It doesn’t matter if wildfires, drought, or beetle infestations are decimating these forests. It doesn’t matter if wildlife populations are collapsing. It doesn’t matter if the timber market tanks. The cuts must keep coming, year after year, or the agency will be breaking the law.

Consequences: This is a forced march toward clear-cuts on a scale we haven’t seen in modern times, doubling logging on our national forests within a decade. It will drive roads and saws into old-growth stands, wildlife habitat, and sensitive watersheds that until now were protected by common sense Forest Service policies. It replaces science-based, adaptive forest management with a rigid, politically imposed quota that ignores the realities of a changing climate and ecosystem collapse. Forest plans and resource conditions have always guided how much could be sustainably harvested. That’s over. Timber yield now comes first, everything else be damned.

Forced BLM Timber Quotas

“For each of fiscal years 2026 through 2034, the Secretary [of the Interior] shall sell timber annually on public lands in a total quantity that is not less than 20,000,000 board-feet greater than the quantity of board-feet sold in the previous fiscal year.”

The BLM is now under the same marching orders: ratchet up logging on public lands every single year, no matter what. That means 20 million more board feet each year, pushing deeper into lands that, until now, were set aside for wildlife, water quality, or recreation.

Consequences: This will hit Oregon’s BLM-managed forests especially hard, likely exceeding what the forests can sustain without collapsing under the pressure. Like the Forest Service provision, this is unprecedented, overriding the agency’s multiple-use mandate and long-term management plans in favor of a single goal: extraction. Expect more deforestation, erosion, and hits to species like salmon and the northern spotted owl that rely on older forest structure, all in the name of hitting a quota.

20-Year Forest Service Timber Contracts Locking in Harvests

“For the period of fiscal years 2025 through 2034, the Secretary shall enter into not fewer than 40 long-term timber sale contracts… for the sale of national forest materials… The period of a timber sale contract… shall be not less than 20 years, with options for extensions or renewals, as determined by the Secretary.”

The Forest Service is now forced to sign at least 40 logging contracts that will lock in harvests for 20 years or more. This is not normal. Typical timber sales last a few years, with occasional 10-year stewardship contracts. 20-year contracts are unheard of in modern forestry and now they’re mandatory.

Consequences: Future administrations will be locked into absurdly high logging levels set by these contracts – even if public priorities shift or ecosystems decline, breaking or altering the contracts would be very difficult. It effectively commits massive portions of our national forests to industrial-scale logging through 2045 or beyond. Companies will have every incentive to build roads and mills and push for maximum harvest, knowing they’ve got a government guarantee for a generation. It also will allow these companies to avoid new environmental reviews for decades and instead continue logging with the rubber stamp they got from this administration.

20 Year BLM Logging Contracts

“The Secretary shall enter into not fewer than 5 long-term contracts… for the disposal of vegetative materials… on public lands… The period of a contract… shall be not less than 20 years, with options for extensions or renewals…”

BLM faces the same forced long-term commitment, signing at least five 20-year logging contracts that will lock up large swaths of its forest estate.

Consequences: This will commit huge portions of BLM-managed forests (mostly in western Oregon) to industrial logging for a generation, outlasting multiple presidential administrations and removing any flexibility to scale back in response to species declines, wildfires, or public opposition.

Stealing Revenue from Local Communities

“Any monies derived from a timber sale contract entered into [under these long-term contract provisions] shall be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.”

For over a century, federal timber sale revenues have helped fund schools and roads in the rural counties that bear the brunt of federal logging. This bill severs that relationship, sending every last dollar to the federal Treasury instead.

Consequences: Communities that host these logging operations will get all the downsides: more truck traffic, more road damage, more environmental degradation, but none of the benefits they’ve historically received. It’s a slap in the face to rural America and exposes the lie that this bill is about helping local economies. It’s about extraction for extraction’s sake, funneling the proceeds to Washington while leaving locals with the mess.

Oil & Gas Free-For-All

Forced Quarterly Oil & Gas Lease Sales, Forever

“The Secretary of the Interior shall immediately resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales in compliance with the Mineral Leasing Act.”

What it means: The agency will break the law if it fails to auction off public lands for drilling every three months. It doesn’t matter if the land is critical wildlife habitat, sacred tribal land, or on the doorstep of a national park. It doesn’t matter if the market doesn’t want it or if science says it shouldn’t happen. The sales will happen on schedule, or else.

Consequences: Expect a flood of lease sales across the West. Lands previously kept off the auction block for climate, wildlife, or recreation concerns will now be pushed onto the auction block in a desperate attempt to meet the quota. Legally, this rips out the flexibility the Mineral Leasing Act once allowed, replacing it with a rigid drill-at-all-costs mandate.

Mandatory Lease Sales in Nine States, No Matter What

“Each fiscal year, the Secretary… shall conduct a minimum of 4 oil and gas lease sales of available land in each of the following States: (A) Wyoming, (B) New Mexico, (C) Colorado, (D) Utah, (E) Montana, (F) North Dakota, (G) Oklahoma, (H) Nevada, (I) Alaska.”

This provision forces the Interior Department to hold four lease auctions every year in each of these nine states, regardless of demand. Even if oil companies don’t want to drill there, the land still goes on the block.

Consequences: This is essentially leasing for leasing’s sake, a “use it or lose it” policy for public lands. If a quarter passes without enough industry nominations in one of those states, Interior would have to rustle up land to offer anyway. It will push leasing into marginal or sensitive areas just to hit numbers, putting wildlife refuges, migration corridors, and culturally important lands at risk. It’s unprecedented for Congress to micro-manage lease sale frequency by state in this way. It strips the agency and it’s staff of their ability to use common sense to prioritize and protect where it makes sense.

Handing Control to Industry: The 50% Rule and Replacement Sales

“The Secretary… shall offer not less than 50 percent of available parcels nominated for oil and gas development” and “shall not restrict the parcels offered to 1 [BLM] field office… unless all nominated parcels are in that one office.”. It also requires “a replacement sale during the same fiscal year if a lease sale is canceled, delayed, or deferred… or if during a sale more than 25% of the acreage offered receives no bid.”

Here’s how this normally works: oil and gas companies can nominate parcels of public land for leasing, telling the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which areas they want put up for auction. But BLM isn’t required to offer every parcel industry requests. They can screen these nominations, removing parcels that are too close to national parks, critical wildlife habitat, sacred tribal lands, recreation areas, etc. They can also decline to lease if there isn’t market interest or if environmental concerns need more study.

This bill forces BLM to put at least half of everything industry demands up for sale, no matter how sensitive or marginal the land. And if a sale is delayed or canceled for any reason, like court challenges, environmental reviews, or lack of interest, BLM is forced to hold a replacement sale that same year.

Consequences: This creates a perpetual treadmill of leasing. Speculators can nominate large swaths of land, knowing half will get offered no matter what, and lands that nobody bids on will still get re-offered, often at rock-bottom prices. Sensitive lands that would have been spared will now go on the auction block, pushed forward by an industry that effectively dictates the terms.

Freezing Environmental Safeguards in the Past

“A lease… shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the approved resource management plan” but “may not require any stipulations or mitigation requirements not included in the approved resource management plan.”“The initiation of an amendment to an approved resource management plan shall not prevent or delay the Secretary from making the the applicable parcel of land available for leasing”.

This means leases will only follow the rules in place the day this bill was signed, even if new science or urgent environmental concerns emerge. If a plan is being updated to protect a newly discovered endangered species, too bad, industry can force leasing under the outdated rules.

Consequences: This freezes environmental safeguards at the weakest baseline, blocking agencies from adding site-specific and common sense protections like buffer zones for rivers or wildlife. It incentivizes companies to rush in and nominate parcels under weaker plans, locking in leases before protections can be updated. This is a direct gutting of NEPA’s adaptive review process, prioritizing approval over science and common sense.

Fast-Tracked Leasing Within 18 Months, No Exceptions

“Any parcel of land subject to disposition under this Act… shall be made available for leasing… by the Secretary of the Interior, not later than 18 months after the date of receipt by the Secretary of an expression of interest in leasing”

The BLM now has 18 months to lease any parcel nominated by industry, no exceptions. This is a hard statutory deadline, forcing the agency to rush environmental reviews and public comment periods.

Consequences: NEPA reviews for complex projects can take years (typically because the projects will be harmful), but this law encourages the BLM to use conduct a hasty, industry friendly review and rush to a rubber stamp just to meet the clock. Virtually every nominated parcel will get auctioned, with no ability to table contentious or harmful nominations. It’s wildly unprecedented, with the law now prioritizing speed over caution and leading to rubber-stamp approvals without meaningful scrutiny.

Rolling Back Royalties and Reinstating $1.50-Acre Fire Sales

Page 162 of the bill also repeals key Inflation Reduction Act reforms that raised onshore royalty rates from 12.5% to 16.67% and ended noncompetitive leasing. Now, the royalty rate drops back to 12.5%, and noncompetitive leasing returns.

Consequences: Lower royalties are a subsidy to drilling companies, making marginal wells profitable and incentivizing more drilling. Reinstating noncompetitive leasing revives a widely abused system where speculators grab leases for $1.50 an acre with no competitive bid, locking up public lands for pennies. These leases often go undeveloped but block other uses and protections, allowing industry to warehouse our public lands indefinitely for private gain.

Drilling in Arctic Wilderness Areas

“In addition to the lease sales required under [the 2017 Tax Act], the Secretary shall conduct not fewer than 4 lease sales area-wide under the oil and gas program [in the ANWR Coastal Plain] by not later than 10 years after the date of enactment of this Act.”

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is one of the last truly wild places left in America. Home to caribou, polar bears, migratory birds, and an unbroken tundra ecosystem that has remained protected for generations.

This bill orders the Interior Department to hold at least four additional oil and gas lease sales in the Arctic Refuge’s Coastal Plain, on top of the two sales Congress already mandated back in 2017. Each sale must offer at least 400,000 acres and target areas with the “highest hydrocarbon potential.” The first sale must happen within a year, with the fourth by year seven.

What this means: ANWR will see continuous leasing through the 2030s, ensuring that no less than 1.6 million acres, and likely much more, will be put up for drilling in one of the most sensitive ecosystems on Earth.

Consequences: The 2017 Tax Act cracked the door open for drilling. This bill kicks it wide open, ensuring that even if prior sales fell flat (as they did, with leases suspended and returned due to low industry interest), the Interior Department is legally compelled to keep trying until the oil is flowing. No part of the Coastal Plain is safe, not wetlands, not polar bear denning areas, not the migratory routes relied upon by Indigenous Gwich’in communities. This is one of the most environmentally destructive provision in the entire bill, guaranteeing the industrialization of a place that Congress once fought to keep wild. It’s a radical escalation, ignoring past attempts to repeal ANWR drilling and instead doubling down, not for economic need but to fulfill an ideological crusade.

Locking in Trump Era Drilling Terms

“The Secretary shall offer the same terms and conditions as contained in the record of decision [ROD]… for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program, Alaska (85 Fed. Reg. 51754 (August 21, 2020)).”

The bill locks in the Trump administration’s 2020 plan for drilling in ANWR, forever. That plan, widely criticized for ignoring wildlife impacts and downplaying environmental risks, will govern all future leasing, with no chance to add new protections or adjust for new science.

What this means: Even if new data reveals greater threats to polar bear denning grounds, permafrost stability, or Indigenous subsistence hunting, the agency is barred from imposing stronger restrictions or updating the plan. The Trump-era Record of Decision becomes the permanent rulebook, pre-approving drilling under its weak standards and insulating the program from future NEPA or Endangered Species Act challenges.

Consequences: This is an extraordinary end-run around environmental law. Congress rarely locks in a specific agency’s ROD like this. Here, it enshrines a famously flawed, outdated analysis as the final word, no matter how conditions change, effectively rubber-stamping drilling in ANWR for the next decade.

Buying Murkowski’s Vote by Showering Alaska with Oil Money

Page 178 of the bill contains a big juicy piece of pork for Senator Murkowski (R-AK). In fact, it’s part of what bought her vote. The bill amends the revenue split from ANWR leasing. Under the 2017 law, Alaska received 50% of bonus bids and royalties. This bill stipulates that starting in FY2034, Alaska’s share will increase to 70% of all ANWR oil revenues.

Meaning: The State of Alaska would get the vast majority of proceeds from drilling in the refuge.

Consequences: This is clearly designed to make Alaska, and its congressional delegation, even more invested in keeping the drilling going. Federal onshore leasing is typically a 50/50 split; a 70/30 split is unprecedented and sets the table for other states to demand more. By giving Alaska a bigger cut, the bill ensures the state will fight to keep the oil flowing. It’s a cynical ploy that entrenches drilling in the Arctic Refuge, rewarding the state for a program the public overwhelmingly opposes, at the taxpayers expense.

A Mandate to Strip-Mine America

Fast-Tracking Coal Leases on a 90-Day Clock

The bill reverses the current steep decline in federal coal leasing with aggressive mandates. It requires that “not later than 90 days after enactment,” the Interior Secretary process all pending coal lease applications, this includes publishing any required environmental review, determining fair market value, and holding a lease sale for each tract – and identify the high bidder to grant the lease. In the same 90-day window, Interior “shall… grant the qualified application and issue the lease” to the winning bidder.

This bill forces the Interior Department to rubber-stamp every coal lease application sitting in its pipeline, or filed in the next 90 days, within three months. Permitting steps that normally take years, including environmental studies, public comments, and fair market appraisals, must now be crammed into 90 days, or the agency will violate the law.

What it means: This is an industrial fast-pass for coal companies. It encourages a stampede of new applications to exploit this window, guaranteeing a flood of leases on potentially vast tracts of land with minimal scrutiny and virtually no meaningful public input.

Consequences: New strip mines and mine expansions could be approved en masse, particularly in the Powder River Basin (WY/MT) and potentially in untouched areas nationwide. The climate consequences are staggering: a massive injection of new coal production and carbon emissions, with the Obama-era programmatic review of federal coal’s climate impacts effectively bypassed. Legally, while the bill doesn’t explicitly waive NEPA, the timeline makes real compliance impossible, forcing agencies to rely on superficial reviews to keep up. There is no precedent for a federal coal leasing blitz on this scale, this fast. Even the coal boom of the 1970’s proceeded with planning and phased sales.

Handing Over 4 Million Acres of Your Land to Coal Companies

“Not later than 90 days after enactment, the Secretary… shall make available for lease known recoverable coal resources of not less than 4,000,000 additional acres on Federal land… located in the 48 contiguous States and Alaska”.

This jaw-dropping section orders the Interior Department to put at least four million acres of federal land up for coal leasing almost immediately. To put that in perspective, 4 million acres is roughly the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.

Consequences: This is effectively a Congress-sanctioned land giveaway to the coal industry. It overrides Interior’s land use planning process (“Notwithstanding section 2(a)(3)(A) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 201(a)(3)(A)) and section 202(a)of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act”) so even if a BLM plan said “no coal leasing” for a certain area, this law forces it to be offered. It’s hard to overstate how radical this is: since 1976, public lands have been managed under plans that balance multiple uses. Here, that is tossed aside to dump huge acreage onto the market. The 4-million-acre figure appears arbitrary, likely picked to generate a certain amount of revenue on paper (as a budget offset) but with no regard for on-the-ground impact. It dwarfs the area of recent coal leases; even during peak leasing, BLM offered at most tens of thousands of acres at a time, not millions. There is no precedent in modern history for Congress ordering a specific acreage of land to be disposed of for mining like this. It harks back to 19th-century policies of robber barons and land liquidation.

A Massive Royalty Giveaway to Coal Companies

The bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to temporarily cut the royalty rate on federal coal from the longstanding 12½% to no more than 7% until 2034. It applies this lower rate to existing leases as well, and even provides that if a company prepaid some royalties at the old rate (so-called “advance royalties”), the Interior Secretary must credit or refund the difference due to the rate cut.

What it means: This is an enormous subsidy to coal operators, effectively paying them to keep mining coal that is already struggling to compete with cheaper renewables and gas.

Consequences: Cutting royalty rates starves federal and state budgets (states like Wyoming receive half these royalties, which fund schools and infrastructure), while encouraging marginal mines to keep operating. It prolongs pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental damage, and slows the cleanup of mined lands. Retroactively lowering royalties on existing leases is unprecedented and a pure handout to the coal industry, violating the principle that the public should receive fair market value for its resources. It will likely lead to more speculative lease hoarding, as companies can now hold leases cheaply for decades.

Authorizing Mining Without Leases: A Backdoor Land Grab

“Federal coal reserves located in Federal land subject to a mining plan previously approved… and adjacent to coal reserves in adjacent State or private land are authorized to be mined”

In one of the most outrageous provisions in the entire bill, Congress grants automatic permission for companies to mine federal coal if it’s adjacent to their private or state-owned operations, even if they don’t have a federal lease.

What it means: If a company’s mine borders federal coal, and they claim leaving it unmined would be “uneconomic,” this bill forces Interior to let them mine it, bypassing the normal leasing process, competitive bidding, and potential royalties.

Consequences: This provision effectively privatizes federal coal reserves, letting companies expand strip mines across federal land as if it were their own, ignoring standard leasing and environmental review processes. This is a brazen circumvention of public land law, something unheard of in modern environmental policy, and opens the door for mining companies to extract federal resources without paying fair royalties or facing any public scrutiny. It ensures that no seam of coal will be left in the ground, regardless of its location, environmental sensitivity, or the will of the American people.

Silencing the Public, Gutting Reviews, and Defunding Protections

Pay-to-Play Fast-Tracking of NEPA Reviews

“An environmental assessment for which a fee is paid… shall be completed not later than 180 days… an environmental impact statement… not later than 1 year after the date of publication of the notice of intent.”

The bill amends the National Environmental Policy Act to add a new section allowing project sponsors to pay a fee to dramatically expedite their environmental reviews. Under this provision, a developer can opt to pay 125% of the cost of preparing an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, and in return, agencies must complete an EA within 180 days and an EIS within 1 year.

What it means: Wealthy corporations can now buy themselves a guaranteed 180-day EA or 1-year EIS, regardless of the complexity or environmental stakes of their projects. The 25% premium on top of the actual review cost functions as a de facto bribe, forcing agencies to rush the process to meet the deadline.

Consequences: Real environmental reviews take time because they require field studies across seasons, rigorous impact modeling, multiple public comment windows, and revisions based on those comments and findings. This bill turns NEPA into a box-checking exercise with a strict stopwatch, forcing agencies to cut corners, miss critical data, and rush to conclusions. Public input will be squeezed into impossibly tight windows, gutting the public’s ability to shape projects that affect their communities.

It also creates blatant conflicts of interest. NEPA already allows applicants to prepare drafts of their own EIS, but now, the polluters can fund and partially write the reviews while paying for “expedited processing.” This destroys the integrity of the entire review process and erodes public trust: those with money will get faster, easier approvals while everyone else is left waiting. It’s a formalization of “pay us, and we’ll green-light your project.”

From a legal standpoint, the rushed timelines practically invite litigation by producing flawed reviews, but the bill’s real goal is to limit meaningful oversight, letting extractive industries bulldoze public concerns while lawsuits wither in the courts.

Defunding Endangered Species Recovery & Basic Conservation While Funding Destruction

The bill doesn’t just authorize environmental harm, it defunds the agencies and programs meant to mitigate it. It rescinds all unobligated funds for Endangered Species Act recovery plans that were provided under the Inflation Reduction Act:

“The unobligated balances of amounts made available to carry out section 60301 of Public Law 117–169… are rescinded.”

This funding was intended to finally clear the backlog of recovery plans for species on the brink of extinction, like red wolves, whooping cranes, and countless imperiled plants. By clawing it back, the bill ensures the acceleration of species declines and extinctions.

It also slashes funding for climate data collection, wildlife refuges, and climate resilience projects in the National Park Service and BLM. Less data means poorer decisions. Less funding means more deferred maintenance, canceled restoration projects, and fewer rangers and scientists to protect what’s left.

In essence: This is a one-two punch, authorizing destruction while defunding protection. It’s a deliberate gutting of the government’s ability to safeguard public lands and wildlife, replacing stewardship with all-out exploitation.

Where is the Humanity?

That’s the question I’m left asking myself.

I mean, how do you even begin to process the totality of this destruction?

A bill that rips away funding meant to save endangered species from extinction. They know exactly what that means. They know it will doom species already hanging by a thread. And they did it anyway. How do you sleep at night knowing you’ve signed the death warrant for creatures who’ve survived ice ages but couldn’t survive your greed? How do you look your kids in the eye?

Why are they so hell-bent on turning America into a third-world country, where all we do is rip apart our own land, strip-mine our future, and sell off everything that makes this place worth living in, just to line the pockets of a handful of already wealthy men?

Those cheering this on seem intent on dragging us back to a feudal society, where the wealthy do whatever they want and leave the rest of us to live in the wasteland they’ve created, fighting over the scraps they toss down to keep us quiet.

This is America, we were the envy of the world. Today the world looks at us and sees a dumpster fire. A country willingly tearing itself apart. Trading its once bright future for someone else’s quarterly profits.

And for what? So a handful of people who already have everything can have a little more, while the rest of us lose everything that actually matters.

The Fight Isn’t Over

This fall, Democrats will have a chance to undo this disaster when the appropriations bill comes due. And let me be clear: they can do it. It won’t be easy, but it is absolutely possible. Republicans need 60 votes in the Senate to pass the next funding bill, but they only have 53 Senators. You do the math. That gives the Democrats leverage to finally push back.

But I’m no fool. I’m under no illusion that they led by a feckless friend of Wall Street in the Senate and will spend their time squabbling over Medicaid and school lunches. (Don’t get me wrong, very important issues). And they’ll sacrifice nearly everything else to deliver a small victory that actually ends up working in Trump’s favor.

No, that’s unacceptable. We have to demand that Democrats restore protections for our public lands in the appropriations bill, and be willing to shut down the government indefinitely until they get it. Nothing less. Last time, Schumer cowed to the administration’s demands and those of his wealthy friends. This time, we demand they fight. This time, we demand they stand up for the American people and the American land they swore to protect.

You know the stakes now. If they don’t secure protections and reverse this maniacal attempt to destroy America’s natural beauty this fall, irreversible damage will take place on a scale not seen since before Theodore Roosevelt.

I’ll be following up with exactly what we need to demand from every Democratic Senator in the weeks ahead. Because they need to feel extreme heat, and they need to feel it from us. In the meantime, stay loud. Stay angry. Stay relentless. Refuse to let these ghouls destroy our public lands without a fight.

They want us quiet, tired, and resigned. Don’t give them that satisfaction.

Share this post and get the truth out there. We need to rally support now more than ever.

Author’s Note

This reporting doesn’t include the offshore drilling mandates, which are also unprecedented. My main focus was impacts on public lands on the continent.

To those of you who made it through this whole thing, thanks for reading. Sorry I don’t have better news.

Until next time.

-Jim