Weekly Watch: Corporate Socialism for Mining Interests and Open Season for Influence Peddling
Trump and Burgum Launch More Corporate Socialism for Mining Interests; Freedom 250 Marks Open Season for Influence Peddling
HELENA, MT – Save Our Parks is tracking the massive assault against America’s national parks and public lands system by Donald Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and their cronies, documenting the ongoing consequences of Trump’s unprecedented attack on our nation’s natural heritage.
Under the guise of “reducing US reliance on China,” the Trump administration has launched another socialist foreign mining corporate program that will lead to more public land exploitation and pollution. The $12 billion mining enterprise called “Project Vault” will be used to stockpile critical minerals, a catch-all mining term that evolves based on Trump and Burgum’s whims. It’s the latest in a long series of moves designed to use the full force of the federal government to boost extractive interests, public lands and the American people be damned.
Dirty energy executives and power players, like deeply unpopular wanna-be BLM Director “Selloff Steve” Pearce, have long seen America’s great outdoors as prime real estate for drilling and mining. And under Trump and Burgum, their lives have never been better. This administration is abusing taxpayer dollars to take equity stakes in a whole host of drilling and mining companies, a process that is ripe for corruption and conflicts of interest. In that vein, Congressional Democrats recently sent a letter to Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking for assurances that the Trump administration isn’t propping up these companies for their own and Trump donors’ personal gain. All of Congress must join them and demand answers.
In addition to staking $10 billion in taxpayer money on dirty energy firms, Trump and Burgum have spent a year fast-tracking approval to get as many mines as possible up and running, leaving out local input and skipping environmental reviews. Just ask Burgum’s conflicted top lieutenant at the department, Karen-Budd Falen, who exemplifies just how profitable public service can be at Trump’s Interior. All it took was one meeting with top executives from Lithium Americas, and Budd-Falen made sure that the Trump administration fast-tracked what became the nation’s largest lithium mine. It just so happens that Budd-Falen sold water rights critical to making the project work, and personally pocketed millions from the deal. Yet, even in the face of such naked corruption and self-dealing, there’s been no action since House Democrats demanded an investigation into her corrupt actions under Burgum’s rule.
Elsewhere, we’re learning more about Trump and Burgum’s “Freedom 250” celebration, a thinly-veiled influence peddling operation that has received millions in taxpayer dollars, while also soliciting millions more from anonymous donors. The duplicative effort will likely mean sidelining the official America 250 celebration, the nonpartisan one authorized by Congress. Freedom 250 has already absorbed much of the responsibilities for the country’s 250th anniversary, and is partnering with Christian nationalist organizations like PragerU and Hillsdale College to generate video content promoting it. Freedom 250 is also selling corporate sponsorships, and career employees at Interior are likely being made to promote and endorse Freedom 250, despite its explicitly political and religious agenda, which would be a violation of both the Hatch Act and the First Amendment, among others.
The House Natural Resource’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations is holding a hearing next week on Tuesday, February 10th, titled “All in for America250: Public-Private Partnerships Supporting America’s Semiquincentennial on our Public Lands.” Subcommittee members should do their jobs, raise questions, and demand answers about this hijacked, parallel, MAGA-fied effort ripe for insider grift and influence peddling.
Parks and Public Lands in the News:
Safety and Preparedness
Outside Magazine: A Water Crisis Is Unfolding Inside One of America's Largest National Parks
“In late January, the National Park Service (NPS) shut down portions of Texas’ Big Bend National Park, citing a critical water shortage near the park’s only hotel. Chisos Mountains Lodge remains fully closed, while water spigots, sinks, and toilets at parts of the park have also been shut off.”
New York Times: These Four States Are in Denial Over a Looming Water Crisis
“No, the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have emerged as the main obstacles to a fair deal. They’ve gummed up negotiations by refusing to accept mandatory cuts of any amount — unlike the Lower Basin states, which have spent years slashing water use.”
Privatization and Sell-Offs
RideApart: Trump’s Pick to Lead the BLM Will Be a Death Sentence to Your Public Land Off-Road
“Lead, however, is not what Pearce wants to do. No, he's very much aligned with Captain Planet villain, and my Senator from Utah, Mike Lee, in his idiotic quest to sell off all of OUR public lands. And while there will be those who try to ameliorate Pearce's image, his background and voting history speak for themselves, and it's one of pure, unadulterated hatred toward public lands.”
Houston Chronicle: Trump cuts to National Park Service put public lands at risk
“If Americans truly love and support the NPS, tell your U.S. representative and your two U.S. senators that it’s unacceptable to treat NPS this way. Our national parks must be fully funded and have enough people to protect them.”
Community Impacts
National Parks Traveler: The Interior Secretary’s Damaging Disregard For National Park Science
“Last year Interior ordered the removal of signs at Acadia National Park in Maine that discussed climate change, and in recent weeks the department has ordered the removal of interpretive materials at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, Glacier National Park, and Muir Woods National Monument that explain aspects of climate change when it comes to sea-level rise and melting glaciers.”
National Parks Traveler: Judge Orders Park Service To Halt Changes To The President’s House Site
“A judge has barred the National Park Service from making any further changes or continuing the removal of items and exhibits at the President’s House site while the court considers a case brought by the City of Philadelphia.”
SFGate: ‘No timeline for restoration’: Another national park's lodgings close indefinitely
“The only hotel inside Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas has closed temporarily as park officials grapple with an ongoing water shortage. Chisos Mountains Lodge — a 72-room hotel in the Chisos Basin portion of the park, first built in 1964 — is the latest closure after a set of pumps that provide water to the area failed on Dec. 23.”
TravelHost: National parks are still celebrating Black History Month despite recent disturbing changes
“I believe it is necessary for the National Park Service to continue to follow tradition of honoring Black history in the parks as a way of celebrating civil rights leaders and sharing our honest American history. And luckily, they are doing just that.”
E&E News: ‘Horrifying’: Judge questions abrupt removal of slavery exhibits
“A federal judge in Philadelphia hammered Trump administration lawyers Friday, questioning the National Park Service’s abrupt removal of an exhibit on slavery last week from Independence National Historical Park.”
Stories on the Trail
@Public_Citizen: 13 companies seeking to mine our public lands spent $8.4 MILLION on lobbying over the past two years. These companies are threatening our national parks in order to increase their own private profits. And the Trump admin isn't just allowing it - they're encouraging it.
@LaikenJordahl: Congress is trying to wipe out one of Utah's National Monuments with a procedural trick. This would clear the way to hand much of Grand Staircase-Escalante over to extractive industry. Billionaires get richer while we get locked out of our public lands.
@americanhuntersanglers: Former Congressman Steve Pearce is Trump’s nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management, but new polling shows a vast majority of people — including Pearce’s fellow Republicans — oppose him. What have your senators said about SELLOFF STEVE?
Take a look at the data, then tell ‘em: Hell no!
@national_parks_traveler: A judge has barred the National Park Service from making any further changes or continuing the removal of items and exhibits at the President’s House site while the court considers a case brought by the City of Philadelphia. The city is arguing that the government wrongfully removed panels and exhibits without consulting the city as required under a Cooperative Agreement developed in 2006.
@opinion: Meet the White House’s newest mascot: Coalie. He’s a cute lump of coal that the administration hopes will sell its perverse energy agenda, says @markgongloff
The Crisis Continues:
The crisis continues to escalate across America’s 640-million-acre public lands system and is poised to get worse after Trump’s spending package, passed by Congressional Republicans, slashed some $267 million of previously committed funding for national parks. The National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent workforce since Trump took office, with some parks now operating without superintendents and at half-staff during peak visitation. Between Trump, DOGE, and Republicans’ draconian budget cuts, hiring freezes, and workforce reductions, the staffing shortages are forcing scientists, park rangers, and other safety personnel to clean toilets and pick up garbage instead of conducting critical work like ongoing maintenance and supporting visitor safety.
Save Our Parks documents and exposes conditions across America’s federal park and public lands system through monitoring reports, visitor testimonials, and accountability research. The campaign maintains comprehensive documentation through its website at SaveOurParks.us.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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