Thread: California to take ‘swift legal action’ if Trump allows drilling at national monument

California to take ‘swift legal action’ if Trump allows drilling at national monuments

Gov. Jerry Brown is ready to sue the federal government if the Trump administration decides to allow drilling, mining or timber harvesting at national monuments in the Golden State.

The response, issued in a tweet by his top aide, isn’t the first time the Governor’s Office has threatened to take legal action against the White House since Donald Trump took office. It also may come as no surprise that the seasoned politician and staunch environmental advocate is choosing to dig in his heels to preserve the state’s majestic sequoias and over a million acres of unspoiled Mojave Desert from private development.

Trump campaigned on calls to allow more drilling and mining on federal land and signed an executive order to review national monument designations in April. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has until today to recommend the White House shrink or eliminate 21 national monuments across the country.

In California, the fates of Berryessa Snow Mountain, Carrizo Plain, Giant Sequoia, Mojave Trails and the San Gabriel Mountains are unknown.

Legal experts question whether Trump has the authority to revoke a monument status granted by previous presidents, while generally agreeing that he can shrink boundaries.

In a letter to Zinke, Brown argued that the economic benefits of some of the monuments outweigh the costs to maintain them and the potential boon from private development.

“But their value is more than economic,” Brown wrote. “Beyond the benefits to local communities, the enhancement of biodiversity and the cultural, aesthetic and even spiritual value of preserving these lands is incalculable.”

California to take 'swift legal action' if Trump allows drilling at national ...

I'm on the side of preservation.

Leave the oil there, it will be there if and when we truly need it.

We are awash with oil in this country. As long as oil is so plentiful it can be exported, we don't need to destroy any more of our environment to get more.