"Imagine, for a moment, oil and gas infrastructure carving up Alaska’s far northern tundra, a refuge for migrating caribou and polar bears. Copper-nickel mines on the doorstep of one of the largest wilderness areas east of the Rockies, a nearly 1.1m-acre (450,000-hectare) expanse of pristine lakes and forests full of loons, wolves and moose. Or uranium and coal exploration in once-protected landscapes, including areas bordering the Grand Canyon.
If Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, these projects will probably be on the table as part of an energy-dominance agenda focused on resource extraction. “We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in July as he officially accepted the Republican nomination at the party’s national convention in Milwaukee.
Indeed, early plans suggest that Trump aims to radically remake the Department of the Interior, which oversees more than 500m acres (200m hectares) of public lands, manages the country’s national parks and wildlife refuges, and is responsible for protecting endangered species. Whereas Joe Biden made safeguarding public lands and the transition to green energy a centerpiece of his time in office, Trump and his allies would reverse many of Biden’s policies, remake the civil service and implement a new agenda focused on slashing regulations, weakening environmental protections, and expanding oil and gas development across the American west."
Adam Federman and Jimmy Tobias report for the Guardian September 28, 2024. This article was produced in partnership with the non-profit newsroom Type Investigations, with support from the Wayne Barrett Project.
Advertisement 
