As the court cases against top GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump continue to stall, it should come as no surprise that the federal government is attempting to mess around with the former president’s legacy.
In particular elements of his legacy that were beneficial to red states, like Alaska.
During the final months of Trump’s administration, several oil and gas leases were approved for drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness, as these activities serve as one of the primary economic activities for the state.
However, the Department of the Interior (DOI) apparently decided to abruptly cancel all seven of the remaining leases, thereby jerking a huge source of revenue for Alaska in a rather unexpected fashion.
“The federal government is determined to strip away Alaska’s ability to support itself, and we have got to stop it,” Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy remarked grimly.
Dunleavy is certainly trying, as the red state is current suing the federal government for canceling the leases on no legal grounds whatsoever.
On the contrary, the federal government’s actions were arguably illegal, or certainly massive overreach.
Predictably, the DOI cited exactly zero federal violations that warranted cancelling the leases.
Instead, the DOI lamely claimed that the leases approved under the Trump administration were allegedly “seriously flawed.”
Apparently, the Trump administration didn’t incorporate enough concern for the Green New Deal and other such globalist-driven objectives in his approval of leases that emphasize the economic well-being of Alaskans.
Needless to say, the DOI’s excuse is “seriously flawed,” especially when reviewing past cases of litigation Alaska has brought against the federal government.
Indeed, in 2021, Alaska sued the DOI in an effort to produce greater accountability from the federal agency, specifically with regards to the federal government’s own not very environmentally friendly activities.
Specifically, various tracts of land in Alaska are polluted from previous U.S. military activities, pollution that the federal government hasn’t bothered to clean up.
Or, for that matter, even make an accounting of, as creating a complete accounting of the polluted sites is one of the first steps necessary to fully addressing the issue.
And the federal government won’t even do that, despite being the source of pollution in the state.
Which Jason Brune, who serves as the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, noted in a rather pointed letter to the secretaries of Defense, Interior and Agriculture.
“The State of Alaska seeks your support in addressing contamination on at least 70 sites conveyed to the State of Alaska by the federal government. While some responsible federal agencies have been working with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the state landowners to address the contamination, others have not engaged in a serious effort to remediate sites. Moreover, even where agencies have engaged earnestly, significant funding limitations have hampered timely cleanup,” Brune noted.
And this is the same federal government that cancels oil and gas leases because of the “seriously flawed” approach to the environment, when they won’t even make an accounting of the polluted mess they left behind in Alaska.
Now that’s “seriously flawed” logic.
Author: Jane Jones
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