Washington, D.C. – League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski released the following statement on the Trump administration’s unprecedented move to sell out our public lands and waters:

“Secretary Zinke’s so-called review of parks and monuments has been a complete sham, with arbitrary criteria for ‘pardoning’ some national monuments while attacking others. This exercise was nothing more than a pretext for selling out our public lands and waters as a political favor to Big Oil and other special interests who want to pad their profits. We and millions of others across this country who cherish our majestic public lands and waters will fight these changes with everything we’ve got.

“Our public lands make America great. Closing off parks and monuments will mean less access for people to hike, fish, and camp, which hurts local economies that rely on tourism and outdoor recreation. It means risking the desecration of some of America’s most important archaeological treasures, including sites sacred to Native Americans. And it ignores the more than 2.7 million public comments submitted to the Department of the Interior by people across the country demanding that our public lands and waters remain fully protected, which represents more than 99 percent of the total number of comments received. Continuing to disregard overwhelming public opinion will only add to the crisis of governance and legitimacy that is rocking Donald Trump’s administration.”