Sportsmen and women, all who use the outdoors, and the greater citizenry of the United States who believe that laws protecting clean water and clean air must be a priority – should be extremely concerned with this choice.
Without protection of clean air and water, the wildlife we love to hunt and the waters we love to fish will be adversely impacted. The EPA is tasked with protecting national human health and the environment. With someone who has fought the EPA’s efforts to accomplish this goal at its helm, we could see a further degradation of an already fragile western ecosystem.
Pruitt has ties to the fossil fuel industry and has fought efforts to combat climate change at every turn. Here in the Southwest, we are already seeing the impact climate change is having with increasing temperatures, extended periods of drought, and destructive forest fires. The changes in our environment have a profound impact on citizens and wildlife as water becomes more scarce. Read more about the water crises New Mexico faces as laid out in this NMSU study.
The same day the president-elect named Pruitt as the head of the EPA, Trump also commented that he would protect public lands for hunters and anglers and honor Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy. As Theodore Roosevelt famously stated, “To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so far as to increase its usefulness will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them.”
While Trump’s statement is encouraging, it is impossible to responsibly steward public lands if our environment is not healthy and protected as well. Rolling back years of work to combat climate change will only harm the public lands we all love to recreate on.
The New Mexico Wildlife Federation is not against responsible energy/mineral production and development, but we do stand in opposition to energy production at any cost. A balanced approach is needed when it comes to the management of our public lands, natural resources, and environment. Given the close ties Pruitt has to the fossil fuel industry, we are unlikely to see a balanced approach when it comes to environmental management, and will most likely see the interests of the moneyed few win out over what the vast majority of Western voters want.
As a bi-partisan community with unshakeable core conservation values, hunters and anglers are uniquely connected to our environment and landscapes. When we see threats to the places we hunt, fish, trap, hike, or camp in, we must speak up with one voice against these threats. NMWF will continue to closely watch how our federal lands are managed and how our environment is being protected. This position requires Senate confirmation. If you want your voice heard contact Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich today.
