Pam Bondi's DOJ gifts Trump permission to develop and mine the nation's National Monuments.

[Tonk]

Psst, the Trump Administration does not want you to know that they intend to destroy the country's natural wonders that have been saved by the Antiquities Act, used by most previous administrations to leave a legacy of keeping natural areas, lands considered sacred to Native Americans, and war sites from development and destruction.

Inside Climate News:

The Department of Justice, in an opinion issued Tuesday, argues President Donald Trump has the power to review and eliminate national monuments to make way for development and resource extraction on public lands—walking back a previous opinion from the department that found only Congress can dismantle a national monument.

Since Trump took office, his administration has touted the idea of shrinking or eliminating national monuments his predecessors created. Tuesday’s opinion, which stems from a White House request after it attempted to eliminate two monuments earlier this year, has no influence on case law that has upheld the protection of national monuments, but it does offer insight into how the Trump administration is likely to justify dismantling protected areas in court.

Presidents have the power to create new national monuments using the Antiquities Act. Signed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, the law was used to first protect the Grand Canyon and other areas before they became national parks, with more than 160 areas having been protected. The opinion comes just days after rallies were held across the country calling for the continued protection of national monuments.

In her ruling, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit stated :

"From these modest beginnings, the President’s authority under the Antiquities Act has come to be described as ‘one of the most sweeping unilateral powers available to a chief executive. Without any congressional approval, formal studies, or public participation,’ Presidents have used that power to withhold vast swaths of the American land and seascape from potentially beneficial economic use by designating over 100 national monuments, the largest of which spans 582,578 square miles or 373 million acres.

As noted in the article, the Antiquities Act does not mention that a President has the authority to reduce the size or eliminate cultural, natural, or tribal lands. Only Congress can do that, and it has never done so since the passage of the act.

Environmental groups and Tribes promise a furious push back against Trump's plan to destroy the nation's treasures. For now, it is just an opinion from some MAGA in the DOJ.

NEW: A strong majority of voters (68%) oppose the Trump administration’s proposal to shrink the size of six national monuments.

— Data for Progress (@dataforprogress.org) 2025-05-28T13:57:11.089Z

[gab13by13]

1. So Krasnov is going to sell off millions of acres of public land

Magats will use the sale as an excuse to give the super rich 4.7 trillion dollars. Will Krasnov put the money from the sale of our land into the treasury or will he put it in his Sovereign Wealth Fund?

His fossil fuel and logging buddies will make a fortune, and so will he, at our expense.

Maybe the sales will be done in crypto?

[Tonk]

2. Yes, he's after the National Parks and National forests so the whole trifecta.

An oligarch's wet dream.

[Bohunk68]

3. Wet dreams are what Putinfluffer fucks up.