Young, right-leaning activists trying to green the GOP are colliding with a White House that is selling off public lands and gutting climate rules.
Lois Parshley reports for Grist.
In short:
- The Bureau of Land Management plans to transfer two million acres along Alaska’s Dalton Highway to the state, likely opening the boreal forest to mining and roads.
- President Trump’s “Make America Beautiful Again” order sets up a stewardship commission, yet his administration is shrinking monuments, reopening fossil-fuel leasing, and weakening the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's carbon authority.
- Benji Backer’s new group, Nature Is Nonpartisan, and the American Conservation Coalition tout market-based fixes, but their $2.65 million push to preserve clean-energy tax credits was mostly erased in Congress.
Key quote:
“You’ve got to watch what they’re doing, not just what they’re saying."
— Christine Todd Whitman, former EPA administrator under President George W. Bush
Why this matters:
The clash highlights a rift that could shape both the landscape and the climate for decades. Public lands in Alaska’s interior store vast amounts of carbon and shelter caribou, salmon, and countless migratory birds; turning that tundra into a mining district would release greenhouse gases and disturb one of North America’s last intact ecosystems. At the same time, rolling back clean energy incentives and methane limits keeps the United States tied to oil and gas even as temperatures, wildfire smoke, and insurance losses mount. Polls show most Americans support conservation, yet partisan messaging still drives policy. Whether conservative voices can realign their party with basic ecological safeguards may determine the nation's ability to continue moving toward a safer, healthier future.
Related: Trump reshapes public land policy to favor industry over conservation
