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President Biden is expected to designate two new national monuments in California this week, which will block roughly 850,000 acres of tribal lands from future development.
After signing the new orders, Biden will have shut down development on more public lands than any other president in history besides the former president. Jimmy Carter, according to the Washington Post.
The move would establish a 644,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument located in the southern part of the state near Joshua Tree National Park, sources familiar with the matter said. While no public plans for the new memorial have been announced, sources have leaked details to the media, and the president’s public schedule shows he will travel to Southern California’s Coachella Valley on Tuesday, east of of the designated tribal land.
President Biden is expected to establish a new national monument in the Chuckwalla Valley, south of Joshua Tree National Park. (Watchara Phomicinda/MediaNews Group/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images)
In addition to Biden’s plans to designate a large swath of the Colorado desert located in southern California as a national monument, the president also plans to designate approximately 200,000 acres of land in northern California, near the oregon border, as a national monument. The measure would establish the Sáttítla National Monument and also prevent any future energy development in this area.
While environmentalists, tribal groups and Democratic lawmakers have urged Biden to designate these two new national monuments, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., has argued that designating the roughly 200,000 acres of land in Northern California is unnecessary because it is already protected. of the development, according to the local California news outlet, the Redding Record Searchlight. Also, he added, getting permits approved on Forest Service land is already difficult, and banning them even more could make fighting wildfires more difficult in the area because of a shortage of roads.
Pit River Nation President Yatch Bamford, Sáttítla – Medicine Lake Highlands, speaks at a rally to urge the Biden administration to expand national monuments and sacred lands, outside the U.S. Capitol on April 16, 2024. ( Getty Images)
The new monuments will be designated by Biden using his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows presidents to bypass Congress when seeking to protect lands and water for the benefit of the nation. Since the start of his presidency, Biden has already used his executive authority under the law to establish eight new national monuments, while expanding four more, the Washington Post reported.
BIDEN MOVE TO BAN 20-YEAR OIL AND GAS LEASES IN NEVADA, JUST WEEKS AHEAD OF TRUMP’S INAUGURATION
President-elect Trump he has promised to unleash the US’s national energy dominance during his next term. Meanwhile, in the final weeks and months before Biden leaves the White House, his administration has made efforts to bolster its green energy priorities in the face of any potential pushback from Trump.
Last month, the Biden administration released a report detailing the negative public impact on increased exports of liquefied natural gas, a move that experts say could provide fodder for environmentalists seeking to challenge the efforts of Trump to increase US energy production.
BIDEN ADMIN’S REPORT COULD SLOW TRUMP’S EFFORTS TO REMOVE DOMESTIC NATURAL GAS, EXPERTS SAY
Steve Milloy, a fellow at the Energy and Environmental Law Institute, said Biden’s latest national monument designation could serve the same purpose. “While Trump can undo whatever Biden does, Biden is trying to create litigation traps for Trump that will discourage investors from projects on public lands,” he said.
On Monday, Biden also used his executive authority to ban new oil and gas drilling off nearly every U.S. coast. “The decision to unilaterally block areas from future offshore oil and gas development is a strategic mistake, driven not by science or voter mandate, but by politics,” the National Ocean Industries Association said.
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Fox News Digital reached out the white house for comment, but did not receive a response by press time.
