Trump agenda holds promise for Western public lands, coal

Trump policies can't be any worse for Western public lands than Obama's, Washington County, Utah's chairman says

The future of public lands management and U.S. energy policy could look very different under the Trump Administration, based on President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncements to date.

County News spoke with county commissioners from Western public lands and energy-producing states to get their perspectives and priorities.

Alan Gardner, chairman of the Washington County, Utah commission, said that Trump’s policies “can’t be any worse” than the current administration’s.

“I’ve been in a meeting with Donald Jr.,” Gardner said, referring to the president-elect’s eldest son, “and you can tell they just don’t have any experience in that, but they were willing to talk and to learn, and so I’m very optimistic that they’re going to be a lot more receptive once they understand the issues.” Trump Jr. has served as an advisor to his father on natural resources-related issues.

“It’s going to depend on the people he gets in there to run things,” Gardner said of Trump Sr.

Mariposa County, Calif. Supervisor Kevin Cann described himself as a “total moderate,” politically speaking, but added that he would love to see modifications made to the Endangered Species Act, where he believes the pendulum has swung too far in terms of the designation of critical habitat.

He cited the example of the yellow-legged frog and the Yosemite toad in the Yosemite area, where a few thousand acres of occupied habitat have resulted in millions of acres being designated as critical habitat.

“If we can get some moderation of that,” he said, “it will be very exciting for me and I think real progress ahead.”

On the environmental front, Cann is hopeful that with a single party in control of Congress and the White House, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers’ “Waters of the U.S.” rule can be put to bed once and for all. NACo opposes the rule, which would bring county-owned infrastructure such as roadside ditches, flood control channels and wastewater and storm water systems under stricter regulation by the Clean Water Act.

Throughout Trump’s campaign, he pledged to “bring back coal.” His  website says he will “reduce and eliminate all barriers to responsible energy production.”

Dan Mosley, Harlan County, Ky. judge executive, said, “It’s my hope that President-elect Trump will peel back the over-regulation of the EPA so that these miners can get back to work and enable them to provide for their families. Mosely would also like to see continued investment of federal resource to help distressed counties like Harlan in Appalachia.