Thread by @jeffisbluenow

Thread: Trump Chooses David Bernhardt, a Former Oil Lobbyist, to Head the Interior Dept. “Bernhardt was top interior official in the George W. Bush administration, went on to work for some of the country’s largest oil and gas companies. #climatechange

nyti.ms/2UEp9B6?smid=n…

“As a partner in the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, he lobbied for the oil companies Cobalt International Energy and Samson Resources. His legal clients have included the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Halliburton Energy Services.

“If confirmed, Mr. Bernhardt will lead a sprawling department that oversees the nation’s nearly 500 million acres of public land, including vast national monuments and protected wilderness areas. #conservation

”Already, in little more than a year as the department’s deputy, he has overseen numerous polices aimed at opening public lands and waters to mining, drilling, farming and other development.”

Oil production is hugely destructive of the environment. A few years ago, on the way from DFW to the Guadalupe Mtns Natl. Park, my friend and I drove through the massive Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil regions in the world. @ALTNPS

If the Permian was an OPEC country, it would be the 4th most productive, all on its own. Exploited for decades, fracking - hydrologic fracturing - and other advanced drilling techniques has created a massive boom in the #Permian.

This area of drilling is a wasteland. It’s mostly empty, to be honest. But it is thousands of square miles turned over to oil/gas exploration and extraction. Hundreds of miles of nothing but oil rigs, water stations, maintenance depots, and other equipment for drilling.

GMNP is a mountain range at the western edge of the Permian. The campground is at the base of the range, and the view is straight east, down across the vast area of the Basin.

That first night. Looking out, at night, the Basin looks like a city, from all the lights on derricks, and all the flares from natural gas burning off. It’s surreal. Like something out of a Mad Max movie. (Not my photo)

But take a look at the #devastation. GMNP is the red marker to the left of this photo (from Google Maps). Looking east (right in this pic), is the view we had. Pretty empty. Now go fire up your own maps view, start at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and scroll east.

Zoom in. This image shows the town of Andrews, at the junction of highways 385 and 176. Zoom in more. See the pockmarks? Thousands of light-colored spots? Drilling sites.

Here’s a close-up (again, not my photo). This is what drilling does to a landscape.

The Trump Administration plans to open all our coastlines to offshore drilling, as well as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A key factor in shrinking the Bears Ear Natl Monument in UT was the potential for oil drilling. They want to auction off 100s of thousands of acres...

...for drilling and coal mining in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. This is Trump’s priority: enabling oil and mining co access to land owned by the American people, or sovereign Native nations, at rock-bottom prices. That WY land? Leases sold for as little as $2/acre.

This is our land. This is our legacy. The Trump regime is selling it off for pennies, so oil and coal execs can make millions, while despoiling our land. The Permian Basin isn’t public, and it’s pretty desolate. But is this what we want for our national monuments? Coasts? Arctic?

@threadreaderapp #unroll please.

@threadreaderapp #unroll please