1. United States
2. Utah
3. Letter

As a Utahn I am very disturbed to hear about Utah's protected public lands being shrunk - agan. Then to make matters worse, the Trump administration's recent executive order to fast-track mining and clear-cutting on public lands under the guise of an "energy emergency" is a blatant disregard for environmental protection and sustainability. Can we please stop placing short-term profits over the health and well-being of citizens, future generations, and the planet? The further shrinking and degradation of Utah's public lands is not only bad for the environment, but also for Utah's economy. In 2022, tourism brought in $2.12B in tax revenue with over 150K jobs. Mining brought $79M tax revenue and only 11,000 jobs. Stop propping up the short-term profits of powerful but dying industries that destroy our air and water quality, help to speed up the catastrophic climate crisis we are in, and are a financial drain due to driving away tourism and heavy reliance on huge government handouts (subsidies). I for one am tired of this skewed and illogical priority of my elected officials, to the detriment of Utah's populace when you should be doing everything you can to protect our public lands , arguably the most beautiful and unique features of Utah. The executive's reckless overreach not only undermines existing environmental regulations but also continues dangerous circumvention of the democratic process. I demand that Congress take immediate action to denounce and overturn this illegal executive order, and rein in this reckless executive. Protect our lands, our health, our lifestyles and economy, and our democracy.