No new oil and gas leases. No more shrinking monuments. Free entrance to national parks.
That鈥檚 what Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would do if she becomes president, according to a she is touting in Salt Lake City and Aurora, Colorado this week.
鈥淭he Trump administration is busy selling off our public lands to the oil, gas and coal industries for pennies on the dollar,鈥� Warren wrote in her plan. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 have to be this way.鈥�
Warren is the one of the first Democratic candidates to roll out a public lands plan. The issue gained national prominence after the Trump administration drastically reduced the sizes of Utah鈥檚 Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in 2017.
That decision is currently under litigation. Warren鈥檚 plan would restore protections for those national monuments.
It would also eliminate entrance fees for national parks which would make it easier for low-income families to enjoy iconic places like Yellowstone and Grand Canyon national parks, according to Warren鈥檚 plan.
But Jon Jarvis, former director of the National Park Service during the Obama administration, said the issue is more complicated.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not as simple as changing the fee structure,鈥� he said.
Low income families are often deterred by other, more expensive aspects of a trip to a national park, including gasoline costs and lodging. Entrance fees range from $10 to $35 per vehicle, according to the National Park Service.
鈥淚t鈥檚 cheaper than going to the movies, to be blunt about it,鈥� Jarvis said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been artificially depressed 鈥� to keep the fees down 鈥� to make sure it was not a deterrent.鈥�
The entrance fees help pay for essential services and maintenance backlogs at national parks, Jarvis said. In 2016, the National Park Service in visitor entrance fees. Those fees are a reliable source of revenue 鈥� especially when lawmakers fail to pass a budget and the government shuts down.
If Warren were to eliminate them as president, Jarvis said, Congress would need to replace the funds somehow.
鈥淲hile the president may propose such things, it鈥檚 Congress that appropriates,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o there would have to be a commitment on the part of Congress to replace those funds with federal appropriations.鈥�
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
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