All posts tagged "Interior Department"

A federal judge turned to a Dr. Seuss classic as she slammed the brakes on a Trump administration project in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday granted an emergency temporary restraining order barring the National Park Service from cutting down any more trees at East Potomac Golf Course. Quoting the plaintiffs' warning that "destroyed trees cannot be replaced," Reyes added in a footnote, "Just ask the Lorax."

Reyes had previously invoked the orange-haired, tree-loving Lorax during a September hearing for the same lawsuit to stop the Trump administration's plans for the golf course, saying, "I am not the Lorax, I do not speak for the trees."...

Sled dogs at Denali National Park are among the casualties of the Trump administration's decision to block more than $25 million already earmarked for the national parks, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

The Interior Department disapproved upward of 130 planned partnership agreements last month, killing projects at Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion and dozens of other sites before the money could be released for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the report found.

One of the rejected agreements would have hired three people to handle day-to-day care at Denali's kennel, the only working sled dog kennel in the entire park system, where rangers rely on dog teams for winter patrols. Without it, the documents warn, kennel operations lose essential support and patrol readiness suffers....

A lawyer who stood up to the Department of Justice and won in a high-profile case expressed shock when talking about it being revived.

During an appearance on CNN on Tuesday night, lawyer Norm Eisen spoke about the possibility of President Donald Trump's DOJ bringing back the case against Olympic canoer David Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. The case was dismissed last week, as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, led by Jeanine Pirro, said that the damage happened during installation.

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins asked Eisen about the possibility of the Trump DOJ bringing the case back, despite Pirro saying that the evidence pointed to a botched installation by the Interior Department, not Hearn, who constantly denied allegations that he ripped up the pool's liner....

The Trump administration has been accused of concealing evidence disproving, as they claim, that the Washington, D.C. Reflecting Pool was attacked by vandals, court records show.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation on Thursday filed an emergency motion against the Interior department to preserve evidence protected by a large fence while the Reflecting Pool is drained, Legal AF's Michael Popok reported Saturday.

"They just don't want to admit that they effed up the job because they didn't competitively bid it," Popok said of the Trump administration. "They didn't involve scientists."...

CNBC host Larry Kudlow this week dismissed a letter from the Interior Department warning about dangers to wildlife if the Keystone XL pipeline was completed, and instead speculated that it would be a good place for animals to "snuggle" for warmth.