Biden creates two new national monuments to protect Pacific waters
President Joe Biden established two new national monuments and ordered a government review that could expand protected waters around remote Pacific Ocean islands, as he looks to burnish his record on conservation after approving an oil drilling project in Alaska.
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Biden said at the White House Conservation in Action Summit in the Department of the Interior on Tuesday that when we conserve our country s natural gifts, we are not just protecting the livelihoods of people who depend on them. We are protecting the heart and soul of our national pride. Our country's natural treasures define our identity as a nation. They are a birthright, he said. They are a birthright that we have to pass down generation after generation. Biden created the Avi Kwa Ame National MonumentAvi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada, which protects a sacred site for Native Americans, including the Fort Mojave tribe. Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain in Mojave, is located in the southern corner of the state, near the borders of Arizona and California.
The new Castner Range National Monument near El Paso, Texas, extends protections to the ancestral home of the Comanche and Apache that was subsequently used as a training ground for the military, according to a White House fact sheet.
More than a half million acres are protected by these national monuments.
Biden is also directing Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to create a new national marine sanctuary that would protect 777,000 square miles of US waters around islands in the central Pacific. The president wants Raimondo to initiate the effort within the next 30 days, suggesting that a project would likely be fast-tracked for approval.
That is an area larger than the Alaska and Colorado put together and three times the size of Texas. Biden said that there isn't a small amount of land underground. It would make it the largest ocean area on the planet with the highest level of protection. The plan, which was met with thunderous applause from the audience, would help the White House reach its goal of conserving 30% of US ocean waters by 2030.
The White House announced earlier this month that Biden was blocking oil leasing in Arctic waters and would propose other limits in Alaska, while also authorizing the ConocoPhillips'Willow oil project in the state. It's estimated that 600 million barrels of crude could be opened by wilt.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland defended the move last week, saying the approval of the Alaska project was rooted in decisions inherited from previous administrations.
Read more: Haaland Nods to Clean-Energy Challenges After Alaska Oil Uproar
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