Professor Frank Publishes Op-ed in Sacramento Bee on Trump and National Monuments

Professor of Environmental Practice Richard Frank ’74 published an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee on President Trump’s proclamations that have exposed Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah as well as other national monuments around the country to environmentally damaging mining and drilling.

“Trump’s actions were not only an assault on the environment, history, and natural beauty of Utah, but on protected lands across the nation,” writes Frank. “California’s national monuments could very well be next on the chopping block.”

Trump’s actions have not gone unopposed, and a bill has been introduced in the Senate that would protect national monuments and codify their boundaries, Frank stated.

“The future of national monuments should not be perpetually cast under a dark cloud of uncertainty, subject to the political whims of an administration intent on selling public lands to special interests for economic exploitation,” Frank writes. “Senators Feinstein, Harris, and their colleagues deserve thanks for their efforts to protect our cherished public lands. All Californians should support those efforts.”

Frank is a leader in the field of environmental law and the founding Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.