Latest news with #Westerners'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Over 100 conservation organizations urge US Senate to stop sale of public lands
SALT LAKE CITY () — More than 100 conservation organizations on Monday to prevent the sale of over 500,000 acres in federal public lands across Nevada and Utah. The letter, which includes several Utah-based nonprofits, comes after it was reported that Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said he would try to allowing the public lands sale to the 'big, beautiful' budget bill. The provision was first added by Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2) and Mark Amodei (R-NV-2) before it was that passed the House of Representatives in late May. In their letter, the 113 organizations said the public had no opportunity to identify what lands would be up for sale and had no time to understand the long-term effects of any potential sale. The letter reads, in part, 'Polling has repeatedly shown that the public – especially westerners – strongly believes in keeping public lands in public hands and, across partisan lines, rejects any efforts that would lead to the sale of these shared and cherished lands. The Senate should heed how dramatically unpopular this idea is and reject any misguided attempt to get public lands sales back in this bill.' Senator Lee responds to the Trump-Musk feud ABC4 has reached out to Sen. Lee's office for comment and has yet to hear back at the time of publication. Critics opposing the authorization of the public lands sale say public lands are part of the country's heritage and are places for people to be in nature. 'America needs these beautiful places for wildlife, people, clean air and clean water,' said Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity. 'Sen. Mike Lee is trying to ram public land sell-offs down Westerners' throats, and we won't stand for it.' Travis Hammill, the DC director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), previously criticized Sen. Lee's intent to re-add the provision to the budget bill, calling him a 'true outlier' in the U.S. Senate. Taylorsville waterline replacement project receives $1.6 million from EPA 'His apparent intention to include a public lands sell-off provision in the budget bill, which was fiercely opposed in the House, is wildly out of step with what Americans have made clear that they want to see: federal public lands remaining in public hands,' said Hammill. 'These are the places people recreate with their families, they are places to hunt and fish, and they are held in trust for the American people to enjoy for generations to come.' City officials in Utah have previously told that, if approved, any federal lands purchased by the city would be used for a 'variety of purposes.' St. George, for example, said lands would be used to protect well sites near the Gunlock Reservoir and secure lands for future expansions of the St. George Regional Water Reclamation Facility and the St. George Regional Airport. Officials also indicated that a small percentage of land would be used for the construction of affordable housing. However, SUWA warns that the current language of the provision would allow for the federal lands to be sold for golf courses, luxury resorts, strip malls, or simply to be flipped and sold again. Here's why a Pleasant Grove splash pad is now closed shortly after opening Father's Day gifts to make dad feel loved ICE arrests top 100K under Trump 'Soonest available date': State moves to hold execution warrant application hearing for Menzies Locally-written theater production opening in Utah Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
An ingredient in Coca-Cola may be funding Sudan's war
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Westerners' consumption of a little-known tree gum – used in everything from Coca-Cola and Nestlé pet food to L'Oréal lipsticks and M&M sweets – could be funding both sides in Sudan's bitter civil war. Gum arabic, derived from the sap of acacia trees, is widely used as a stabiliser, thickener and binding agent. For global billion-dollar consumer companies, "uninterrupted access to this key ingredient is non-negotiable", said financial news site Finshots. About 80% of the world's gum arabic is harvested in Sudan, where the acacia trees stretch from border to border. But the sap is "increasingly being trafficked from rebel-held areas" of the war-torn nation, industry sources told Reuters. This is "complicating Western companies' efforts" to disengage their supply chains from the devastating conflict. Humans have been making use of gum arabic for millennia, wrote biotechnology professor Asgar Ali in The Conversation. The earliest recorded use dates back to 2000BC, when ancient Egyptians "employed it in foodstuffs, hieroglyphic paints and mummification ointments". The gum's "distinct qualities and water solubility" mean it's used today across a range of sectors, including medicines, cosmetics, textiles, and food and drink. And Sudan, with its "vast acacia forests" and "liberalised" market, is a "significant producer" and "key player in the processing and export". But, for decades, Sudan's gum arabic industry has "faced political instability, civil conflicts and economic challenges". Since the start of the current war, exports have been "severely affected". If the fighting continues, stockpiles could run out. When the US sanctioned Sudan in the 1990s for its then leader Omar al-Bashir's alleged support for terrorism, president Bill Clinton created a special exemption, known as E414, for trade in gum arabic. A decade later, when Sudan increasingly "faced Western pressure and sanctions over the bloody conflict in Darfur", gum arabic was used as "leverage", said Al Jazeera. Sudan's ambassador to the US "famously held up a Coca-Cola bottle at a news conference and declared: 'I can stop that gum arabic, and all of us will have lost this'". After 2009, "international pressures to liberalise the trade" from government control increased, said Finshots, and private entities "entered the picture". Then civil war broke out in April 2023 between the government's Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary rebel group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). And, last year, the RSF – who have been accused of ethnic cleansing and genocide – "gained extensive control of the trade" and the gum-harvesting regions. Now, the sap has become "a key source of funding for both sides", said The Wall Street Journal. "AK-47 toting" RSF fighters control the major agricultural routes, and collect money from traders, while the Sudanese military, which runs the de-facto government, "levies taxes and other tariffs". Proceeds from exports are "directly financing this fighting", said Sudanese academic Rabie Abdelaty. But few Western companies are taking active steps to avoid Sudanese gum arabic, said the paper. Some have argued that doing so would "hurt hundreds of thousands of Sudanese who depend on the sap for their livelihoods", against the backdrop of growing famine. But it is also logistically difficult. The raw product is "making its way to Sudan's neighbours without proper certification", sources told Reuters. Recently, traders in countries with lower production, such as Chad and Senegal, or which "barely exported it before the war" – Egypt and South Sudan – have begun to "aggressively" offer it at cheap prices, "without proof it is conflict-free". "Today, the gum in Sudan, I would say all of it is smuggled," said Herve Canevet, global marketing specialist at food-ingredients supplier Eco-Agri, "because there's no real authority in the country." Both Nestlé and Coca-Cola declined to comment to Reuters, while L'Oréal and M&Ms maker Mars "did not return requests for comment".
Axios
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Poll: Voters in 8 Western states oppose Trump cuts to federal public lands agencies
President Trump's efforts to dismantle agencies that manage public lands and develop wilderness areas are deeply unpopular in the American West, a new poll shows. Why it matters: The bipartisan Conservation in the West survey, released Wednesday, is the first to measure the region's reaction to the Trump administration's move days earlier to cut thousands of national park, forest service and Bureau of Land Management workers. The big picture: The overwhelming support for public lands and the agencies that manage them is reflected throughout the Mountain West. In the eight states polled, a large majority — including among self-identified MAGA Republicans — oppose funding cuts to federal public land agencies, and prioritize conservation over oil and gas drilling by the widest margin in the poll's 15-year history. 87% want career professionals to make decisions about public lands, water and natural resources rather than Trump administration appointees. What they're saying: Public lands "are an essential part of the fabric of Westerners' lives," said Dave Metz, a Democratic pollster who co-conducted the survey. "This is something that really makes this region of the country unique." Zoom in: By the highest margins ever, Colorado voters prefer land conservation over oil and gas development. This comes as the BLM is considering a December sale of 61 parcels totalling 51,068 acres for oil and gas leases. By the numbers: 80% of Colorado registered voters oppose slashing funding to federal public lands and environmental agencies, the poll found. Reducing the size of national monuments is even more unpopular in Colorado now with 92% opposed, compared to 83% in 2017. Zoom in: Colorado voters universally reject energy development on public lands. In particular, 67% oppose removing protections for the Thompson Divide on the Western Slope to allow oil and gas drilling. 75% want the federal government to take more action to reduce carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. Between the lines: Democratic and Republican polling firms conducted the survey Jan. 3-17 — before Trump took office — but the president's approach toward public lands was widely known. The survey has a plus-or-minus 4.9-percentage-point margin of error at the state level and 2.46-point margin among the eight Mountain West states polled. The poll is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
