WASHINGTON — During his speech in Pittsburgh, PA, President Biden outlined his economic vision for building back better with the American Jobs Plan – a path forward that will deliver on jobs, justice, and climate solutions through more than $2 trillion in investments in people and the economy. The plan invests in public lands via $16 billion in clean-up for abandoned oil and gas wells, $10 billion for a climate conservation corps to conserve lands and waters, and eliminates fossil fuel subsidies from the tax code.
Phil Francis, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, a group composed of more than 1,900 retired, former, and current employees of the National Park Service (NPS), with more than 40,000 years of collective experience managing and protecting national parks, issued the following statement in response:
“We applaud President Biden for his recognition that to truly Build Back Better, our nation’s public lands and national parks need to be a priority, as well as addressing climate change, investing in our transportation infrastructure, and creating good paying jobs.
“Providing relief for our public lands and the people who work to protect them will help to ensure the safety and preservation of our irreplaceable resources, our wildlife and the health of our communities–and will benefit Americans economically, as national parks and public lands support jobs and industry.
“We celebrate the President’s infrastructure plan and look forward to learning more about how this will help to protect our parks and public lands.”