U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is urging Californians to be heard when it comes to preserving the state's marine sanctuaries.
Two years after President Barack Obama expanded California's marine sanctuaries, including Monterey Bay, President Donald Trump intends to try to reverse the designation.
Trump's proposal would not only affect California's offshore spaces, but it would impact underwater sanctuaries from across the nation.
The Commerce Department quietly published a notice in the federal register as part of Trump’s America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, an executive order he signed in April, according to the Washington Post.
Among the monuments and sanctuaries designated and expanded in the past decade by former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush that could be reduced are the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off Hawaii, Rose Atoll Marine National Monument off American Samoa and the Thunder Bay Marine Sanctuary off Michigan, the newspaper said.
Trump says his policy clears the way for jobs in energy, presumably oil drilling.
This week, the public comment period on the proposal opened, and Feinstein is urging Californians to go online to the federal register and "click the green button."
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Written comments must be submitted by July 26.
