California lawmakers blast Trump’s push to open up protected desert lands

PALM SPRINGS (CNS) - A Coachella Valley congressman Friday, Jan. 15 joined other California lawmakers in criticizing a last-ditch effort by the Trump administration to open up millions of acres in the Southern California desert to mining, energy development and broadband infrastructure, a move environmentalists say would be catastrophic to desert wildlife populations. ``This eleventh-hour attempt by the Trump administration to open California lands to private mining companies is a threat to our environmental and human health, and would harm our desert ecosystem,'' said Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert. ``The decision would upend years of agreed-upon negotiations between local community and environmental organizations, renewable energy businesses and state stakeholders.'' Ruiz, whose distric