Victory: Interior Secretary signs mining ban at Yellowstone

Thanks in part to the activism of nearly 100,000 CREDO members, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recently signed a 20-year ban on new mining in a 30,000 acre area north of Yellowstone National Park.

If Sec. Zinke failed to act, it could have spelled disaster for one of our country’s most precious landmarks and could have opened up tens of thousands of acres of public lands at the northern gateway of America’s oldest and most iconic national park to aggressive gold, silver and other mineral extraction.

This huge victory proves once again that activism works and could pave the way for a permanent ban on mining in the region. With an administration determined to hand over public lands to Big Oil, mining and other extractive corporations, the massive pressure by CREDO members and our allies in the conservation and environmental communities was enough to force Sec. Zinke to side with the environment over corporate profits.