Today’s Action: Oppose Trump’s Monsanto-pick for Fish and Wildlife Services Director

As to be expected, Trump’s latest nominee for his administration has an appalling track record for the job at hand.

Aurelia Skipwith, his selection for US Fish and Wildlife Services Director (FWS), is a former Monsanto employee, a biochemical company notorious for its vocal and financial opposition to the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, conservation, and probably best known for mass-murdering our bee population. Skipwith’s job at Monsanto: selling those products that work in direct conflict with what the FWS exists to protect.

And her other past employment? A lobbying firm, Gage International, fighting for California’s Westlands Water District, which (don’t be fooled by the name) has aggressively lobbied the federal government for de-regulation of environmental protections to increase farming profits.

Call or email your Senators and demand they strongly oppose Aurelia Skipwith for Director of Fish and Wildlife Services. Tell them her background and conflict of interests deem her absolutely unacceptable and unqualified for the position.

Skipwith is a lawyer with a master’s degree in genetics (in other words, no fish or wildlife training), and her past credentials alone make her a horrific choice to lead one of our federal safeguards for environmental protections.

And her unstated connections make her even more dangerous. Her fiancé is the founder of Gage International, the firm currently working to destroy central California’s environmental policy. Since they are not married, Skipwith was not required to reveal any of her fiancé’s work in her Senate hearing, leaving a gaping hole in just how much Skipwith will remain impartial in the battle over water and wildlife policy in California.

Which is to say, she won’t, if voted in. Skipwith needs to be stopped.

Email or call (202.224.3121) your Senators and tell them to vote down Aurelia Skipwith’s confirmation for Director of Fish and Wildlife Services. And even if Republicans don’t *want* to protect the environment, they will still understand what “clear conflict of interest” means.

PS: It’s Friday! Which means somewhere near you is a Fridays For Future rally, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg’s global movement to campaign for progressive climate policy. (No event near you? Initiate one!)