This month, on the recommendation of his Interior secretary, President Donald Trump gutted a pair of protected national monuments in Utah, including coal-rich Grand Staircase-Escalante. The decision followed the controversial review of more than two dozen national monuments ― a process that public records reveal to have been overseen by the daughter of Frederick Palmer, the former executive of coal giant Peabody Energy and a current senior fellow at the conservative Heartland Institute. Downey Magallanes, Palmer’s daughter, is a 2012 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center who worked for seven years as a staffer for Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and now serves as Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s deputy chief of staff for policy. Magallanes was at Zinke’s side throughout his months-long monuments review. And her personal calendar shows she had several one-on-one meetings with Zinke to discuss the review in the days before Aug. 24, when Zinke submitted his draft report to the White House. Interior Department schedules and visitor logs make clear that Magallanes was a key figure in the agency’s review. She was on hand during a press call in April, when Zinke first announced details of Trump’s executive orders that initially threatened the future of 27 national monuments. During the briefing, Zinke introduced Magallanes as his adviser and said she was there to “help me answer questions if I cannot field them.” Magallanes traveled with Zinke to several monuments, including Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears, as part of his monuments “listening tour."...more
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