Newly Proposed "Trump Interstate" Would Run Through Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Including Grand Teton National Park
Senators Cornyn (R-TX) and Lummis (R-WY) introduce bill to designate US-287 as I-47. Plus, Steve Pearce gets confirmed.
A Republican senator who’s up for reelection this November has just introduced a ridiculous bill that really only has one purpose: stroking the president’s ego—slapping his name on yet another type of construction.
On May 11, Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced the “I-47 Future Interstate Act”—officially known as S. 4484.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming), who’s in the last year of her term and won’t seek reelection in November, co-sponsored the bill.
The bill would designate US-287 as Interstate 47, which would also be called the “Trump Interstate.” Forty-seven is, of course, the number of the second Trump presidency.
I must point out, though, that the bill, in its current version, only calls for a name change and doesn’t appropriate any funds or mandate actual construction. It’s purely performative, yet still worth talking about.
Running from the oil refinery city of Port Arthur, Texas, to the small town of Choteau, Montana (population less than 2,000), U.S. Route 287 is the second-longest three-digit highway in the country.
“Texas is Trump Country, and this bill cements that legacy by designating nearly 1,800 miles of open-road from Texas’ Gulf Coast to the edge of the U.S.-Canadian border as I-47 to forever be remembered as Trump Interstate,” said Senator Cornyn in a press release.
Why am I writing about this?
Well, US-287—the future “Trump Interstate”—just so happens to run through the very heart of the greatest semi-intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
In fact, the highway runs literally through Grand Teton National Park in Senator Lummis’s Wyoming. In the far northern part of the park, it’s the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, which this bill would dub the “Trump Interstate.”
To make this very concrete, if this Cornyn-Lummis bill were to pass both chambers of Congress, one of the most famous views, and one of my favorite spots, in Grand Teton—Oxbow Bend—would be on the I-47 “Trump Interstate.”
If that’s sounds completely outrageous, that’s because it is.
US-287 officially stops at the South Entrance of Yellowstone National Park, where it becomes an unnumbered park road. The highway—the potential future Interstate 47—picks back up at the West Entrance in West Yellowstone, Montana.
From there, it runs through the heart of the Madison River Valley, “considered one of the most scenic pastoral dells in the Northern Rockies and home to a true world-class assemblage of wild megafauna and large protected ranchlands,” writes Todd Wilkinson in a characteristically lengthy and detailed article in Yellowstonian.
“Around 60 percent of the private land in the valley, which flanks the blue-ribbon Madison River, is protected by conservation easements and it has been identified as a vital wildlife corridor for thousands of elk, pronghorn, mule deer, moose, bighorn sheep as well as carnivores such as wolves, grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolverines and birds. Some of the animals move seasonally from Yellowstone National Park,” he writes. “All of the above already are threatened by an unprecedented onslaught of rural sprawl.”
Several locals are quoted in the article, which I strongly recommend reading.
Jeff Laszlo, for example, is a rancher who runs Granger Ranches, which is located along US-287 and is under a conservation easement. His work on restoring O’Dell Creek and other wetlands in the area is “one of the largest wetland revitalization projects in Montana history.”
Let’s just say that rancher Laszlo is less than enthused by the prospect of a Trump Interstate running alongside his property.
“Texas may be Trump Country but the Madison Valley consists of something much larger, going back to Theodore Roosevelt and before,” he told Wilkinson. “The idea that ‘progress at all costs’ is a positive is entirely wrong. Investing in what is left of our natural landscapes is an idea of greater vision and power. I-47 should be rejected as an unneeded and wrongheaded stunt.”
Mark Fiege is another skeptical local, who also happens to be a scholar in Western history.
“It is painful for me to envision what a new interstate would mean for the area in which I live, in which I have owned property and on which I have paid taxes for a quarter century, and the communities to which I owe my loyalty,” he said.
“Neighbors and family members losing property or suddenly finding their homes adjacent to continual noise, lights, and exhaust. Wildlife corridors severed. Elk, deer, and other animals obliterated by trucks. Acre upon acre, mile upon mile of subdivisions. Increased traffic into my town, Pony, as people from distant places come looking to carve up the landscape so they all can get their tiny piece of paradise.”
Greg Johnson and Kolby Fedore from Cowboy State Daily also reported on the “I-47 Future Interstate Act.” Their article quoted Sharon Cumbie, the mayor of Laramie, a rare Democratic corner of Wyoming.
Calling the bill “a political statement,” she said that an actual interstate “would be devastating. It might work for the people of Fort Worth, Texas, but not for Wyoming.” Her response to Senator Lummis’s sponsoring of the bill was that “[m]aybe she’s been in Washington too long.”
Lummis herself told Cowboy State Daily that “[u]pgrading U.S. 287 to an interstate designation means safer roads, faster freight movement, and more investment coming back to Wyoming. Naming it in honor of President Trump seemed only fitting, considering his love for rebuilding America’s roads and infrastructure.”
In his own statement announcing his bill, Senator Cornyn said that “[b]y upgrading one of our nation’s longest highways to a future interstate, this legislation will increase economic growth and improve safety, all while honoring the most consequential president of our lifetime.”
It’s important to know here that Cornyn is currently embroiled in a very competitive Republican primary race for reelection against the far-right MAGA attorney Ken Paxton. Their runoff election is on May 26.
Neither of the men have received the president’s endorsement at this point, but it’s fair to assume that Cornyn’s “Trump Interstate” bill is an attempt to pry a last-minute favor from the president.
So, while Cornyn is busying himself with naming a highway that mainly runs through other states as I-47, people in his own state of Texas are fighting tooth and nail to prevent a border wall and new roads from being built in Big Bend.
Despite fierce public outrage, he’s remained completely silent on that issue during the second Trump administration—no doubt to avoid triggering the president’s ire.
Meanwhile—as Senator Cornyn wants to designate a “Trump Interstate” through the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and allow his own constituents’ livelihoods and his own state’s wildlife migration routes to be destroyed by border construction projects—other politicians recently introduced a bill that does the exact opposite: create a National Wildlife Corridor System.
I wrote about that bipartisan bill elaborately here, but I just wanted resurface this because of how much of a landmark law that would actually be—if it gets passed.
Additionally, a final word on Senator Lummis, who’s yet another passionately anti-public-lands Republican in Washington, D.C.
In fact, she was the one who endorsed her “friend and former colleague” Steve Pearce for Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), making a passionate introductory statement at his Senate nomination hearing back on February 25.
In her statement, she said that “I’ll tell you absolutely, without a doubt, there is just no better person for this job than Steve Pearce.”
Today, May 18, after a months-long nomination process, the U.S. Senate confirmed Steve Pearce as BLM Director with a 46-43 vote.
As expected, the vote occurred entirely along party lines, with 46 Republicans voting “aye” and 43 Democrats and Independents voting “nay.”
“Trump Interstate” Cornyn (R-TX) was one of the eleven senators who did not vote. The others are: Bennet (D-CO), Cramer (R-ND), Curtis (R-UT), Durbin (D-IL), Fetterman (D-PA), Peters (D-MI), Risch (R-ID), Tillis (R-NC), Tuberville (R-AL), and Young (R-IN).
As we all know by now, Pearce is one of the most vehemently anti-conservation and anti-public-lands politicians and businessmen in America.
Based on his historic statements—“there’s too much public land in the West”—and unconvincing Senate testimony earlier this year—“I’m not so sure I’ve changed”—he’s objectively unqualified to lead that agency from a conservation perspective.
With Steve Pearce now at the helm of America’s largest public land management agency, we’ll almost certainly see an even bigger push to expand drilling and mining on public lands, as well as possible new (creative) attempts to transfer public lands to states or private entities.
It’s not unlikely we’ll start hearing talk about shrinking national monuments once again, either.
Finally, while Cornyn and Lummis’s “I-47 Future Interstate Act” is a performative joke, it still shows what Republican senators chose to focus on. It highlights how disconnected they are and where their priorities lie. It’s not with their constituents—that’s beyond obvious.
Meanwhile, the confirmation of Steve Pearce much more serious. Although this was entirely expected, we’ll now need to keep an even closer eye on the actions and developments at the BLM in the next few years.
“Steve Pearce’s confirmation vote is yet another blatant attack on America’s public lands. Congress has put a man who disdains federal land managers in charge of the BLM, just as the Trump administration has forced out much of BLM’s senior leadership. It will be even easier for Pearce to mismanage our public lands now that half of BLM state offices lack a state director,” said Aaron Weiss, Executive Director Aaron Weiss of the Center for Western Priorities.
“It’s telling that Senate leadership had to package Pearce’s vote with nearly 50 other nominees in order to get him confirmed. We will not allow self-proclaimed pro-public lands senators to shirk responsibility for this vote. The Senate Stewardship Caucus had a chance to stop Pearce from becoming BLM director, and they failed.”
Considering that the agency’s recent moves—even before Pearce was confirmed—included kicking bison off public lands in Montana, transferring millions of acres of public land to Alaska, and rescinding the Public Lands Rule, we can expect a lot of more of that, and worse, going forward.
Vote accordingly, folks.
Thanks for reading!
See you on our public lands and waters,
Bram
First photo: Wikimedia
Second photo: My own photo
Third photo: Wikimedia
Fourth photo: U.S. Senate