What if the larger political ideals are the story?
There’s been years of evidence that US traditional energy oligarchs (oiligarchs) wants to revert federally-protected parks to state control. So that each state can more easily sell off strip-mining rights to the highest bidder.
Regardless of the outcome of this standoff, it raises the political profile of any politician that wants to campaign against the current status quo of federally protected lands.
