President Donald Trump’s administration is considering giving a section of the renowned Yosemite National Park to a private developer, a lawyer for the company confirmed to AFP on Friday (August 28, 2026).

The National Park Service has been holding talks with Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital to build an access road from an 83-acre private property just outside the park to Yosemite’s entrance, in exchange for land elsewhere, lawyer Lanny Davis said.

The news was first reported by the outlet NOTUS and caused an uproar among conservationists and opposition Democrats, who have fiercely objected to moves by the administration to roll back protections of public lands — including pushing to reinstate road building and logging in national forests.

But Mr. Davis, who described himself as a lifelong “progressive Democrat,” framed the road as a green move on the grounds that it would shorten trips to and from the currently undeveloped property, cutting emissions compared to the current circuitous route.

“Without a direct access route, every trip from the Hazel Green area requires a significantly longer drive — twice as long, at a minimum — on unpaved forest roads and thus more air pollution,” Mr. Davis said. “The new access road would be safer for drivers and generate substantially less vehicle emissions.”

He also stressed that the land exchange proposal — which would involve supplying Yosemite National Park with a parcel of land elsewhere — “is expressly provided for under federal law and will not reduce the land area of the park.”

The Interior Department earlier said negotiations had taken place but rejected the idea, reported by NOTUS, that there had been political pressure to reach a predetermined outcome.

“Any land exchange or access proposal involving National Park Service lands would be subject to all applicable federal laws, regulations and Departmental policies, including required environmental review and public notification processes,” the agency said, adding: “No final decisions have been made.”

Kingsbarn CEO Jeff Pori has business connections to people close to the President, NOTUS reported, and federal election commission records show he has made donations to the Republican National Committee and Trump-aligned fundraising committees.

‘Backroom deal’

The National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy organisation, called the move an unlawful “attack.”

“The Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle America’s conservation legacy are now taking aim at Yosemite with this secretive, backroom deal,” said Mark Rose, the group’s senior Sierra Nevada program manager.

The Yosemite NPS Employees Union said it was “appalled” by the ceding of public lands to private interests, calling the proposed trade “antithetical to what we stand for” as stewards of the park.

There was a previous proposal to develop a road through Yosemite when the 83-acre parcel outside the park had a different owner.

That plan was rejected under the administrations Republican George W. Bush and Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden, NOTUS said. Former owner Lewis Geyser sued and lost, first in a lower court in 2007 then at appeal in 2012.

First protected in 1864, Yosemite National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains is internationally acclaimed for its spectacular granite cliffs, glaciers, waterfalls, sequoia trees and wildlife.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff of California, a fierce critic of Trump, said in a statement: “Yosemite is one of California’s natural wonders, and must be protected from further development.

“The courts struck this project down once, but this administration appears hellbent on moving forward in the face of opposition from the public, Congress and the courts. But the only thing the administration cares about is whether there is money involved. We will fight this again.”

Deep-sea mining companies face a blizzard of litigation if they forge ahead with “unlawful” plans backed by U.S. President Donald Trump to dig critical minerals from the ocean floor, the head of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) told AFP on Friday (May 22, 2026).

The UN-backed body is tasked with setting regulations for deep-sea mining in international waters, and is currently drafting the founding set of rules for the polarising industry.

Frustrated after years of waiting for this legal framework, a string of companies have declared they will sidestep the authority and instead start mining using untested U.S. laws.

ISA Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho said she would “firmly consider this to be unlawful activity”.

“No entity alone, no country alone, no investor alone has the right to benefit or tap into resources in the areas outside of its jurisdiction,” she told AFP.

“I can envisage a big amount of litigation coming if this happens.

“This unilateral action will trigger many, many legal systems. And I hope this regulatory cacophony is not going to happen.”

Companies hope to earn billions by scraping the ocean floor for polymetallic nodules loaded with manganese, cobalt and nickel.

Surging demand for these critical minerals has been driven by the rise of electric vehicles, rechargeable batteries and durable alloys used in everything from construction to medicine.

Critics fear deep-sea mining will smother marine life with waste and the noise of heavy machinery will disrupt oceanic migrations.

Dozens of nations, including the U.K., France and Germany, have called for mining to be either permanently banned or temporarily halted until these environmental fears can be addressed.

While exploration for deep-sea mining is far advanced, no company or nation has started production on a commercial scale.

They have been forced to wait as the ISA’s 172 members hash out a detailed “mining code” covering everything from the safe operation of mining vessels to methods for measuring environmental damage.

‘Lose the race’

Mr. Trump upended this painstaking process in 2025, directing officials to fast-track permits for deep-sea mining in international waters.

Mr. Trump’s move was based on an obscure and untested U.S. law from 1980 which says that citizens can mine in the ocean as long as it lies outside America’s maritime territory.

Canada-based frontrunner The Metals Company was one of the first firms to announce it would seek U.S. approval for deep-sea mining.

Ms. Carvalho, a Brazilian oceanographer who was elected to head the International Seabed Authority in 2024, said the prospect of a legal showdown was one of the most troubling issues on her mind.

“This is one of the most important things that takes my sleeping hours, if I can be very honest,” she said.

“If they do it before the mining code and the legal framework is established, it’s unlawful.”

Ms. Carvalho spoke to AFP from Fiji, where she has been meeting with Pacific island leaders in a push to build consensus around the authority’s mining code.

There are fears that, if the ISA cannot adopt a comprehensive set of deep-sea mining rules, other nations will merely pass their own less-stringent regulations.

Ms. Carvalho said she hoped to have at least a basic mining code in place by the end of this year, warning that the ISA “might lose the race” if members did not act with urgency.

“I hope that this year is a year of resolution and decision. And if not this year, next year.”