Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Stop Trump's attack on Native lands. No drilling in Chaco Canyon

The petition to the Bureau of Land Management reads: "Protect one of our nation's most significant cultural and historical Native sites. Stop fracking across the Greater Chaco Landscape." Add your name:

The Bureau of Land Management is putting up for lease pristine areas in the Greater Chaco Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and ancestral home for the Hopi, Navajo, and Pueblo people, threatening ancient tribal sites, posing a significant health and safety risk to communities in the area, and exacerbating the climate crisis.The Trump regime is conspiring once again with the oil and gas industry to destroy our public lands, and if we don't act now, one of our nation's most significant cultural and historical Native sites could be erased. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, who oversees the BLM, is a former oil and gas lobbyist, so it's no surprise that he and others in Trump's pro-fossil fuel administration are quickly pushing the sale of new fracking leases and more fracking wells. We must speak out now to prevent more industrialized fracking from moving forward. Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Protect Native lands. No drilling and fracking in the Greater Chaco Landscape. Click here to sign the petition. The areas in Greater Chaco Landscape contain the threatened ruins of Chaco Canyon – what some have referred to "as close as the U.S. gets to Egypt’s pyramids and Peru’s Machu Picchu" — as well as "the remnants of great houses, kivas, ancient roads and sacred places built a millennium ago by an indigenous people who became proficient in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts."1,2 Today, the Diné or Navajo people, rely on the Chaco Landscape to sustain their livelihoods and traditional practices and modern New Mexican Pueblos, the descendants of Chaco culture, still consider these sites sacred.3 More than 91% of the area around Chaco Canyon has already been leased to the oil and gas industry, yet Sec. Bernhardt and his Big Oil cronies are eager to wipe out the last remaining protected sacred areas with dangerous drilling and fracking techniques. The democratically-led House of Representatives recently passed an amendment to a spending bill that included a one-year moratorium on drilling in the area, yet it's unclear whether the Republican-controlled Senate will include the provision in their version, and BLM continues to approve more fracking in the area.4 That's why pressure on the BLM is so important right now. Activism to stop drilling in the Greater Chaco Landscape works.5 Thanks to local leaders fighting on the ground in New Mexico in 2018 and the more than 178,000 CREDO members who took action, then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke canceled a proposed oil and gas lease sale in Chaco Canyon. Now we must speak out again to stop rampant fracking once and for all. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/chaco-drilling-2019?t=9&akid=33332%2E3130208%2EyUKdx- - Josh Nelson, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Elizabeth Miller, "'As close as the US gets to Egypt’s pyramids': how Chaco Canyon is endangered by drilling," The Guardian, Nov. 8, 2017. Richard Moe, "The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling," The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2017. Sen. Tom Udall, "Udall, Heinrich, Luján Urge Secretary Zinke to Defer All Leases on Land Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park," Sept. 6, 2017. Hannah Grover, "An appropriations bill includes a one-year moratorium on leases near Chaco," Farmington Daily Times, June 26, 2019. Stephanie Lavallato, "Victory: Chaco Canyon saved from fossil fuel drilling," CREDO Mobile, March 7, 2018.

Tell BLM: Protect public lands by stopping to its coal mining plans

END COAL’S TOLL ON OUR PUBLIC LANDS

In April, the Trump administration’s decision to reopen our public lands for coal mining leases was ruled illegal in federal court because it did not consider any science or public input. Now the administration is once more trying to hawk our public lands, but is again ignoring the science and attempting to shut out public input.

The science is clear on the devastating impact that coal mining has on our air, our water, and our climate, and an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose destroying our priceless public lands for the dirtiest form of energy. We need you to speak up now: We only have until June 6 to tell the Bureau of Land Management that our public lands aren’t for sale to coal mining companies.

The Obama administration froze coal leasing on public lands in 2016. When President Trump reversed the moratorium shortly after taking power, Earthjustice took his administration to court and won.

But the administration did not respond to the court’s ruling with a sincere analysis of the harmful impacts of federal coal leasing and of the clean and safe alternatives for meeting our energy needs. Instead, BLM launched a rushed and superficial process which concluded that reopening our public lands to coal mining has “no significant impact.”

The administration’s conclusion is not only willfully wrong — it’s dangerous: 11% of all U.S. climate pollution comes from federal coal production, and burning coal continues to harm our air, our water, our families, and our wildlife — all while cheaper, renewable energy options abound.

Tell BLM to protect people, public lands, and our future by putting a stop to its latest coal mining plans.

- Earth Justice

MORE INFORMATION:

Judge Rebukes Trump's Attack on Public Lands, Rules Coal Mining Push Illegal - Eco Watch, April 22, 2019

Under Trump, Coal Mining Gets New Life on U.S. Lands - New York Times, August 6, 2017

UPDATE: Ironwood National Forest. Ask your Representative to vote NO on GOSAR Amendment 63

Ironwood Forest National Monument, Photo by Bob Wick

We need your help in the next few hours. Today, Wednesday July 18, Congress is anticipated to be voting on a measure that would deeply undercut Ironwood Forest National Monument.

Representative Paul Gosar (AZ) filed an amendment to the Department of Interior Appropriations bill. Gosar’s amendment would bar funds to carry out the Ironwood Forest National Monument proclamation. In other words, the amendment would tie the hands of the Bureau of Land Management (which is in the Department of the Interior) and prevent them from managing the lands within Ironwood Forest National Monument so as to protect the objects the monument was designated to protect.

The amendment is as follows:

None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to carry out Proclamation 7320 entitled ‘‘Establishment of the Ironwood Forest National Monument’’ issued by the President of the United States on 5 June 9, 2000.

Text – H.R.6147 – 115th Congress (2017-2018): Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2019

Proposed amendments to H.R. 6147 (opens as a PDF)

UPDATE: Ironwood National Forest Saved!

This brazen attempt is not only a grave danger to our monument, but would also set a precedent leaving other monuments open to this kind of fiscal attack.

In addition to natural resources and scenic landscapes, Ironwood Forest National Monument protects Tohono O’odham traditional lands. This cultural landscape includes numerous ancestral places, rock art sites, and trails, including an O’odham pilgrimage route to San Xavier Mission that was in use as recently as the early twentieth century.Ironwood Forest National Monument.

Individual voices are critical in times like this. Please take two minutes right now to dial your representative and ask them to vote NO on GOSAR Amendment 63 regarding Ironwood Forest National Monument.

Key AZ representatives to contact regarding your opposition to the amendment are Paul Gosar himself (202-225-2315), Martha McSally (202-225-2542), Tom O’Halleran (202-225-3361) and Kyrsten Sinema (202-225-9888).

Ironwood Forest National Monument is in Representative Raul Grijalva’s district, and he opposes the amendment. Show your support for his opposition to Gosar Amendment 63 by calling his D.C. office at 202-225-2435.

Here is a short script you may use to share your opposition with these representatives:

Hello, my name is XXX and I live in [CITY].

I am calling to ask [Representative] to vote NO on Gosar Amendment 63 and its attack on our national monuments. The Ironwood Forest National Monument was designated 20 years ago. It is a significant cultural landscape in Arizona that belongs to all Americans. Amendment 63 constitutes a clear threat to the monument and the resources it protects.

Thank you for your time.

Again, those numbers are:

Gosar: 202-225-2315

McSally: 202-225-2542

Tucson office: 881-3588

O’Halleran: 202-225-3361

Sinema: 202-225-9888

Grijalva: 202-225-2435

To learn more about the monument:

Ironwood Forest National Monument, www.blm.gov/visit/ironwood

Friends of Ironwood Forest National Monument, ironwoodforest.org

- Archaeology Southwest

Explore the News
Preservation Archaeology Blog

Submit a Comment to the Bureau of Land Management: Don't Weaken Methane Pollution Protections

The receding Grinnell Glacier at Glacier National Park. © Ballllad | Dreamstime.com

The Trump administration is disregarding hundreds of thousands of American voices -- including the U.S. Senate -- and pushing ahead with a plan that would allow industries on federal and tribal lands to release more methane gas into the environment. Methane is a major contributor to climate change.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing our national parks.

Take action now! Tell the Trump administration that you oppose its plan to put our planet, national parks and human health at risk by weakening protections for methane pollution.

Important: This action alert will allow you to submit your comments directly to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) through regulations.gov. After completing the contact information form, accept the regulations.gov privacy policy and click the “Next” button. You will see a form containing a draft comment which you can personalize and then submit to BLM via regulations.gov

Please, consider personalizing your comment so they don't have an excuse to throw it out. 

TAKE ACTION: TELL SECRETARY ZINKE UPHOLD THE METHANE WASTE RULE

Last month we won a major victory for the climate, clean air and taxpayers. A federal court rejected the Trump Administration’s attempt to suspend a commonsense rule requiring oil and gas operators who drill on public lands to capture their methane waste and air toxics instead of pumping them into surrounding communities.

But on the same day the court issued the ruling, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke launched his third attack on this safeguard, this time proposing to scrap the rule’s protections for good.

Earthjustice is still fighting to protect the rule, and we need your help again. Last month’s court decision was in part because the Bureau of Land Management did not provide for a meaningful opportunity for you—the public—to comment on suspending the rule.

Tell Secretary Zinke that we need strong protections from methane waste right now.

This rollback takes direct aim at the health and safety of tens of thousands of Americans living near oil and gas operations. In their communities, natural gas is leaked and vented into the air, causing smog and asthma attacks and releasing toxic air pollutants like formaldehyde and benzene. Gas flares rumble like jet engines and make the nighttime look like bright summer days.

Repealing this commonsense protection is another shameless giveaway of taxpayer resources and an assault on the air and health of communities just to appease the Trump administration’s corporate fossil fuel donors.

The BLM’s current Methane Waste Prevention Rule puts millions of dollars into the public coffers. When oil and gas companies leak, vent or flare publicly-owned gas on public lands, the rule requires companies to pay back the public for their wasteful practices. Without the rule in place, BLM’s own analysis shows that oil and gas companies will waste 180,000 tons of methane each year—deliberately venting, leaking, or flaring $824 million worth of publicly-owned natural gas into the air over the next decade.

Methane waste is a simple problem to solve. The Waste Prevention Rule requires drillers to use proven, low-cost solutions to capture publicly-owned natural gas that otherwise would be flared, vented, or leaked into the air.

Americans have fought for years to protect these vital clean air protections and we won’t back down now. Tell Secretary Zinke to keep the methane waste rule and protect our health and clean air.

- Earth Justice

READ MORE: Trump Admin Just Lost Another Attempt to Nix Commonsense Rules on Methane

Add your voice: tell Secretary Zinke to stop the waste, don't gut the methane waste rule

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed eliminating the Bureau of Land Management's methane waste rule, a key wish of the oil and gas industry. This common sense policy requires companies to reduce the venting and flaring of natural gas, giving taxpayers a fair share for publicly-owned resources.

Click here to submit the your personalized version of the following message:

(They have been throwing out identical form letters....) 

Stop the waste: Don't gut the methane waste rule

Dear [elected official],

I strongly oppose the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to effectively eliminate safeguards that reduce methane waste from drilling operations on public lands.

For too long, oil and gas companies have vented and flared natural gas unchecked, polluting our air and wasting taxpayer-owned resources. Recently, taxpayers have lost as much as $23 million each year in royalty revenue due to methane waste.

Leaving in place the existing safeguards will ensure that companies detect and fix natural gas leaks—resulting in a fairer return for taxpayer-owned resources. Leading companies have confirmed they can use available, low-cost technologies to do the job, giving them more natural gas to sell.   

Once again, I oppose effectively eliminating the BLM’s methane waste safeguards. I urge you to look out for American taxpayers by enforcing existing safeguards that reduce natural gas waste from drilling on lands owned by all of us.

- Center for Western Priorities 

PUBLIC COMMENT TIME: UPHOLD THE METHANE WASTE RULE TO PROTECT OUR HEALTH AND CLEAN AIR

Last month we won a major victory for the climate, clean air and taxpayers. A federal court rejected the Trump Administration’s attempt to suspend a commonsense rule requiring oil and gas operators who drill on public lands to capture their methane waste and air toxics instead of pumping them into surrounding communities.

But on the same day the court issued the ruling, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke launched his third attack on this safeguard, this time proposing to scrap the rule’s protections for good.

Last month’s court decision was in part because the Bureau of Land Management did not provide for a meaningful opportunity for you—the public—to comment on suspending the rule. Tell Secretary Zinke that we need strong protections from methane waste right now.

This rollback takes direct aim at the health and safety of tens of thousands of Americans living near oil and gas operations. In their communities, natural gas is leaked and vented into the air, causing smog and asthma attacks and releasing toxic air pollutants like formaldehyde and benzene. Gas flares rumble like jet engines and make the nighttime look like bright summer days.

Repealing this commonsense protection is another shameless giveaway of taxpayer resources and an assault on the air and health of communities just to appease the Trump administration’s corporate fossil fuel donors.

The BLM’s current Methane Waste Prevention Rule puts millions of dollars into the public coffers. When oil and gas companies leak, vent or flare publicly-owned gas on public lands, the rule requires companies to pay back the public for their wasteful practices. Without the rule in place, BLM’s own analysis shows that oil and gas companies will waste 180,000 tons of methane each year—deliberately venting, leaking, or flaring $824 million worth of publicly-owned natural gas into the air over the next decade.

Methane waste is a simple problem to solve. The Waste Prevention Rule requires drillers to use proven, low-cost solutions to capture publicly-owned natural gas that otherwise would be flared, vented, or leaked into the air.

Americans have fought for years to protect these vital clean air protections and we won’t back down now.

Tell Secretary Zinke to keep the methane waste rule and protect our health and clean air.

- Earth Justice 

More information:

Interior Department moves to gut safeguards to methane pollution

Submit a public comment to Protect Bears Ears From the Oil Industry

President Trump’s decision last December to dramatically shrink Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante national monuments in Utah was illegal, and we’re suing to stop it.

Meanwhile, though, Trump’s Bureau of Land Management is pushing ahead with a plan to open up these amazing public lands to fossil fuel development.

Will you act today to protect them?  Submit a public comment to the BLM.

Tell the BLM that these spectacular landscapes shouldn’t be opened up for oil and gas development. Instead, these monuments should continue to protect wildlife and the tens of thousands of cultural and paleontological artifacts they contain.

By standing up to Trump’s BLM, you’re building the movement to protect our public lands.

- Valerie Love, Ignite Change

Tell Trump's BLM: Don't open protected areas of California's deserts to energy development

The petition to the Bureau of Land Management reads: "Our public lands are not for sale to the highest bidder. Do not dismantle the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, which allows renewable energy development while protecting ecologically sensitive areas in California's deserts." Add your name:

California's deserts include some of the most ecologically intact landscapes we have left in the United States, with dozens of threatened and rare species.1 Just 18 months ago, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized a plan to protect millions of acres of this irreplaceable ecosystem. Now the Trump administration wants to reverse the plan, opening ecologically-sensitive public lands to energy development, mining and off-road vehicles. With a massive grassroots backlash, we can make BLM officials think twice about scrapping this popular and scientifically sound plan. Tell the Trump regime: Don't open protected areas of California's deserts to energy development. Click here to sign the petition. The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan protects more than 22 million acres of private and public land in California's Mojave and Sonoran Deserts from industrial development.2 The plan nearly doubled the amount of protected land in these deserts, while setting aside areas for renewable energy development in locations where it would be least harmful to wildlife and the environment.3 Hundreds of scientists, conservationists, recreational users and solar developers gave input over years to develop the plan, which protects 37 unique species, including the iconic desert tortoise and desert bighorn sheep.4 Now Trump's BLM wants to dismantle the plan, claiming that California won't be able to meet its renewable energy goals unless more of these deserts are opened to energy development. But California's own renewable energy officials have disputed that.5 What's really happening is that the Trump administration is recklessly ignoring a careful process and handing off our public lands to the higher bidder. We need a rapid transition to renewable energy to fight climate change, but we can get there without destroying ecologically sensitive areas. Tell the Trump regime: Don't open protected areas of California's deserts to energy development. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/save-the-desert?t=7&akid=27229%2E3130208%2EYXnBYj - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Center for Biological Diversity, "Imperiled plants, animals and landscapes in the DRECP planning area," accessed Feb. 5, 2018. Carolyn Lochhead, "Trump administration signals move against California desert protection plan," San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 1, 2018. Emily Guerin, "Trump Administration Takes Aim at California Desert Protections," KQED, Feb. 1, 2018. Center for Biological Diversity, "Imperiled plants, animals and landscapes in the DRECP planning area." Lochhead, "Trump administration signals move against California desert protection plan."

Tell the BLM: No drilling at Chaco Culture National Historical Park

The petition to the Bureau of Land Management reads: "Protect one of our nation's most significant cultural and historical Native sites. Stop the proposed fossil fuel lease sales near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park." Add your name: If the Trump regime's war on public lands wasn't already dangerous enough, Big Oil is now set to destroy one of the nation's most significant cultural and historical sites if we don't stop them. On the heels of Donald Trump's reckless decision to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, Trump and his fossil fuel regime are ready to hand over drilling rights near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, threatening 1,000-year-old Pueblan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historical and tribal value. Public lands enemy Sec. Ryan Zinke, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), plans to put these lands up for lease to the fossil fuel industry this March. We must act now to prevent these sales from moving forward. Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Click here to sign the petition. The areas in and around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park contain the threatened ruins of Chaco Canyon – what some have referred to "as close as the U.S. gets to Egypt’s pyramids and Peru’s Machu Picchu" – as well as "the remnants of great houses, kivas, ancient roads and sacred places built a millennium ago by an indigenous people who became proficient in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts."1,2Today, the Navajo people, whose land surrounds the park, regard the Chaco region as culturally important, and a number of New Mexican Pueblos consider these sites sacred.3 In response to massive backlash by the public and Native people to potential drilling and fracking in the region, the BLM promised tribal leaders and lawmakers that it would delay lease sales inside a 10-mile radius of the park until 2020, when the agency could complete a full assessment to determine the impact drilling would have on ancient sacred sites. But last summer, the BLM reversed course, and in accordance with Sec. Zinke's plan to rapidly open up public lands for fossil fuel drilling, put up 4,800 acres of land near Chaco for sale, some of which lay within the buffer zone, potentially endangering sacred Native sites.4 Right now, progressive activists and tribal leaders are organizing protests on the ground to resist this wholesale giveaway of sacred Native lands to the fossil fuel industry.5 We must have their backs and demand that the Trump regime back down from these lease sales immediately. Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_chaco_drilling?t=7&akid=27139%2E3130208%2Ei-TzJI - Josh Nelson CREDO Action Add your name: Elizabeth Miller, "'As close as the US gets to Egypt’s pyramids': how Chaco Canyon is endangered by drilling," The Guardian, Nov. 8, 2017. Richard Moe, "The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling," The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2017. Sen. Tom Udall, "Udall, Heinrich, Luján Urge Secretary Zinke to Defer All Leases on Land Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park," Sept. 6, 2017. Rebecca Moss, "N.M. leaders urge feds to protect Chaco from oil and gas encroachment," The Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 8, 2017. Rebecca Moss, "Over 100 protest BLM plans to lease land near Chaco Canyon for fracking," The Santa Fe New Mexican, Jan. 17, 2017.

Sign the petition: No drilling at Chaco Culture National Historical Park

The petition to the Bureau of Land Management reads: "Protect one of our nation's most significant cultural and historical Native sites. Stop the proposed fossil fuel lease sales near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park." Add your name:

If the Trump regime's war on public lands wasn't already dangerous enough, Big Oil is now set to destroy one of the nation's most significant cultural and historical sites if we don't stop them. On the heels of Donald Trump's reckless decision to slash the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, Trump and his fossil fuel regime are ready to hand over drilling rights near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, threatening 1,000-year-old Pueblan artifacts and structures of immense cultural, historical and tribal value. Public lands enemy Sec. Ryan Zinke, who oversees the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), plans to put these lands up for lease to the fossil fuel industry this March. We must act now to prevent these sales from moving forward. Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Click here to sign the petition. The areas in and around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park contain the threatened ruins of Chaco Canyon – what some have referred to "as close as the U.S. gets to Egypt’s pyramids and Peru’s Machu Picchu" – as well as "the remnants of great houses, kivas, ancient roads and sacred places built a millennium ago by an indigenous people who became proficient in architecture, agriculture, astronomy and the arts."1,2Today, the Navajo people, whose land surrounds the park, regard the Chaco region as culturally important, and a number of New Mexican Pueblos consider these sites sacred.3 In response to massive backlash by the public and Native people to potential drilling and fracking in the region, the BLM promised tribal leaders and lawmakers it would delay lease sales inside a 10-mile radius of the park until 2020, when the agency could complete a full assessment to determine the impact drilling would have on ancient sacred sites. But last summer, the BLM reversed course, and in accordance with Sec. Zinke's plan to rapidly open up public lands for fossil fuel drilling, put up 4,800 acres of land near Chaco for sale, some of which lay within the buffer zone, potentially endangering sacred Native sites.4 Right now, progressive activists and tribal leaders are organizing protests on the ground to resist this wholesale giveaway of sacred Native lands to the fossil fuel industry.5 We must have their backs and demand that the Trump regime back down from these lease sales immediately. Tell the Bureau of Land Management: No drilling at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/no_chaco_drilling?t=7&akid=27001%2E3130208%2ESqb0VZ - Josh Nelson CREDO Action Add your name: Elizabeth Miller, "'As close as the US gets to Egypt’s pyramids': how Chaco Canyon is endangered by drilling," The Guardian, Nov. 8, 2017. Richard Moe, "The Treasures of Chaco Canyon Are Threatened by Drilling," The New York Times, Dec. 1, 2017. Sen. Tom Udall, "Udall, Heinrich, Luján Urge Secretary Zinke to Defer All Leases on Land Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park," Sept. 6, 2017. Rebecca Moss, "N.M. leaders urge feds to protect Chaco from oil and gas encroachment," The Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 8, 2017. Rebecca Moss, "Over 100 protest BLM plans to lease land near Chaco Canyon for fracking," The Santa Fe New Mexican, Jan. 17, 2017.

Tell BLM: Stop Delaying Methane Rule

When it comes to curbing pollution, the government is dragging its feet.

Late last year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized its methane waste prevention rule, which requires oil and gas companies using public lands -- often adjacent to national parks -- to do a better job of preventing their methane from leaking into the atmosphere.

Congress and the Trump administration have tried and -- so far -- failed to kill this rule. Courts have told the BLM that it needs to begin implementation. Despite all that, the Trump administration is now aiming to delay the rule by another year.

Enough already! Tell the BLM to do its job and implement the methane rule without any more delays.

Oil and gas facilities release billions of cubic feet of methane into the atmosphere every year, wasting energy and taxpayer money. On top of this, methane pollution is a major contributor to climate change that is already having major impacts on our national parks. Methane and other air pollution from these same oil and gas sources contribute to ozone and haze. In short, methane makes the air unhealthy for our parks -- and for the people who visit them.

For years, NPCA and supporters like you have been advocating for strong action to limit methane waste on our public lands.  We cannot wait any longer; the stakes are too high. The time is now to put this important air pollution rule in place.

Stand up to the BLM’s delay tactics and tell it to implement the methane waste prevention rule that better protects our climate and air quality in national parks and public lands.


MESSAGE READS (personalize for more impact)

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change and mixes with other pollutants to form unhealthy ozone. Proven, cost effective techniques are already in place in states like Colorado. The entire country should benefit from the common sense standards the BLM rule set in motion.

The BLM has been hearing for years about the need to curb methane pollution and save taxpayer dollars. You've heard from millions of Americans who asked you to strengthen and finalize this rule. You've heard from Congress, who told you not to scrap it. You've heard from courts, which told you not to delay its implementation. Now you're hearing from me: Protect national parks and the American taxpayer by implementing these rules now.

-Nicholas Lund, Landscape Conservation Program


Photo credit: Oil and Gas development near Theodore Roosevelt National Park © Chris Boyer / Kestrel Aerial Services

Tell the Bureau of Land Management to protect our public lands and keep this coal in the ground!

In the age of Trump’s anti-climate administration, it's easy to feel discouraged about the future of our country's climate policies. But time and time again we've seen that continuing to fight together, across all legal means, is our best chance for protecting our future and our climate.

Despite the Trump Administration’s plans to help fossil fuel giants, we are still winning. In the last month, the Sierra Club has won three landmark court cases regarding the government’s obligation to take into account the climate impacts of fossil fuel projects.1, 2 These rulings are good news for climate advocates and for those that care about our public lands. We are continuing to push back against the Trump Administration’s fossil fuel agenda, and we want your help.

Right now, the Bureau of Land Management is considering another massive, 441 million ton coal mine expansion on public lands in Wyoming. For context, this is more than 50 times as much coal as Colstrip, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the United States, burns in a year. Building on the success of our recent court battles, we want to drive home to the BLM that the public is watching, and that caring for our public lands requires taking into account all the costs of continuing to burn fossil fuels.

Email the Bureau of Land Management today, and tell them not to sell our climate future for short-term coal profits.

Last year, in response to public pressure, President Obama paused all leasing of coal on public lands while the Bureau of Land Management reassessed its public coal-leasing program. Thanks to hundreds of thousands of public comments, the BLM determined that it needed to update its coal-leasing program to take into account the cost of coal's damage to our health and our climate. Now, President Trump's administration is trying to disregard the will of the public, which supports investment in new clean energy technology over a dying coal industry, and we're determined to fight back.

The lands and the coal at stake in the Antelope 3 mining project in Wyoming are owned by taxpayers. This is our chance to hammer home the need for the BLM to be honest with the American people about the climate, health and economic impacts of letting the fossil fuel industry wreak havoc on our public lands.

Our goal is to drive thousands of comments into the official record, to show the BLM that people throughout this country demand policies that support and protect the long-term health of our communities and our climate.

Submit a message to the Bureau of Land Management during its scoping process today. Let the agency know its environmental analysis must include the cost of doing further damage to our climate. Let's build on these legal victories, and show our growing grassroots power. 

- Cesia Kearns
Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign

Sources:
1) Press Release: Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Hands Down Landmark Ruling on Public Lands and Climate Change, SierraClub.org, 9/15/17
2) Press Release: Court Stops Expansion of Country's Largest Proposed Underground Coal Mine Over Climate Impacts, SierraClub.org, 8/15/17

More information: http://content.sierraclub.org/coal/posts/meet-your-new-bureau-land-management-giant-seam