Protecting America’s Public Lands and Waters from Drilling

Photo by Loren Blackford
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of America's last truly wild places and must be preserved. | Photo by Loren Blackford

Public lands and waters should never be threatened by oil and gas drilling. We work to protect these special places from legislative assaults and federal regulatory rollbacks that threaten to open them up to exploitation by the fossil fuel industry.

Press Releases

September 24, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, a U.S. District court announced that legal challenges to the Trump administration’s move to strip Bears Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments of protections will be heard in Washington, D.C. The decision is a setback for the administration, which pushed to have the case heard in Utah. The judge also stated that Sec. Zinke’s Department of the Interior must give Tribal Nations and other affected parties advance notice of mining activities proposed within the original monument boundaries.

September 21, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Tomorrow marks the 25th annual National Public Lands Day, a day to give back to and enjoy our country’s great outdoors. This year’s celebration comes as the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has protected places in almost every state is set to expire. The fund will expire Sept. 30 without Congressional action.

September 17, 2018

A Wyoming federal court issued a ruling invalidating long-term approval for a state-run elk feedground on the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the Gros Ventre River valley, east of Jackson Hole. With the deadly and highly contagious chronic wasting disease (CWD) already within the Yellowstone ecosystem, conservation groups had challenged approval of the Alkali Creek Elk Feedground, which concentrates herds of elk in unhealthy conditions for the winter months.

September 14, 2018

arlier this week the U.S. Forest Service announced it would be proposing changes to rules that govern how the agency handles oil and gas leasing by the Bureau of Land Management in National Forests. Also announced were changes to rules governing hardrock mineral locations. Unsurprisingly, given the Trump administration’s dirty-fuels first agenda, these rule changes are designed to “reduce the burden on industry” and speed leasing on public lands.

September 13, 2018

Washington, DC-- Today, the House Natural Resources Committee marked up two important bills for the protection of public lands and conservation.  The committee marked up the Restore Our Parks Act which addresses the nation’s $11.6 billion park maintenance backlog. Both pieces will move to the House floor for a final vote.

September 11, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY― The Trump administration today offered up more than 200,000 acres of public lands for fossil fuel development in some of Utah’s most picturesque landscapes, including on the doorstep of Canyonlands National Park and along the Green River.

September 6, 2018

Today, the Trump Administration directly threatened the future of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, one of America’s iconic wilderness areas. Administration officials announced that the United States Forest Service will allow companies to pursue sulfide ore mining leases immediately adjacent to the Boundary Waters. Today’s announcement also included an abrupt end to an incomplete and never-released environmental study of sulfide mining impacts in the BWCA watershed that was started under the Obama Administration.

September 4, 2018

This week Secretary Zinke’s Department of the Interior will begin another round of oil and gas leasing on public lands-- auctioning off public lands in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah to the highest bidder. The latest leases are part of an effort by Sec. Zinke to lease every possible acre of public land as quickly as possible. Every three months new swaths near our parks and treasured places are being sold out to industry, steadily eating away at the places people know and love.

August 20, 2018

GRAND CANYON, AZ – Emmy-nominated actress Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) stars in a new video out today calling for protection of the Grand Canyon from toxic uranium mining. The actress recently joined a Sierra Club outing to the Grand Canyon region with her husband, actor Tim Loden, to experience the wonder of Arizona’s immense national park and to see first-hand the need to permanently protect it.

August 17, 2018

Washington, DC -- Today, hours after Ryan Zinke was exposed for trying to sell off 1,600 illegally removed acres of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the Department of the Interior reversed its decision after massive backlash.