Courtney Bourgoin, courtney.bourgoin@sierraclub.org
Denver, CO-- Today, the Bureau of Land Management announced it will defer all acres up for auction in its December oil and gas lease sale in Colorado due to a court-ordered preliminary injunction. On Monday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from easing safeguards on sage grouse habitat land-- blocking hundreds of thousands of acres from fossil fuel development in Western states.
In response, Kim Pope, Organizer for the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign in Colorado, released the following statement:
"We are encouraged to see that so many of our public lands and special places will not be subject to fossil fuel development this year. It is more urgent and well-recognized than ever: stopping oil and gas drilling on our public lands is critical in fighting the climate crisis.
“In the face of a mass extinction emergency, we will continue the fight to protect vulnerable species, the lands where they thrive and the communities who benefit from these important environmental protections.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.