This week, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is holding a series of public meetings around its proposed management plan for public lands in Greater Carlsbad Caverns region of southeast New Mexico.
The meetings kick of in Carlsbad, New Mexico tonight, with following meetings in other nearby towns. On Thursday, there’ll be a hearing in Albuquerque.
WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program will be at the Carlsbad meeting tonight and at the Roswell meeting tomorrow.
If you can make one more of the meetings, it’ll be well worth your while. As we detailed last week, the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed plan threatens our public lands, our climate, and more.
Under the agency’s proposal, more than 97% of southeast New Mexico would be opened for fracking, more than 50,000 acres would be completely sold off, and massive amounts of carbon pollution would be unleashed.
To put it mildly, there’s a lot at stake here.
Our primary demand of the Bureau of Land Management: keep our fossil fuels in the ground. Specifically, we’ll be calling on the agency to adopt a plan that:
- Allows no new oil and gas leasing.
- Does not dispose of any public lands, but instead focuses on securing public access to currently inaccessible lands.
- Requires the strongest air quality standards possible to reduce harmful emissions, including greenhouse gases, from oil and gas operations.
- Fully protects clean air and water by prohibiting oil and gas spills and releases.
- Prohibits the use of freshwater for fracking of existing oil and gas leases.
- Imposes the strongest safeguards and designations possible for imperiled wildlife, including lesser prairie chicken and aplomado falcon, to ensure their recovery.
- Manages all lands with wilderness characteristics, including wilderness study areas, to fully protect their undeveloped nature and afford the American public opportunities for remote recreation.
If you attend one or more of the public hearings this week, you can help by echoing your support for these demands.
If you can’t attend one of the public meetings, then at least click here to send a letter and make your voice heard.
Whether you live in New Mexico or not, you have a stake in the future of these public lands and you have the right to speak out.
Make your voice heard and stand with us as we push back against the Trump Administration’s assault on our public lands and climate.
