Stopping coal mining and fracking – preserving our public lands and defending our climate.

Keep It in the Ground

Americans own more than 600 million acres of public lands. These public lands provide half of the nation’s coal. When the federal government sells our public lands to coal, oil, and gas companies, those lands are fenced off; they become “public” in name only. We have no choice in what happens to our national heritage, and we can only watch as the places we (and our kids, and our grandkids) enjoyed are transformed into coal mines and fracking wells.

That isn’t right. In fact, it’s downright un-American.

WildEarth Guardians is fighting for our freedom to choose what’s best for our public lands. We’re fighting not just to reduce fossil fuel consumption, but also to stop fossil fuel production in its tracks. When we secure our freedom to choose, we can stem the climate crisis and preserve an enduring legacy for future generations.

Keep It in the Ground Key Strategies

2017 – Wyoming

Locked up 2,000,000,000 tons of coal

Successfully won a suit to keep two billion tons of coal in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin in the ground, on the basis that burning it would have disastrous consequences for climate change.

2014 – Colorado

Secured a major legal victory

Won a precedent-setting legal ruling involving a coal mine in Colorado that requires federal land management agencies to consider the social cost or cumulative and inclusive effects of mining and burning coal.