Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate
Press Releases
Guardians Confronts Trump Plans to Sell Public Lands for Fracking in Colorado, Wyoming
“The Trump administration is continuing its crusade against public lands and the climate,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “And we’re continuing to hold the line to defend a legacy of clean air and water, open spaces, a safe climate, and healthy ecosystems in the American West.”
The appeals challenge the Trump administration’s plans to sell public lands for oil and gas extraction in September. In Wyoming, Guardians appeal challenged a proposal to sell more than 180,000 acres of public lands across the state. In Colorado, Guardians’ appeal challenged a proposal to sell more than 70,000 acres of public lands, primarily in the southeast county of Las Animas.
In its appeals, Guardians primarily confronted the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management for failing to account for the climate impacts of authorizing more oil and gas extraction and more greenhouse gas pollution in the American West.
In March of 2019, Guardians, together with Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Western Environmental Law Center, scored a landmark court win holding the Bureau could not legally fail to address and disclose the impacts to the climate of selling public lands for fracking in the American West.
In spite of the federal court’s rebuke, the Bureau of Land Management continues to auction public lands for fracking. All told, nearly 25 million acres–mostly in the American West–have been offered for sale by the Trump administration, an area 20 times the size of Grand Canyon National Park.
The sale of public lands for fracking has been fueled by the Trump administration’s embrace of climate denial. All told, nearly 25% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are linked to fossil fuel production approved by the Department of the Interior, making the federal government a root contributor to global warming.
In response, WildEarth Guardians has launched a series of lawsuits to confront the Trump administration’s sale of public lands to the oil and gas industry, including a suit targeting the sale of nearly two million acres in five western states earlier this year.
“The sale of public lands for fracking is the clearest manifestation of the Trump administration’s utter climate denial and disdain for doing anything to protect people or the planet,” said Nichols. “We’ve won in court already and we’re sure to win again as the administration throws people and public lands under the bus to appease the oil and gas industry.”
The Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to hold its auction to sell public lands in Colorado and Wyoming between September 22 and 24, 2020, but will decide whether to move forward in response to Guardians’ appeals before then.
If the Bureau continues with its plans to sell public lands for fracking, Guardians will file suit in federal court to overturn the agency and defend the climate.
Drilling rig on public lands on Wyoming’s high plains.