Keep It in the Ground movement under government surveillance

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Intercept reveal that the Lakewood Police Department and federal agents went undercover to spy on members of the Keep It in the Ground movement during a recent protest at an oil and gas lease sale in Lakewood, Colorado. The emails also reveal that law enforcement relied on information from Anadarko, one of the largest oil and gas producers in Colorado. News of this surveillance comes on the heels of legislation to move offshore oil and gas lease sales online and the announcement of the first online oil and gas lease sale on September 20, 2016.

Friends of the Earth Climate Campaigner Marissa Knodel issued the following response:

It is shameful for the federal government to collaborate with the fossil fuel industry to target protestors peacefully protecting public lands and waters. The Keep It in the Ground movement demands President Obama take the action necessary to achieve the climate targets he agreed to in Paris. Yet, this administration continues to contradict its own climate rhetoric by holding new fossil fuel auctions and declaring natural gas a “bridge fuel” to clean energy.

Instead of wasting time and resources spying on non-violent citizens, the Obama administration should listen to the people on the front lines of climate change. Instead of hiding fossil fuel auctions by moving them online, the Obama administration should keep fossil fuels in the ground. 

###

Expert contact: Marissa Knodel, (202) 222-0729, [email protected]
Communications contact: Kate Colwell, (202) 222-0744, [email protected]