Public Lands & Waters Defense
Friends of the Earth’s Public Lands campaign seeks to halt oil and gas exploitation of our public lands and put the U.S. on the path towards a just transition that protects workers and communities and ends our dependence on fossil fuels.
The extraction and burning of fossil fuels from public lands and waters account for nearly a quarter of U.S. climate emissions. At the very moment when we needed decisive action to protect our wild places and climate for future generations, the Trump Administration held a four year fire sale to turn as much of our public lands over to the oil and gas industry as possible.
But there is hope. President Joe Biden made bold campaign promises to halt new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands and waters, and to enact a suite of executive actions through the Department of Interior that would protect communities and the environment. Seven days into his term, Biden took an important first step by issuing a new Executive Order to pause oil and gas leasing and review the entire leasing program.
Thanks to pushback from Big Oil and oily members of Congress, our campaign is focused on stopping the fossil fuel industry from pillaging our public lands and ensuring that President Biden makes good on his promise to prioritize people over corporate interests.
Four conservation groups filed suit today in U.S. District Court to challenge a government plan that fails to properly protect rare species, including Rice’s whales and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, from being harmed or killed by fossil fuel drilling and exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.
Interior violated NEPA and failed to adequately consider the harms that drilling would have on climate change and on the critically endangered Gulf of Mexico Rice’s whale.
Today’s filing is part of a long series of lawsuits against the BLM for greenlighting more oil and gas activity in California's Kern County.
Nearly every Governor, regardless of party affiliation, along the East and West Coast is concerned about expanded offshore oil and gas drilling.
Creating national monuments means preserving clean air and water, protecting species, offering recreational opportunities for local communities, and upholding sacred sites.
Thanks to our lawsuit, we have set an important precedent for protecting local species and communities from the widespread harms that drilling can bring about.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is many things at once. The good and the bad all need to be considered together.
President Biden is about to break his promise to end new lease sales in a big way, opening 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling
Scott Pruitt and Ryan Zinke seemingly handed the EPA and DOI over to corporate polluters. They debased these agencies and endangered public health. Americans are relying on the Democrats to stand up, stop these destructive actions and protect people and the planet.