Dear Guardian, 

I’ve seen many giveaways to the coal industry, but what the U.S. Forest Service proposed earlier this month is one of the most scandalous schemes to prop up fossil fuels that I’ve ever seen.

Sign our petition today and tell them to stop giving away our public lands to big coal. Join me in telling the Forest Service that our climate and our forests come first.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call this corrupt. At the behest of Arch Coal, one of the largest coal mining companies, the Forest Service wants to lift protections on 20,000 acres of National Forest lands in western Colorado.

This Arch Coal Loophole would open the door for 350 million tons of new coal mining in Colorado’s West Elk Mountains. Nearly 700 million tons of carbon would be unleashed once this coal is burned.

This is beyond reckless. Join me in calling on the Forest Service to abandon this ill-conceived proposal.

I’ve had many adventures in these wild forests. Remote, rugged, and diverse, they’re the Rocky Mountains at their best. I’ve seen bear claw marks on aspen, lush beaver ponds, signs of mountain lions, and vital lynx habitat, and the mighty peaks of the West Elks.

Over the years, though, I’ve seen Arch Coal overtake these lands as the company has built roads and methane venting wells to support its mining. What was once backcountry has been turned into a fossil fuel industrial zone.

We clearly need to remind the Forest Service that our mountains don’t belong to the coal industry. Sign our petition today and demand the agency stop this insane giveaway.

I think it’s bad enough the Forest Service is proposing to sacrifice our backcountry for the benefit of a single coal company. It’s even worse that the Arch Coal Loophole is coming at the expense of our climate.

Let’s remind the Forest Service that our public lands and our climate are way more important than Arch Coal’s profits.

 

Jeremy Nichols
Climate and Energy Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

P.S. Check out our pictures of the West Elk Mountains, learn what's at stake.

P.P.S. If you haven't yet seen our video "Saving Sunset Trail" watch it here and learn more.

West Elk photo credit: WildEarth Guardians.