We Said We’d Keep our Coal in the Ground.
Today, We Did It.

Dear Guardian, 

President Obama and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell just announced an historic halt to the further leasing of our publicly owned coal. What’s more, the Administration committed to wholesale reforms to safeguard and protect the American public.

This announcement is a major victory for our climate and our public lands, and it comes on the heels of years of dogged advocacy by WildEarth Guardians.

You helped make this major Keep it in the Ground campaign victory possible. Your calls, e-mails, attendance at rallies and protests, and your financial and moral support all made a tremendous difference. WildEarth Guardians put this issue into the national spotlight and gave Obama and Secretary Jewell the chance to create an even stronger climate legacy. Thankfully they finally seized the opportunity.

Join us in thanking President Obama for his leadership in bringing the federal coal program into alignment with our nation’s climate imperatives.

This is a big deal. In its announcement the Interior Department committed to “account for the environmental and public health impacts of federal coal production.”  If accounted for accurately, we believe this means no more public lands coal can be mined again. Ever! 

It’s not the end. But as someone said of the Paris climate deal it’s the end of the beginning.  A moratorium signals the end of the Big Coal era. It’s our job to finish it.  A programmatic review not only gives us time to make the case to end the leasing of our coal, but also to devise policies and economic programs to help coal communities transition to cleaner, more vibrant economies.

What this means for the climate movement is this: First, supply side climate policy (i.e. Keep it in the Ground) has arrived. People now understand that locking down carbon at a time when industry is trying lock in carbon is vital to the climate flight. Second, the American west, long a sacrifice zone for our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, can and must be a national and global leader not only in clean energy transition but also in the just transition for the coal communities that face an uncertain future.

Let’s be clear, there is still much more work to do. The next three years will be crucial as the Interior Department conducts its programmatic environmental review. We need to advance citizen’s climate alternative for inclusion in the review that makes the case to help communities transition while we keep our federal coal in the ground, where it belongs.

We also need to double down on our fight to shut down coal mining for good. Know that we will intensify this fight as well.

This is a glorious moment. Our federal government is beginning to sever its ties to the fossil fuels industry and starting to put the American public first.

Please thank President Obama by calling the White House at (202) 456-1111 or e-mailing him today.

In gratitude,

 

 

John Horning
Executive Director
WildEarth Guardians
jhorning@wildearthguardians.org

P.S. The fight's not over. Support our efforts as we continue to fight to keep coal in the ground for good, donate today.

Share this message: