WildEarth Guardians

Friday, June 3, 2016
Guardians Appeals to Protect Climate, Prevent Public Lands Fracking in Wyoming

Obama Administration Set to Auction 90,000 Acres to Oil and Gas Industry in Defiance of Climate Science
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 437-7663 jnichols@wildearthguardians.org

Cheyenne, Wyo.—WildEarth Guardians today called on the Obama Administration to stop denying climate change and back down from plans to open up nearly 90,000 acres of public lands in Wyoming for fracking.

“The Obama Administration continues to turn its back on climate science and bend over backward for the fracking industry,” said Jeremy Nichols, WildEarth Guardians’ Climate and Energy Program Director.  “We’re saying enough. If we have any chance of safeguarding our climate and our future, we have to start keeping our fossil fuels in the ground and it starts on our public lands.”

In an administrative appeal (called a “protest”) filed with the United States Bureau of Land Management, WildEarth Guardians targeted the agency’s plans to lease 85 publicly owned oil and gas lease parcels located throughout Wyoming. Leasing conveys a right to industry to drill and frack the leases.

The Bureau of Land Management denied that leasing, which effectively opens the door for fracking, would have any impact on the climate.  In an analysis, the agency asserted that climate science is in its “formative phase” and refused to disclose the potential carbon emissions that would result from fracking or to consider any measured to limit greenhouse gases.

The climate denial comes even as reports show that public lands oil and gas development is responsible for 10% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.  What’s more, scientists are increasingly calling for an end to leasing more oil and gas to meet international greenhouse gas reduction targets.

In a petition filed earlier this year, WildEarth Guardians called on the Obama Administration to put a halt to new leasing and commit to conducting a comprehensive environmental review of its oil and gas management program.

In spite of this, the Administration is continuing to press forward, auctioning off hundreds of thousands of acres of America’s public lands to the oil and gas industry for fracking.

The resistance has spurred hundreds to start protesting Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auctions across the nation and prompted more aggressive administrative and legal challenges from WildEarth Guardians and other organizations. 

Last month, Guardians appealed Bureau of Land Management plans to auction off nearly 14,000 acres of publicly owned oil and gas leases in New Mexico and intends to challenge upcoming lease auctions in Colorado, Montana, and Utah.

The proposed leasing in Wyoming comes even as industry has declined precipitously in the state. In April, the state’s largest natural gas producer filed for bankruptcy.  And according to the Bureau of Land Management, less than 40% of all 10.1 million acres of publicly owned oil and gas leases are actually in production.

“The only reason for the Obama Administration to be leasing more of our publicly owned oil and gas is to appease the greed of the fracking industry,” said Nichols.  “With the oil and gas industry in the pits, our climate crisis mounting, and all signs pointing to the need to transition from fossil fuels, it’s time to put an end to needless leasing.”