Guardians Moves to Protect Climate from Fracking in Montana

Appeal Filed to Prevent U.S. Bureau of Land Management Auction of Public Lands to Oil and Gas Industry

Billings, MT—WildEarth Guardians today challenged the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s plans to auction off nearly 20,000 acres of public lands in Montana to the oil and gas industry, a move that promises to undermine the climate by unleashing millions of tons of carbon pollution.

“This is climate denial, pure and simple,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians.  “Instead of keeping carbon pollution in the ground to protect our public lands and our future, the Bureau of Land Management is opening the floodgates on more fracking and more climate destruction.”

In an appeal (called a “protest”) filed with the agency, Guardians took aim at the Bureau of Land Management’s refusal to disclose the climate implications of its plans to auction off 91 oil and gas leases at an auction in Billings on October 18.  The leases are publicly owned, but selling them to industry will give oil and gas companies the rights to develop them however they want for as long as they want.

“Make no mistake, leasing our public lands to the oil and gas industry effectively condemns them to become fossil fuel sacrifice zones,” said Nichols.  “Ultimately, industry makes the profit while we lose our lands, our wildlife, our clean air, and more of climate.”

Today’s appeal comes on the heels of challenges to Bureau of Land Management oil and gas leasing brought by WildEarth Guardians in every other western state, including Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.  Delivering the message that it’s time to keep fossil fuels in the ground, Guardians earlier this year also called on the Obama Administration to put a halt to new oil and gas leasing.

Since taking office, the Obama Administration has leased more than 10 million acres of public lands to the oil and gas industry, much of it in the western United States.  A report last year found that oil and gas produced form public lands and waters accounts for 10% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making leasing a root contributor to global warming.

Methane leaks from pipelines, drilling rigs, fracking pumps, tanks, trucks, and other activities are the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas development.  Ultimately, oil and gas is processed and burned, creating even more emissions.

In its proposal to lease in Montana, the Bureau of Land Management failed to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and to make any effort to address the climate impacts of its decision.

In spite of spite of President Obama’s move to enact policies to curtail carbon emissions, his Bureau of Land Management continues to commit more public lands for fracking. In 2015, more than 800,000 acres of public lands in Montana and other western states were leased to industry.

The Bureau of Land Management is continuing to lease even though less than 40% of all leased public lands are actually producing oil and gas (out of the 32,193,369 acres of public lands currently under lease in the U.S., only 12,760,700 acres are producing).

The leasing proposed by the Bureau of Land Management involves lands in northern Montana near Great Falls and Glasgow, and eastern Montana near Billings.  Some leases are within 60 miles of Glacier National Park.  A map showing the location of the parcels can be viewed here >>

A decision on WildEarth Guardians’ appeal will likely be issued on or before October 18, 2016.


 

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