View this email in your browser ([link removed])

As the price of oil continues to drop, in large part due to a dramatic drop in demand caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the fossil fuel industry is doing everything it can to put its interests before COVID-19 relief. The oil and gas industry is continuing to gobble up giant swaths of public lands and waters on the cheap, and is pushing through massive new extraction projects while the country is reeling from COVID-19 and unable to fight back.

The aggressive selling of leases for oil and gas extraction on tens of thousands of acres of public lands is underway in six western U.S. states. Right now, the fossil fuel industry is pushing the Bureau of Land Management to allow new drilling and fracking leases near the Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Utah—one parcel is double the size of Arches National Park itself! Allowing these new extraction projects would advance the climate crisis, threaten the national parks, destroy treasured public lands, and put the great Colorado River at risk for contamination.

The Department of the Interior cannot sit idly by and watch this happen to our public lands. The National Environmental Policy Act mandates that the public has enough time to analyze and comment on these projects in detail. This cannot be done while the American public is focused on paying their bills and keeping themselves and their families healthy.

We must push the Department of the Interior to immediately suspend all current public comment periods ([link removed]) , upcoming oil and gas lease sales, and new policy proposals for public lands and waters.

The Department of the Interior was created to serve people and give a voice to U.S. communities. Allowing the oil and gas industry to run amuck while the rest of the country is distracted by a global crisis will have deeply negative effects now and for decades to come. We must demand all oil and gas lease sales on public lands and in public waters stop immediately. ([link removed])

Take action now. Sign our petition ([link removed]) and demand that the Department of the Interior stops oil and gas leases immediately. We are in a crisis and cannot afford environmental catastrophes.
ACT NOW ([link removed])

============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** Instagram ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** DONATE ([link removed])
** Share ([link removed])
** Share ([link removed])
** Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fwaterkeeper%2Fact-now-stop-the-sale-of-public-lands-during-covid-19)
** Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Fmailchi.mp%2Fwaterkeeper%2Fact-now-stop-the-sale-of-public-lands-during-covid-19)
** Forward ([link removed])
** Forward ([link removed])
Copyright © 2020 Waterkeeper Alliance, All rights reserved.

Photo of Arches National Park by Jose Arcos Aguilar/Shutterstock.

You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website, gave a donation, or signed on to an advocacy action.

Contact Us:
** Waterkeeper Alliance ([link removed])

180 Maiden Lane, Suite 603
New York, NY 10038
212.747.0622
** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

Waterkeeper Alliance, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with ** Top-Rated status on Charity Watch ([link removed])
, a ** Four Star Charity rating from Charity Navigator ([link removed])
, and ** Platinum Participant status on GuideStar ([link removed])
.