Dear John,
The southern Utah landscape, from Arches National Park to Bears Ears, is full of red rock canyons and natural arches. But it could soon be blanketed with drill rigs, pipelines, and truck traffic.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pushing forward with its attempt to sell off 114,000 acres of public land in Utah, the largest sale seen in the area in decades. What were once expansive vistas of clean air and stillness could be filled with Big Polluter projects -- all while driving the climate crisis further to its breaking point.
Do not allow Trump’s administration to move forward with this lease sale. We need your help, John. Help us stop it by sending a comment to the BLM before July 9!
25,000 comments still needed: Sign the petition to stop Utah public land leasing before it’s too late!
The fracking techniques that Big Oil plans on using for fossil fuel extraction will cause irrevocable harm to the environment. Fracking on lands leased by the BLM has been shown to cause severe erosion, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, and destruction of habitats.
If the proposed lease sale goes through, the land surrounding Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Grand Staircase and Bears Ears National Monuments will be at risk. These public parks and national monuments are frequented by hikers, climbers, mountain bikers, campers, off-roaders, and river runners. Fossil fuel extraction will be as close as half a mile to these national park boundaries -- creating undue hazards for nature lovers and threatening the local tourism economy.
Furthermore, the water extracted by fracking has the potential to be radioactive. Not only can this cause harm to the wildlife and natural beauty of Utah, it also poses a threat to the local communities.
The BLM can reject this lease sale and help contain the climate crisis we are currently facing. That is why we need voices like yours, John, to put a stop to this ecological atrocity.
Tell the BLM Utah must be protected from the severity of damage caused by pushing the lease sale forward.
Push the BLM to keep Big Oil away from our national parks and monuments!
The Bureau of Land Management continues to push forward with this lease sale while the coronavirus pandemic is still plaguing millions of Americans. At this time, the only way for people to share their concerns is through commenting online, hoping their voices will be heard.
The most affected by this land lease are Indigenous communities who have limited access to reliable internet. This brash move during a pandemic cuts out Indigenous voices, even though their communities will be disproportionately at risk by the fossil fuel projects.
The Trump administration continues to disregard the statistics and cut out Indigenous voices. The only ones having their voices heard are the Trump administration and Big Oil.
The BLM land lease must be stopped, but we cannot do it without you.
Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Stop threatening the health and safety of Utah. We do NOT want our public land sold to Big Oil!
Standing with you,
Nicole Ghio,
Senior fossil fuels campaigner,
Friends of the Earth
