Dear John,
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Demand the Interior Department stop allowing Big Polluters to destroy public lands for free.
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The Interior Department is trying to hand our public lands to Big Polluters for free.
The agency wants to change how coal, oil and gas companies calculate payments for extracted minerals on public lands. This essentially allows Big Polluters to scam taxpayers into plundering our majestic places. Take action to stop polluters from destroying our wild places.
The DOI is already selling our public land to Big Polluters, and now it wants to make mineral extraction even cheaper -- padding polluters’ profit margins even further. We can’t let it get away with handing over more money to Big Oil.
Tell the Department of the Interior to stop letting polluters plunder our wild places for free!
The proposed rule changes would allow oil, gas, and coal companies to use shell companies to hide transactions and reduce royalty payments from land leases. Padding the pockets of Big Polluters, this could cost taxpayers over $400 million over the next decade.
All the while, public land is continuing to be fracked, mined, and drilled for extraction. These techniques irrevocably harm the environment and the local wildlife. For example, the water that is extracted by fracking can be radioactive. This is a potential threat to wildlife and neighboring communities. Toxic water could poison our people and planet.
We’re up against powerful foes in the oil and gas industry. They’re pushing the Department of the Interior to give them reduced payments while they poison our environment.
Demand the DOI stop padding the pockets of Big Polluters. Protect our planet and communities.
This isn’t the first time the Interior Department has tried to push similar efforts. Last year, the courts struck down a proposed rule change that mimicked this one.
Together, we can push the DOI to stop this handout to polluters. Each month, thousands of Friends of the Earth members like you speak out against land leases throughout the country. We’ve successfully halted them in Utah. This shows that when people like you speak up, the agency listens.
Will you use your voice once more, John, and stop Big Polluters from lining their pockets while they destroy our wild places?
Take Action: Demand the Interior Department stop letting polluters destroy our wild places for free.
Standing with you,
Lukas Ross,
Climate and energy program manager,
Friends of the Earth
