From the Western Environmental Law Center, January 2023

From the Letter of Mike Scott, National Oil and Gas Campaign Manager, Sierra Club, September 16, 2023

From 9 to 5, I’m the Sierra Club’s Oil and Gas Campaign Manager. When I’m not working, you can find me hunting, fishing, rafting, or hiking in Eastern Montana where I live. I love this place, and one of the reasons I live here is so that I can enjoy the outdoors.

Oil and gas production has long been a part of this region, which brings many problems. Radioactive waste from drill rigs, brine water (often saltier than the ocean), and even crude oil ends up in our rivers and on our land. Pumpjacks (those big pieces of equipment that look like a nodding donkey or horse head) sit idle and rusting on the landscape. I live between three large oil refineries, and my farm actually was covered in oil from the 2011 Silvertip pipeline spill in the Yellowstone River. Oil and gas is everywhere in my community and in this part of the country.

That is why we need stronger rules that limit oil and gas exploration!

When oil and gas companies are allowed to operate however they see fit, it leads to pollution and accidents that impact the land, wildlife, and people. For example, unsealed, abandoned wells can leak oil and other pollutants into the air and water. This means drinking water can become contaminated, and the fish we eat are riddled with toxins. It also means a visit to public lands near oil and gas production could expose us to pollutants in the air that can make us sick.

Right now, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is updating its oil and gas leasing rules. This is a big deal because the current rules are broken and outdated, leading to the terrible impacts I’ve seen in Montana and across the West. The proposed rules don’t fix everything, but they do start to make reforms that will hold oil and gas companies accountable for their operations. This proposal will also end some of the built-in subsidies that oil and gas companies hoard when they lease public lands. A more transparent process will mean that our perspectives are finally taken into account before dirty fossil fuel projects are dumped into our backyards.

Join me in telling the BLM to strengthen these rules and finalize them as soon as possible!

>> Thanks for all you do, Mike Scott, National Oil and Gas Campaign Manager, Sierra Club

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SUMMARY APPROACH ~ For decades, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has sold off public lands to oil and gas companies for pennies on the dollar. This broken system has locked up vast amounts of land from any use other than extraction and left thousands of dangerous and polluting abandoned wells with our communities footing the bill to clean them up.

The BLM just proposed an update to leasing rules that would finally hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the damage they cause, end subsidies for oil and gas producers, and add competition to the leasing process. Tell the BLM to strengthen these rules and finalize them as soon as possible!

Take Action Now!

Join CCAN's Virtual Night of Action to STOP Manchin's Dirty Deal!

From the Appeal of Grace Tuttle, Protect Our Water—Heritage—Rights, December 7, 2022

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the full text of the Building American Energy Security Act of 2022. He also urged his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support amending the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to include this comprehensive, bipartisan permitting reform and complete the critical Mountain Valley Pipeline.

“Failing to pass the bipartisan, comprehensive energy permitting reform that our country desperately needs is not an acceptable option. As our energy security becomes more threatened every day, Americans are demanding Congress put politics aside and act on commonsense solutions to solve the issues facing us. The Senate must vote to amend the NDAA to ensure the comprehensive, bipartisan permitting reform our country desperately needs is included,” said Chairman Manchin.

To read the Building American Energy Security Act of 2022 in full, click here.

To read a summary of the changes, click here.

CCAN Event: RSVP:
https://act.chesapeakeclimate.org/page/46961/data/1

Description: Join CCAN’s Virtual Night of Action to STOP Manchin’s Dirty Deal!

It’s time. Our senators need to hear from us. We will not stand for Manchin’s dirty deal. We can’t make policy with backroom negotiations that exclude impacted communities. We can’t keep feeding our addiction to fossil fuels.

Our goal is to get 150 residents to email their senator in one night to stop the dirty deal.

6:00-6:15 Latest policy update, Q&A
6:15-6:30 Outreach to personal VA friends and family
6:30-7:00 Textbank with CCAN

>> Grace Tuttle, Development & Programs Coordinator
Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR)

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P.S. The members of the US Congress need to hear from you. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) is trying to include his Dirty Deal – to roll back bedrock environmental protections and force the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline – in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). We can only block this if enough Senators stand up and promise to vote against the NDAA if it includes the Dirty Deal.

Priority List:
Senator Kaine (202) 224-4024
Senator Warner (202) 224-2023
Senator Carper (202) 224-2441
Senator Schumer (202) 224-6542
Senator Schatz (202) 224-3934
Senator Murray (202) 224-2621
Senator Reed (202) 224-4642
Senator Leahy (202) 224-4242
Senator Warnock (202) 224-3643