Challenging the Use and Extraction of Fossil Fuels

Coal mining, natural gas and oil drilling are severely damaging the West’s special places and WildEarth Guardians is fighting back.  Tens of thousands of oil and gas wells are already in place or on the drawing board throughout the West. The oil and gas wells dot the land of many parts of the West like boils on the skin of a sick patient, spewing out greenhouse gases and air pollution, pumping toxic chemicals under ground and sucking dry our precious water sources.

Coal deposits in the Power River Basin of Wyoming and Montana are rapidly becoming the dominant source of fuel for power plants throughout the nation. These mines involve stripping away millions of tons of dirt, thus destroying wildlife habitat at the same time releasing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

WildEarth Guardians is engaging at many levels:

• We are promoting renewable energy and energy efficiency to lessen the demand for fossil fuels. 
• We are suing the Interior Department to gain a realistic understanding of the impacts of these wells on our water as a first step towards undoing the past backroom deals that have let the wells off the hook with complying with fundamental laws like the Safe Drinking Water Act. 
• We are enforcing existing laws designed to spare wildlife from the worst impacts of extraction. 
• All the while, we are pounding away on the idea that the climate crisis mandates a serious curb in our use of fossil fuels. 

Rather than pursuing science fiction ideas to capture and sequester, that is, store carbon after it comes out of the smoke stack of power plants, we maintain that that our planet’s survival depends on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by leaving the fossil fuels in the ground.