BILLBOARD AD: Center for Western Priorities Places Billboard in Pueblo to Bring Attention to Drilling Threat at Great Sand Dunes National Park

‘Don’t Drill Our Parks’ campaign highlights threat of drilling to national parks

PUEBLO, COLORADO—Today, the Center for Western Priorities unveiled a billboard advertisement, as a part of its “Don’t Drill Our Parks” campaign. The billboard—located south of City Center Drive on Interstate 25—was spurred by Interior Department proposals to lease lands in close proximity to numerous national parks and monuments for oil and gas drilling, including oil and gas leases proposed by the Trump administration less than one mile from the park’s eastern boundary.

The campaign, which will continue into September 2018, includes billboard advertisements near Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and Canyonlands National Park in Utah, parks also threatened by proposed oil and gas leasing. The advertisements highlight the destructive impact of this administration’s energy dominance agenda on the crown jewels of our public lands and the communities and visitors who rely on them every day for their livelihoods and recreation.

“The Trump administration continues to endanger our national parks, selling off lands to industrial development right at their gateways,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities. “The administration might have given the Sand Dunes a temporary reprieve, but we’re very concerned it will be put back on the chopping block. We need leaders who will put the people who live, work, and play on these lands ahead of oil and gas companies and special interests. This campaign sends a very clear message to our leaders in Washington: We must stop President Trump from drilling the doorsteps of our national parks.”

Earlier this year the Bureau of Land Management, under Secretary Zinke’s guidance, proposed oil and gas leases near Great Basin National Park in Nevada, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, Hovenweep National Monument in Utah, Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, and Dinosaur National Monument in Utah, just to name a few.

Now, more parks are being threatened by oil and gas development. Over the past few months, the Interior Department has proposed leases near Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado, Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, and Canyonlands National Park and Hovenweep National Monument in Utah. After public backlash against many of the proposals, the agency announced several proposed leases—including Carlsbad Caverns, Chaco Canyon, and Great Sand Dunes—would be deferred, or put on hold.

These deferrals do not preclude the agency from putting the same controversial leases up for sale in the future.

For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. To speak with an expert on public lands, contact Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or aaron@westernpriorities.org. Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox.