FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2018
‘Don’t Drill Our Parks’ campaign highlights threat of drilling to national parks
HELENA—Today, the Center for Western Priorities unveiled a billboard advertisement in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s backyard as a part of its “Don’t Drill Our Parks” campaign. The billboard—located on the west side Interstate 15, approximately 15 miles south of Helena, Montana—was spurred by Interior Department proposals to lease lands in close proximity to numerous national parks and monuments for oil and gas drilling, including a lease sold in March along the border of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.
The campaign, which will continue into September 2018, includes billboard advertisements near Carlsbad Canyon National Park in New Mexico and Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, 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. “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 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.