Safeguarding Climate & Reforming Energy
Fossil fuel development in the western U.S. is incompatible with the action we need to take to confront the climate crisis. We must sharply reduce greenhouse gas pollution and transition to a 100% clean, carbon-free energy economy. At the same time, we must protect the landscapes that provide us with clean water, clean air, lands to farm, and places to hunt, fish, and play.
We are working to end oil and gas leasing and drilling on our public lands to safeguard our climate and to protect the natural and cultural heritage of our region. We are also leading the campaign for robust federal rules to limit methane pollution unnecessarily leaked and flared from oil and gas drilling on public lands.
Reforming Oil and Gas Operations
WELC is working to reform oil and gas operations to ensure oil and gas development in the western U.S. does not undermine our transition to renewable energy, to protect wildlands and communities threatened with oil and gas leasing and drilling, and to reduce methane pollution and waste. Drilling for oil and gas requires massive, landscape-scale industrial development involving the construction of drilling pads, roads, and pipelines that crisscross our wildlands, fragment wildlife habitat, and harm agriculture. It is also a top driver of climate change, pollutes the air and water, and compromises public health. We are working to halt new oil and gas leasing and drilling on public lands nationwide. We are also leading the campaign for robust federal rules to limit methane pollution unnecessarily leaked and flared from oil and gas drilling on public lands.
Fighting Coal
We play an active role in speeding the western U.S. transition from dirty coal to the responsible use of clean energy from the sun and wind. We aim to retire coal-fired power plants and mines as soon as possible to protect our climate, facilitate a transition to the responsible and efficient use of clean energy, and prevent coal export. We’re doing this by targeting coal mines, coal-fired power plants, and other coal infrastructure, holding operators accountable for the social harms that, for too long, have been inflicted on the people and places of the the western U.S. We’re also working to create opportunities for clean energy, ensuring that when coal mines and coal-fired power plants are closed, we’re taking care to spark a new, more durable energy foundation for the western U.S. and its lands, people, and economies.
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