Gabby Brown, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC -- Today, a leaked draft of the Interior Department’s five-year strategic plan for 2018-2022 showed the agency prioritizing increasing oil and gas drilling on national public lands. The plan omits any references to climate change, whereas the previous plan released under the Obama administration referenced climate change more than 40 times.
The Department also announced the rescission of instructions issued under the Obama administration for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to consider climate change and greenhouse gas emissions before approving energy projects on public lands.
Meanwhile, Zinke is embroiled in a scandal over a shady deal awarding a $300 million for electric reconstruction in Puerto Rico to a small firm of two employees from his home town.
In response, Lena Moffitt, Senior Director of the Sierra Club's Our Wild America Campaign, issued the following statement:
“The news out of Interior today highlights exactly where Secretary Zinke’s priorities lie: not with protecting our public lands for future generations or ensuring that energy development is compatible with the health and safety of our communities, but with enriching his friends and giving handouts to corporate polluters at all costs.
“Our public lands belong to all Americans. Ignoring sound science and selling them off for reckless oil and gas development, no matter the impact on our climate or the health of our communities, does a disservice to all of us.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.