Great Sand Dunes National Park threatened by nearby oil and gas drilling

Your signature today will help protect Great Sand Dunes National Park and nearby wilderness from more dirty drilling for oil and gas.

 

 

Sign the Petition 

Great Sand Dunes National Park: An American Treasure

Have you ever heard of — or visited — Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado? It’s a place where…

• • Epic sand dunes tower as tall as skyscrapers.
  • Sandhill cranes can be seen in the spring and fall. And at least six species of insects found there — including the beautiful Great Sand Dunes tiger beetle — exist nowhere else in the world.
  • More than 300,000 people annually enjoy one of North America’s most unique wild places.¹

   

  More Dirty Drilling Nearby?

  Under a new Trump Administration proposal, oil and gas companies could begin drilling on up to 18,000 acres near this national treasure — and next to the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area.

  This area contains some of America’s most pristine wilderness and headwaters.The administration’s proposal is an idea that risks the health of this important area and the wildlife and others who rely on it.²

  Noise and disruption from drilling operations can disrupt and destroy wildlife habitat. And drilling raises the very real prospect of a toxic spill in this vital watershed.

  How Your Can Help

  Should we…

  • Industrialize our beautiful public lands — and the home of six species found nowhere else on the planet — for the sake of fossil fuel companies?
  • Threaten local water supplies with waste from drilling and fracking operations?
  • Destroy our public lands just to double down on dirty fossil fuels that can cause toxic spills and make climate change worse?

  The answer is clear: we owe it to future generations to be responsible stewards of irreplaceable places like Great Sand Dunes National Park and the wild areas nearby.

  Officials at the Bureau of Land Management have already postponed a drilling lease sale planned for September at the Navajo Nation’s request.³

  Now we need to keep the concerns of nature lovers front-and-center as the agency decides its next steps for this unique wild place. Please sign our petition to protect this special place now.

  Sign the Petition 

  1. Alana Miller, “Oil and gas industry is coming for Colorado’s sand dunes,” CNN, June 25, 2018.
  2. Zach Fitzner, “The controversy over drilling for oil in the Sangre de Cristos,” Earth.com, June 27, 2018.
  3. Marianne Goodland, “BLM delays lease-sale of land for drilling oil and gas near Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve,” The Colorado Springs Gazette, July 10, 2018.