By Dear RAN Supporters,
Thank you!
In the past year, we made significant steps in keeping fossil fuels in the ground!
With your leadership, support and action we built a movement to stop key infrastructure projects. We took leases off the table. And we elevated “Keep It in the Ground” as a national rallying cry. It appeared on banners across the country and it was heard during President Obama’s speeches. And now it evokes fear in fossil fuel industry groups and lobbyists.
To work towards climate stability, we know we must keep fossil fuels in the ground. Coal, oil and gas on public lands and waters account for nearly 25% of US climate change emissions — that can’t be ignored if we want to achieve climate stability. Your help in pushing this campaign forward has been critical. In this past year, RAN collaborated with leaders around the country focused on federal fossil fuel emissions. Together, we:
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Froze new leasing on federal coal: The Obama Administration and the Department of Interior, placed an immediate moratorium and have begun conducting a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to assess climate, health and economic impacts of the coal program.
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Pushed President Obama to permanently protect wide areas of the Arctic and Atlantic from drilling: A record breaking 1.4 million comments submitted opposing offshore drilling. These comments and years of campaigning resulted in both the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans safeguarded from oil drilling in the next Five Year Plan for offshore drilling, with the most sensitive areas now permanently protected!
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Challenged lease sales with the power of the people: Nearly 30 rallies at federal fossil fuel lease sales were held in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Local, regional and national leaders and organizations from all over the country came together to call for dramatic action on climate change and an end to new leasing.
Not only did people lift their voice, but many sat down in the middle of auction halls and stages, at federal offices and the program headquarters, the Department of Interior—thousands showed up, risking arrest to protect these public resources for their children, communities and the climate. And they were supported by a huge virtual network of folks who signed, called in, tweeted, and posted their own resistance.
Because of this persistent, incredibly organized opposition to the federal fossil fuel leasing program, this campaign resulted in eleven sales postponed or canceled by the Bureau of Land Management.
RAN helped build the movement by training over 200 leaders in non-violent direct action, where leaders put their skills to work in direct actions — including Standing Rock, and lease sales in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada.
Thank you for joining these efforts and making this progress possible! But we know this work is not over. In this new political landscape we are gearing up to fight harder, smarter and with more collaboration.
Keeping fossil fuels in the ground is non-negotiable. RAN will continue to hold the line on ending human rights abuses and moving toward climate stability. Thank you for an amazing year of people-powered wins — we hope you’ll still be with us in 2017!
Looking forward to seeing you in the streets!
For our future,
Ruth Breech
P.S. The fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground includes the Dakota Access Pipeline. The fight to stop DAPL isn’t over, but there’s one way to stop it for good: click here to tell big banks to #DefundDAPL!
