Position on the American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solution Act

Dear Chairman Grijalva and Representatives DeGette, Haaland, Levin, McEachin and Sablan:

As you know, the federal government manages nearly 30% of all lands and billions of ocean acres off our shores – but because of outdated laws on the books, these lands and waters are contributing to our climate crisis more than they are helping. This is a huge missed opportunity: ecosystems in their natural state have the potential to be a carbon sink and greatly contribute to solving our climate crisis. Yet our unbalanced coal, oil, and gas programs leave these lands and waters producing far more greenhouse gas pollution than they absorb, accounting for nearly a quarter of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions annually.

We write to thank you for the enormous step you have taken to reverse this trend and set our country on a path to managing our public lands as part of the climate solution. The American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solution Act establishes a framework to make our public lands pollution-free and bring net emissions to zero by reining in climate pollution from fossil fuels, deploying responsible renewable energy, and protecting and enhancing natural carbons storage of our lands and waters. Importantly, the bill does this while safeguarding the health of communities facing disproportionate impacts of pollution and investing in economic transition for fossil fuel dependent communities.

We welcome this historic legislation and thank you for your work to transition our public lands away from oil, gas, and coal mining and make them pollution-free.

Sincerely,

Alaska Wilderness League

Center for American Progress

Defenders of Wildlife

Earthjustice

Earthworks

GreenLatinos

League of Conservation Voters

National Audubon Society

National Parks Conservation Association

Natural Resources Defense Council

National Wildlife Federation

Sierra Club

The Wilderness Society

Trust for Public Land

Western Organization of Resource Councils