Help us block drilling in a Colorado wildlife refuge from the NRDC 28JAN11

THE government has to do more to support clean, renewable energy sources. Allowing drilling in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge does nothing to meet the goals of eliminating our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. Please click the header or links to participate in this action from the NRDC.

		We need your help right away to stop two energy companies from drilling in Colorado’s Baca National Wildlife Refuge. You’ve already helped us stop them once. In 2009, your letters of opposition helped block oil and gas exploration in the refuge. But now those companies are back with a new plan: to drill exploratory wells up to 14,000 feet beneath this incredible wildlife haven. Please send a message right away to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Tell them NOT to approve any drilling in the Baca Refuge until they conduct a more thorough study of the far-reaching environmental impacts of drilling. The Baca Refuge is an important calving ground for deer and elk and provides a natural sanctuary for imperiled wildlife, including the ferruginous hawk, the threatened burrowing owl and the sandhill crane, as well as thousands of migratory bird species. More than 4,000 elk depend on the refuge for critical winter habitat and calving grounds, and as many as 20,000 greater sandhill cranes migrate through the refuge twice a year. The Baca is also culturally irreplaceable. Hundreds of Native American artifacts lie buried under ancient layers of sand, and world-class archeological sites dating back 11,500 years have been found nearby. All of that could be destroyed in a matter of months. The proposed drilling project threatens to transform this wildland into an industrial zone -- contaminating air, land and waterways and unleashing a barrage of drilling-related traffic and noise. Your activism helped us keep drill rigs out of the Baca Refuge in the past. Please help protect this natural treasure once again by urging the Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a much more thorough study before approving any drilling. Thank you for helping to protect our last remaining western wildlands. Sincerely, Peter Lehner Executive Director Natural Resources Defense Council