Tell Congress: No Oil and Gas Drilling In Our National Parks!

There are more than 40 national parks around the U.S. in which the federal government owns the surface rights – but not the rights to the minerals underneath.

This means that some of our most iconic parks, including Great Sand Dunes, Everglades, and Grand Tetons, could all be subjected to destructive oil and gas drilling.

Republican Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona recently introduced legislation that would repeal a rule designed to provide reasonable safeguards from private oil and gas development within national parks. Of course, it should come as no surprise that Gosar has received almost $250,000 from oil and gas interests in his last four election campaigns.

The Congressman's hope is that the Obama administration's final efforts to improve those safeguards will be rolled back. This would revoke the National Park Service's new authorities over oil and gas drilling and leave them unable to enact any similar regulations or new safety standards unless Congress explicitly authorizes them to – and we know how unlikely that is.

Our National Parks are celebrated worldwide. 86% of Americans of all stripes want to keep them free of oil and gas drilling, so we assume that our representatives would also like to keep them pristine for future generations.

Oil and gas drilling have no place in our national parks. Sign the petition today and tell Congress – no drilling in our National Parks!