BILLINGS, MT-- Today Ryan Zinke’s Department of the Interior is wrapping up oil and gas leasing on public lands near the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Though the administration walked back the initial leasing proposal, which also included areas near Yellowstone National Park, today’s leases remain a threat to protected public lands and big game herds in an area prized for its elk.

In response, Emily Lande, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign issued the following statement:

“The only thing clear in Sec. Zinke’s decision-making process is that the strings are being pulled by the dirty fuel industry. The push to lease every acre possible of our public lands is foolhardy at best and dangerous at worst. The appetite for fossil fuels in our country is eclipsed by the desire of the American people for clean energy and the continued existence of our wild places. Outdated dirty fuel development is not the way forward. Clean air, clean water and access to nature should not be up for sale, but a right preserved by our protected wild places.”