Over the next month, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is preparing to announce a series of oil and gas lease sales across the West. Given the administration’s favoritism to special interests in Washington, D.C., these proposed lease sales are poised to be an early holiday gift to the same oil and gas industry that helped propel it into office. For the rest of the West, these leases unnecessarily threaten some of our most pristine public landscapes, including several national parks, monuments, and communities.

A list of Secretary Zinke’s early holiday gifts to his lobbyist friends bordering or near our nation’s parks:

Chaco Culture World Heritage Site

Location of proposed leases: 2 miles

Sale Date: March 2018

Statue: Postponed

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New Mexico BLM’s March 2018 Lease Sale. Includes parcels (red) near Chaco Culture World Heritage Site and near road on the way to Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

Basin and Range National Monument

Location of proposed leases: On border

Sale Date: December 12, 2017

Status: Auction pending

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Great Basin National Park

Location of proposed lease: 4.5 miles

Sale Date: December 2017

Status: Environmental Assessment comment period ends September 18, 2017

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Nevada BLM’s December 2017 Lease Sale. Includes parcels (red) near Great Basin NP and bordering Basin and Range National Monument.

Canyons of the Ancient National Monument

Location of proposed leases: Bordering

Sale Date: March 19-23, 2018

Status: Final lease sale notice initiating protest period expected November 30, 2017

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Hovenweep National Monument

Location of proposed leases: 5 miles

Sale Date: March 19-23, 2018

Status: Final lease sale notice initiating protest period expected November 30, 2017

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Utah BLM’s March 2018 Lease Sale. Includes parcels (red) near Hovenweep National Monument (blue) and directly along the western boundary of Canyons of the Ancients NM (purple).

Bears Ears National Monument

Location of proposed leases: 0.1 miles

Sale Date: March 19-23, 2018

Status: Final lease sale notice initiating protest period expected November 30, 2017

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Utah BLM’s March 2018 Lease Sale. Includes parcels (red) near the boundary of Bears Ears NM (purple).

Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument

Location of proposed leases: Bordering

Sale Date: March 13, 2018

Status: Final lease sale notice initiating protest period expected December 13, 2017

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Montana/North Dakota BLM’s March 2018 Lease Sale. Parcel (red) bordering Upper Missouri River Breaks NM (purple).

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Location of proposed leases: Bordering

Sale Date: March 13, 2018

Status:Final lease sale notice initiating protest period expected December 13, 2017

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Montana/Dakotas BLM’s March 2018 Lease Sale. BLM proposing to lease a parcel (red) directly bordering the northern unit of Theodore Roosevelt NP (purple).

Dinosaur National Monument

Location of proposed leases: 1.3 miles

Sale Date: December 12, 2017

Status: Auction pending

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Utah BLM’s December 2017 Lease Sale. BLM proposing to lease parcels (red) near the western boundary of Dinosaur NM (purple).

Fort Laramie National Historic Site

Location: 0.3 miles

Sale Date: March 19, 2018

Status: Final lease sale notice initiating protest period expected November 29, 2017

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Wyoming BLM’s March 2018 Lease Sale. Includes parcels (red) less than ½ mile from the Fort Laramie National Historic Site (purple).

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site

Location: 5 miles

Sale Date: December 12, 2017

Status: Auction pending

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Montana-Dakotas BLM is proposing to lease this parcel (red), which is about 5 miles from the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (purple), as part of its December 2017 Lease Sale.

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