Dear 5849376, The science is clear: To avoid catastrophic, irreversible climate change, we need to keep 80 percent of known coal, oil, and natural gas reserves in the ground – not burn them and send that carbon into the atmosphere. A lot of those fossil fuels are on U.S. federal lands and under federal waters. Federal policy should be driving a transition to clean sources of energy, not promoting the burning of dirty fuels. That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to the U.S. Congress, says the following: It's time to protect our people, our economy, and our planet. It's time to take action to turn the tide on global climate change. It's time to end all new leases for coal mining, oil drilling, tar sands extraction, and fracking on our public lands, stop all new leases for drilling off the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, and prohibit offshore drilling in the Arctic. Let's keep it in the ground! Sign the petition to Congress: Keep fossil fuels in the ground. If all of the fossil fuel reserves on federal lands and under federal waters were burned, it would account for roughly 40 percent of all of the worldwide carbon emissions that scientists estimate would drive a 2 degree Celsius temperature increase – the threshold at which climate change causes catastrophic impacts on our economy, our environment, and our way of life. We need to manage our public lands and coastlines for the benefit of the public, not for the big polluters. We should end all new leases for coal mining, oil drilling, tar sands extraction, and fracking on our public lands, stop all new leases for drilling off the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico coastlines, and prohibit offshore drilling in the Arctic. Will you join me and add your name to my petition urging the U.S. Congress to end all new fossil fuel leases on public land? Thank you for your support. Senator Jeff Merkley | 
