How We Work

Supporting grassroots groups and frontline communities

Communities come first in everything we do. We amplify the voices and follow the lead of people on the frontlines of oil, gas, and mining. These communities are disproportionately low-income and composed of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color.

We are committed to the Jemez Principles of Organizing and Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Our field staff are based in key oil and gas states and in mining-impacted regions. We facilitate and strengthen coalitions of grassroots activists and connect them with regional and national advocacy campaigns. 

Educating policymakers and the media 

Our field investigations and research reports help shape the public conversation in the media, state houses, and the halls of Congress. We are a trusted source of leading media organizations on oil, gas, and hardrock mining, from the New York Times to Grist. Policymakers and the media often come to us first when they want to hear from communities affected by extraction.

Reforming government policies 

Our experienced policy team based in Washington, DC, advances federal policies that reduce pollution, protect the environment, and address climate change. In addition to the nation’s capital, we push for state and local laws, regulations, and enforcement that protect communities’ health and rights. Every step of the way, we partner with impacted communities so that their voices are heard in the halls of power. 

Holding corporations accountable

We make polluters pay for their pollution.

We use Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) cameras – the same technology used by industry and regulators to document normally invisible methane gas and other oil and gas pollutants. We use this evidence to reveal the methane pollution and other volatile organic compounds that threaten community health and speed climate change. We help local residents experiencing the health impacts of this pollution to hold polluters responsible.

We expose the fossil fuel industry’s greenwashing PR campaigns that delay climate action. Voluntary commitments are not reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We call out the companies whose actions do not match their rhetoric.

We sue mining companies so that they pay to clean up the mess they leave behind and to prevent them from causing further harm.

Changing fossil fuel and mining industry practices

We change the rules by which oil, gas, and mining companies operate. Our decades of experience have given us extensive technical expertise about how oil and gas are drilled and how minerals are mined. We use this knowledge to define higher standards and practices for more responsible extraction – not just in the US, but in every country. 

We are currently influencing mining standards for the European Union’s battery regulations, the Institute for Responsible Mining Assurance, the Global Tailings Management Institute, and deep sea mining regulations being developed by the International Seabed Authority. 

We also ensure that investors and insurers refuse to invest in projects that do not meet these higher industry standards and that renewable technology companies source their minerals only from responsible suppliers.