Who and What We are Fighting For
In the year since Trump has taken office, his administration has wreaked havoc upon federal environmental protections, including:
- Gutting NEPA, the law that requires communities be informed about polluting industries near them and requires the government to assess how toxic pollution harms nearby families.
- Scaling Back Greenhouse Gas Reporting, which requires major polluters to disclose how much climate pollution they release into communities.
- Dissolving the Endangerment Finding, one of the most important tools for protecting public health and the planet from Big Oil and Gas pollution and dangerous chemicals.
- Pushing back deadlines for methane pollution protections, which will drive dire near-term warming and air pollution.
The Trump agenda is delivering windfall profits to billionaires and large oil, gas, petrochemical, and mining corporations, while average citizens are paying the price through dirtier air, unsafe water, and higher costs.
The forces that want to prioritize profit over human life are great, but our collective power is greater. Across the United States and beyond, communities are rising up and refusing to let the Trump administration and its corporate cronies dictate what matters most.
In these frightening times, here’s what you need to know: your support is helping us meet this moment by building stronger grassroots networks, exposing the harms of oil and gas and irresponsible mining, and holding corporations accountable for the harm they’re causing.
Our Game Plan for 2026 Looks Like:
Making Evidence of Pollution Even Harder for Industry to Ignore
We are more committed than ever to ensuring that corporations cannot look away from the harm they cause. For more than a decade, Earthworks has used Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) cameras to expose invisible pollution at oil and gas sites, and now we are combining OGI evidence with satellite imagery to directly call out the source of pollution.
Building a Strong Base to Protect Our Future
Even when the federal government won’t protect us, your support helps us build up local bases to secure quick and efficient local and state victories. In 2026, we are going to continue to organize communities to help stop new oil and gas buildouts. The more people that we can quickly mobilize to help stop these dangerous projects, the greater chance we have at giving Big Oil and Gas a run for its money.
Industry Doesn’t Get to Define Responsible Mining
Greedy mining companies are stomping on community rights with their invasive projects, and people are fed up. That’s why Earthworks is coming together with a global network of civil society organizations, Indigenous-led groups and human rights experts in forming the Mining Standards Accountability Alliance (MSAA) to expose the CMSI for what it is – an effort by the mining industry to look like it cares about communities while doing as little as possible to actually keep communities safe.
Putting Community Rights Above Harmful Mining
In California’s Imperial Valley, communities are fighting to protect their air, water, health, and sacred Tribal lands from a proposed Lithium Valley Plan that would fast-track mining and sidestep key public protections. With your support in 2026, we’ll mobilize public opposition to stop this harmful plan and prove that community health and sovereignty must come before corporate profit.
Download our Campaign Plan (pdf)
Your Support Makes Our Work Possible
Earthworks helps families on the front lines of mining, drilling, and fracking. We use sound science to expose health, environmental, economic, social, and cultural impacts of mining and energy extraction. To support our efforts, please consider a tax-deductible donation today that will go toward our work reforming government policies, improving corporate practices, influencing investment decisions, and encouraging responsible materials sourcing and consumption.
