
The Western Organization of Resource Councils is made up of the following organizations:
- Dakota Rural Action
- Dakota Resource Council
- Idaho Organization of Resource Councils
- Northern Plains Resource Council
- Oregon Rural Action
- Powder River Basin Resource Council
- Western Colorado Congress
WORC is a regional network of grassroots community organizations that include 10,000 members and 35 local chapters across six states. WORC helps its member groups succeed by providing training and coordinating issue work.
The issue work our member groups are involved in range from working on coal exports and the impact it has on local communities in Montana and Wyoming, to protecting the land from the impacts of oil and gas drilling in northwest North Dakota, to promoting clean and renewable energy right here in our backyards.
WORC’s mission is to advance the vision of a democratic, sustainable, and just society through community action. WORC is committed to building sustainable environmental and economic communities that balance economic growth with the health of people and stewardship of their land, water, and air resources.
Beginning in the 1970's, we focused on coalmine reclamation and natural resource tax policy. We won model reclamation and coal leasing laws and progressive tax structures.
In the early 1980’s, we challenged national energy policies and helped table the synthetic fuels corporation. In the mid-1980’s, we confronted the farm lending practices of the banks and federal government. We won credit reforms at the state and national levels.
In the 1990’s, WORC tackled concentration of economic power in a few agribusiness corporations, especially in meatpacking and grain trading. We also addressed hard rock mining reform, sprawl, electric industry deregulation, and factory farms.
In the new century, we launched programs for safe food, responsible coalbed methane development, and a sound energy policy.
Based in Billings, Montana, WORC has field offices in Montrose, Colorado, and Washington, DC.