Pueblos and advocacy groups that spent decades trying to safeguard one of the most sacred sites of Puebloan culture may soon see all that hard work undone, as the Trump administration considers reopening land around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park to oil and gas drilling as well as mining.
In a statement to New Mexico Political Report, Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Ben Ray Lujan, along with Reps. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01), Gabe Vasquez (NM-02) and Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-03) stated that the Greater Chaco Canyon in Northwestern New Mexico is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with great historical, cultural and spiritual significance for tribes and pueblos.
“To deface and destroy this irreplaceable and sacred landscape is not only morally wrong: It is utterly disrespectful to the Pueblos, Tribal Nations, and New Mexicans who have called for permanent protection of the Chaco landscape,” the delegation said in the statement.
Last week, the Associated Press reported that the Bureau of Land Management has sent out letters to tribal and pueblo leaders, announcing that it will conduct an environmental assessment to determine whether to leave in place, shrink or eliminate the buffer zone that was enacted through an order issued by the Biden administration in 2023.
Under the order, federal land within a 10-mile radius of the Park was not to be leased for mining or oil and gas development. The order stated that the purpose of the buffer zone was “to protect these public lands and the greater connected landscape with a rich Puebloan, Tribal Nation, and cultural legacy in the New Mexico counties of San Juan, Sandoval, and McKinley for a period of 20 years.” The delegation has introduced legislation to permanently prohibit drilling and mining within the buffer zone.