Tribe Condemns Biden Administration Plan To Ban Oil and Gas Drilling

Above, Culture National Historical Park ruins. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Navajo Nation is not pleased with the Biden Administration over a proposed 10-mile "buffer" around Chaco Culture National Historical Park prohibiting oil and gas drilling.

The tribe said in a committee-passed resolution that such a buffer would put tribal members in "greater poverty".

From Fox News:

A prominent Native American tribe approved a resolution to oppose a Biden administration proposal to prohibit oil and gas drilling near a cultural site for the next two decades.

The Navajo Nation's resource and development committee, which has policymaking authority over the tribe's natural resources, agreed in a 15-1 vote to oppose any fossil fuel drilling "buffer zone" around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in northwest New Mexico. The resolution comes in response to federal efforts to create a 10-mile buffer zone where drilling would be prohibited.

"The Chapters recognize the detrimental economic impact to the Navajo allottees should a buffer zone of any size be imposed around Chaco Canyon," the resolution stated. "If a buffer zone is adopted, the Navajo allottees who rely on the income realized from oil and gas royalties will be pushed into greater poverty."

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