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| Above, Fajada Butte in Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The Department of the Interior has decided capitulate to radical environmentalist groups and spit in the face of the Navajo Nation by ordering a 20-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in a ten-mile radius around Chaco Canyon.
The Albuquerque Journal reported:
SANTA FE — After an extended review, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued an order Friday withdrawing federal lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Canyon from new oil and natural gas leasing for the next 20 years.
The order was immediately lauded by environmental groups who have pushed for permanent protections in the area, but drew criticism from fossil fuel advocates who described it as arbitrary and potentially harmful to Navajo Nation residents who financially benefit from drilling royalties.
Haaland, a former New Mexico congresswoman who is the nation’s first-ever Native American Cabinet secretary, said many tribal communities have raised concern for decades about the impacts of new oil and gas drilling in the northwest New Mexico national historical site.
However, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren criticized Haaland’s order, saying it undermined the nation’s sovereignty and self-determination.
“Secretary Haaland’s decision impacts Navajo allottees, but also disregard’s the tribe’s choice to lease lands for economic development,” Nygren also said.
Meanwhile, the congressional delegation announced last month it had reintroduced legislation that would permanently block new oil and gas drilling and leasing on most federal lands within the 10-mile buffer zone. Similar legislation passed the U.S. House in 2019 but fell short of final approval.
To read the full article, go here.
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