Ellen Montgomery
Director, Public Lands Campaign, Environment America
Director, Public Lands Campaign, Environment America
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – On June 7, 2023, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved a 20-year moratorium on drilling within a 10-mile “buffer zone” around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Before finalizing the decision, known as Public Land Order No. 7923, the BLM received more than 130,000 public comments, including from Environment New Mexico supporters, in favor of the 10-mile withdrawal during two comment periods held in 2022.
On May 3, 2023, New Mexico’s congressional delegation – Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich and Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury and Gabe Vasquez – reintroduced the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, which would prevent new oil and gas leasing on the federal lands within the buffer zone.
Later, in June 2023, Rep. Elijah Crane (AZ) introduced the Energy Opportunities for All Act in the House of Representatives. This bill aims to reverse the protections enacted by Sec. Haaland, and passed the House Natural Resources Committee in July 2023, but has not been revised since. There is no equivalent bill in the Senate.
To commemorate the one year anniversary of the rule’s enactment, Ellen Montgomery, public lands campaign director with Environment New Mexico and Environment America, issued the following statement:
“Chaco Canyon and the surrounding landscape is a truly unique treasure, even among our amazing national parks and other public lands. Since the park is one of the few unprotected areas in the San Juan Basin, the immediate area is now a critical tool for biodiversity in the region– much of which has been disrupted by livestock grazing and mineral and fossil fuel extraction.
“On the one year anniversary of protecting this important place, we again applaud Secretary Haaland and the Bureau of Land Management for looking to the future and safeguarding nature. We call on Congress to defeat any attempts to reverse this decision and urge them to instead follow the lead of the New Mexico delegation and vote to protect Chaco Canyon permanently, not just for the next 19 years.”
Contact:
Ellen Montgomery, Public Lands Campaign Director, [email protected], 720-583-4024
Jack Goodrich, Communications Associate, [email protected], 619- 345-4956