URGENT ACTION: DEMAND GREATER CHACO LANDSCAPE PROTECTION TODAY
Greater Chaco Protection Means More Than Lines On A Map
The Greater Chaco Coalition is launching an online letter writing campaign to collect comments on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed withdrawal of 351,479.97 acres of public land from future mineral leasing within approximately 10-miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, within the Greater Chaco Landscape, for a period of 20 years. BLM has initiated a 90-day public comment period on this mineral withdrawal, with comments due by April 6, 2022.
There is widespread support for protecting cultural resources and public health across the Greater Chaco Landscape, but more oil and gas drilling continues to be approved. Over 91% of available public lands in the Greater Chaco region are already leased for oil and gas extraction. This reaffirms the impetus to recenter land management planning on the needs of impacted communities and Tribal Nations to whom this region is sacred, regardless of whether the proposed 10-mile buffer moves forward.
As New Mexico families struggle to stay healthy, the Obama, Trump, and now Biden administrations continue to recklessly frack the remaining unleased lands in the Greater Chaco region.
The Greater Chaco Coalition is supportive of protecting lands within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park from future oil and gas leasing and drilling, but much more must be done to assure the protection of the Greater Chaco region at large and the meaningful involvement of impacted communities and Tribal Nations in this process.
Tell BLM that while a ban on fracking within 10 miles of Chaco Canyon is helpful, ultimately we need landscape-level safeguards to protect and restore the cultural integrity of all Greater Chaco and its communities.