BLM’s Bogus Virtual Meetings on Reckless Chaco Drilling Plan
As New Mexico families struggle to stay healthy, the Trump administration is recklessly trying to frack the remaining 7% of lands in the Greater Chaco region.
Despite promises to protect communities and culture of the Greater Chaco region from fracking, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs want to open the door for more than 3,000 new industrialized oil and gas wells. If approved, the plan would be a disaster for the region’s clean air, Navajo communities, and the cultural integrity of the landscape.
Since the plan was announced on February 28, Tribal leaders, the New Mexico Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources, New Mexico’s entire congressional delegation, and multiple groups have repeatedly called on the administration to extend the May 28 comment deadline to provide more time for meaningful engagement as communities are struggling to respond to the public health pandemic.
Instead of keeping their promises, Interior Secretary Bernhardt announced that the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs will hold four “virtual meetings,” under the guise of soliciting feedback from communities who have little access to broadband internet.
These “virtual public meetings” are nothing more than an excuse for the administration to steamroll its drilling plan and further exploit the communities, clean air and water of Greater Chaco.
Angry?? We are, too!!
Instead of participating in the administration’s farce, the Greater Chaco Coalition is hosting a People’s Hearing to Stop Fracking in Greater Chaco. We’d much prefer you give your public comment here instead of lending credence to BLM’s BS. More information on the People’s Hearing HERE
If you do attend the virtual meetings, we’re asking folks to use their time to call attention to the inequity and injustice of this process. ONLY REGISTER AND PARTICIPATE if you plan to give a comment calling out the process. (Suggestions for “public comment” are HERE)
The virtual meetings will be held using Zoom video conferencing technology and in order to comment calling out this shameful process, you MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE. We will be hosting a livestream of each of these meetings (and will post the link on this page) so that the public can watch the show without having to register/participate.
If you want to help highlight the inequity and call out BLM/BIA, below is registration information, or check out BLM’s registration webpage HERE. If you can only join by phone, you must pre-register by calling 505-635-9701.
The virtual public meetings will take place on the following dates:
Can’t join these bogus meetings? Join our People’s Hearing to Stop Fracking in Greater Chaco here:
You can also submit your written comment using our online action form:
Click HERE for more background on Greater Chaco and the latest plans by the Trump Administration to frack the region.
#FrackOffChaco #ItsNotOver
