The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Farmington Field Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (BIA) Navajo Regional Office held 10 public scoping meetings to expand analysis of fracking management policies in the Greater Chaco area, covering public, tribal, and Indian allotment lands.

With the exception of the San Juan College meeting (conducted exclusively in English) and Whitehorse Lake meeting conducted exclusively in Navajo), all meetings were conducted bilingually (Navajo and English).tment lands.

Hundreds attended the scoping meetings. Navajo residents, Pueblo tribal members, and various groups gave public comment to protect the local communities’ culture and climate from fracking impacts. The comments shed light on the real and everyday impacts that fracking is having in the Greater Chaco area.

Navajo tribal members commented on the desecration of sacred sites, increased rates of cancer and asthma, unsafe road conditions, noise and dust pollution, soil contamination, and constant exposure to toxic fumes. Groups demanded that new planning efforts must assure Indigenous interests, include community health and safety safeguards and that real balance must be restored in the area.