Regional News

Biden orders 20-year ban on oil, gas drilling to protect tribal sites near Chaco Culture National Historical Park

KRWG | By Associated Press

Published June 4, 2023 at 9:29 PM MDT

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

FILE - A hiker sits on a ledge above Pueblo Bonito, the largest archeological site at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, in northwestern New Mexico, on Aug. 28, 2021. The Biden administration is implementing a 20-year withdrawal banning oil and gas development outside the boundaries of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. The action taken by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in the nation’s No. 2 oil-producing state was announced Friday June 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The Biden administration is withdrawing hundreds of square miles in New Mexico from oil and gas production for the next 20 years on the outskirts of Chaco Culture National Historical Park that tribal communities consider sacred. The action Friday by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is intended to protect cultural and historic resources that tribal communities consider sacred. The order will apply only to public lands and federal mineral rights within a 10-mile radius.

President Joe Biden initially proposed this ban in November 2021 at the White House Tribal Nations Summit. Navajo Nation leaders are concerned about economic consequences of the decision.