On Tuesday, the New Mexico congressional delegation and pueblo leaders held a press conference outside the Capitol in Washington D.C. to urge Congress and the Trump Administration to continue upholding protections for Chaco Canyon against oil and gas drilling.
In 2023, Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland created a 10-mile buffer zone for Chaco Canyon National Historical Park that prevents any oil and gas drilling for 20 years. But with a new presidential administration, the buffer zone is being reconsidered.
Chaco, located in northwest New Mexico, is home to numerous pre-contact ruins of large pueblos. By 1050, it was a thriving ceremonial, economic, and administrative center.
Myron Armijo, governor of Santa Ana Pueblo, urged Acting Interior Secretary Doug Burgman to visit Chaco Canyon.
“It's a very sacred place,” he said. “I've witnessed it, our ancestors are there. When we pray, you can feel it. You can feel it in your body, that they're talking to you. They're talking to us.”
U.S Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) reaffirmed that Burgman had committed to a meeting with tribal leaders.
“You told me you would, live up to your word, live up to the commitment you made in committee when I asked you,” she said.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) discussed a past visit by Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to Chaco Canyon.
“He realized, as a result of meaningfully consulting with tribal leadership in that place, that Chaco Canyon is not a museum. It is a living cultural landscape with direct relationships with the pueblos today, and that's the difference,” he said.
While pueblo leaders are committed to preserving the cultural site, the Navajo Nation sued the U.S. Interior Department in January in an attempt to reverse the buffer zone to 5 miles instead of 10, noting that it harmed tribal members who depend on oil and gas drilling in the area.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
