Members of the New Mexico congressional delegation and Pueblo leaders held a press conference at the All Indian Pueblo Cultural Center on Friday to urge Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to visit Chaco Culture National Historical Park and continue protecting it from oil and gas drilling.
In October, the Bureau of Land Management began a process to revoke protections for 10 miles around the national parks to allow for possible oil and gas exploration.
This comes after the New Mexico congressional delegation and Pueblo governors held a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol in September to demand that the Trump administration protect Chaco Canyon.
Chaco has massive buildings constructed over a thousand years ago by ancestral Pueblo people, with roads leading to other far-flung settlements.
Craig Quanchello, governor of the Picuris Pueblo and vice chairman of the All Pueblo Council of Governors, spoke on the cultural significance of Chaco.
“Our ancestors lived there, prayed there, studied the stars there, and carried teachings outward into our modern Pueblo communities,” he said. “Our ties to Chaco live in, our songs, our ceremonies, our pilgrimages and our ancient roads and shrines that stretch far beyond the park itself.”
U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján were in attendance alongside U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury.
Stansbury said during the federal shutdown, tribal leaders were unable to reach the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but did receive a letter from the Trump Administration informing them that they had two weeks to respond to Chaco being taken out of federal protection.
“Can you imagine the cruelty, the insensitivity, the stupidity of an administration contacting tribal leaders as they are trying to figure out how they are going to feed their people and balance their budgets and keep their public safety in order to tell them that they are going to take away their most sacred lands and open it up for private oil and gas drilling?” she said.
Quanchello said that this issue affects everyone.
“This is not only a Pueblo issue, it's an American issue about history, heritage and a landscape recognized around the world,” he said.
Congressional and Pueblo leaders invited Burgum to visit Chaco and to have a meaningful talk with them.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
