President Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior took another step this week to lock up 30 percent of the nation’s land and waterways by 2030.
On Friday, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced a 10-mile radius around the Chaco Cultural National Historical Park now cut off from new oil and gas leases despite local opposition to the new regulations. The 10-mile buffer around the American Indian historical site offers protections for existing leases but eliminates opportunities for new drilling for the next 20 years.
“Efforts to protect the Chaco landscape have been ongoing for decades, as Tribal communities have raised concerns about the impacts that new development would have on areas of deep cultural connection,” Haaland said in an agency press release. “I value and appreciate the many Tribal leaders, elected officials, and stakeholders who have persisted in their work to conserve this special area.”
Local Indian tribes, however, welcomed more oil and gas exploration in the area as a primary source of economic development. In May, the Navajo Nation voted to reject the administration’s plans to withdraw 351,000 acres from consideration for oil and gas leases. The Interior Department’s decision is estimated to cost the tribe more than $194 million over the next two decades, according to the Western Energy Alliance, an industry group for independent oil and gas producers.
The Alliance published a press release Friday afternoon denouncing Haaland’s decision and the secretary’s “clear conflicts of interest.” Haaland’s daughter, Somah, lobbied for the decision on behalf of the Pueblo
