The Biden administration conveyed its intention Monday to pause new oil and gas drilling for twenty years within a ten-mile radius of the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, which already prohibits oil and gas drilling within its borders, drawing objections from the 24th Navajo Nation Council, which represents allottees of oil and gas leasing within the perimeter and which favors a five-mile protective radius instead.
Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an International Dark Sky Park, contains structures inhabited by the ancient Puebloan peoples from roughly 850 to 1250 AD.
The administration’s announcement comes after Congress approved a one-year ban on oil and gas leasing within a ten-mile perimeter of the park as part of the 2021 spending bill passed in December 2020.
According to a press release from the Department of the Interior, the proposed move “would not affect existing valid leases or rights and would not apply to minerals owned by private, State, or Tribal entities.”
Yet the Navajo Nation Resources and Development Committee Chair Rickie Nez, representing the Navajo communities of T’iistsoh Sikaad, Nenahnezad, Upper Fruitland, Tsé Daa K’aan, Newcomb, and San Juan, expressed concern about the pause’s impact on Navajo allotment owners who may wish to open their land to oil and gas development.
“We must ensure the livelihood of Navajo allotted land owners in the greater Chaco Canyon area are maintained. The Navajo Nation through a resolution has provided a compromise to also protect this sacred area from mineral development. The Biden Administration has to work with us to find a solution that meets our needs and that is this 5-mile buffer zone,” Nez said in a press release from the Navajo Council.
“Tribal nations do better when they make their own decisions,” Biden said before mentioning the proposal for the ten-mile buffer zone as part of his remarks to the White House Tribal Nations Summit.
In Interior’s press release, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland said the proposal was “a great example of how Tribally-led conservation can advance the nation’s goal of addressing climate change.”
Navajo Council Speaker Seth Damon, representing the communities of Bááhaalí, Chichiltah, Manuelito, Red Rock, Rock Springs, and Tséyatoh, had a different perspective.
“The Biden Administration bypassed previous requests to Congress for field hearings and for leaders to hear directly from our Navajo families affected in the Chaco Canyon region,” said Damon as part of the Navajo Council press release.
“It is important that the federal government consider and work with our Navajo allottees to further advance development. The Administration must respect our tribal sovereignty and what the government to government relationship entails,” he added.
His concerns were echoed by Mark Freeland, a Navajo council delegate representing the communities of Becenti, Lake Valley, Náhodishgish, Standing Rock, Whiterock, Huerfano, Nageezi, and Crownpoint.
“The Interior Department unilaterally made this withdrawal proposal without proper tribal consultation, now directly affecting our families on the Navajo Nation,” said Freeland in the press release.
By contrast, the All Pueblo Council of Governors (APCG), composed of the leaders of New Mexico and Texas’s twenty Pueblo nations, voiced its strong support for the Biden administration’s move, which it argued would protect vital artifacts and heritage from the ancient Pueblo and other tribes.
“On behalf of the 20 Pueblo Governors, we are overjoyed by the actions of President Biden and grateful to Secretary [Deb] Haaland for honoring the responsibility of each Pueblo Leader to protect Pueblo culture. Today’s announcement is the result of continuous prayers and the commitment to steward mother earth, our Sacred Trust,” said Wilfred Herrera, Jr., chairman of the APCG and former governor of the Laguna Pueblo nation, as part of an APCG press release.
Interior Secretary Haaland, the first top executive branch official of Native American ancestry since Charles Curtis served as vice president to Herbert Hoover, also belongs to the Laguna Pueblo nation.
A spokesperson for the APCG stated it did not have sufficient time to answer more detailed questions from The Epoch Times about the move, including the Navajo Nation’s concerns with it.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R.-Az.) and other Republican congressmen also objected to the move.
“Today’s latest land grab by the Biden administration will strip hundreds of Navajo Allottees of their rights to their lands by imposing an unscientific and overreaching buffer around Chaco Canyon. We heard from these allottees directly and urged the DOI to listen and reject this reckless policy. This action is another attack on America’s energy independence by the Biden administration. They are determined to shut down federal lands to all energy development while begging foreign countries for more oil. Americans reject this America Last policy,” Gosar said.
“Clearly President Biden prefers relying on our foreign adversaries for essential energy rather than domestic producers,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman (R.-Ark.)
The disagreement over lands near Chaco Canyon is one skirmish among many in the long-running conflict between Democrats and Republicans over the future of fossil fuels.
In April 2020, as COVID-19 lockdowns throttled the nation’s economy, Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D.-N.Y.) responded to a tweet about oil prices going negative by tweeting that “you absolutely love to see it.”
Ocasio-Cortez later deleted her tweet.
At an October meeting of the House Committee on Natural Resources, Ranking Member Westerman challenged Democrats on the committee to speak up if they did not ultimately seek to end domestic oil and gas production altogether.
No Democrats spoke up.