The Trump administration is rushing fracking close to Chaco Canyon National Historical Park...
John,
In the midst of this deadly coronavirus crisis, the Trump administration is rushing through a plan to ramp up fracking on public lands close to Chaco Canyon National Historical Park.
Trump's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has introduced a draft plan to drill over 3,000 oil and gas wells in the Greater Chaco region of northwestern New Mexico.1
There's a protest period until May 28, but we know that the communities most impacted by this plan — like the Navajo Nation — don't have a way to meaningfully participate in any kind of protest during this once in a century global pandemic and recession.
Plans to continue leasing and drilling in the Greater Chaco region are explained in a draft Resource Management Plan Amendment released by the BLM on February 28. Before moving forward with this plan, it’s the BLM's legal obligation to engage impacted communities.
Right now we're targeting Secretary Bernhardt of the Department of the Interior because that's the parent agency of the BLM, and Bernhardt has the power to postpone this protest period.
COVID-19 cases are spiking in New Mexico, and the pandemic is hitting the Navajo Nation exceptionally hard, where there are now more per capita cases than any of the 50 states. Adding insult to injury, the BLM held virtual meetings to engage the community, yet broadband internet is NOT readily available on the Navajo Nation.2
Therefore there is NO POSSIBLE WAY Navajo communities impacted by drilling can meaningfully participate in commenting on this plan.
The entire New Mexico congressional delegation has protested this dangerous plan, and Representative Deb Haaland recently stated:
“…the decision to move forward with the comment period during this global pandemic serves only to disenfranchise these communities and is a failure to fulfill Department of Interior’s trust and treaty obligations to Native nations and fails to protect a national treasure.”3
The Greater Chaco region has become a microcosm of the Trump Administration's dysfunction as it continues to promote oil and gas interests and disenfranchises impacted residents in the process.
We must do everything we can to make sure this administration doesn't get away with exacerbating the climate crisis in the middle of this pandemic.
We need a land management plan that considers the health of surrounding communities and the impacts on our environment, NOT more disastrous fracking in a community that is already overburdened.
Thanks for taking action,
Margaret Wadsworth
Senior Organizer - New Mexico
Food & Water Action and Food & Water Watch
Food & Water Action and its affiliated organization, Food & Water Watch, are advocacy groups with a common mission to protect our food, water and climate. This email was sent to [email protected] - and we're glad you got it, because it's one of the most important ways you can reclaim political power, hold elected officials accountable and resist corporate control.
