Latest land management plan could bring 3,000+ new fracking wells to the Greater Chaco region!
John,
Trump’s Bureau of Land Management is taking advantage of the pandemic to rush through more fracking that would bring more pollution to the Greater Chaco region.
With unprecedented wildfires and multiple crises, opening up nearly four million acres for more than 3,000 new fracking wells is the last thing we need!
Soon after the pandemic hit earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt extended the comment period for this dangerous draft plan amendment. The extended deadline is ending soon on Friday, September 25 while impacted communities — who lack internet and electricity access, and have seen some of the highest rates of coronavirus — continue to go unheard!
Margaret Wadsworth
Senior Organizer - New Mexico
Food & Water Action
John,
Trump’s Bureau of Land Management is trying to bring up to 3,100 new fracking wells to the Greater Chaco region, opening up nearly four million acres for drilling!
The draft plan amendment was introduced right before the pandemic hit, creating another urgent threat to the region's people and culture. Much of the impacted land is in or near Navajo communities, that continue to suffer disproportionately from the immediate health crisis.
The Bureau shifted to holding online hearings, but having little access to broadband internet, there has been no fair way for frontline communities to engage in the fight against this latest fracking threat.
Earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt extended the comment period for this dangerous draft plan amendment due to public pressure. Now the extended deadline is quickly approaching while the pandemic persists — frontline communities need another extension now!
Navajo communities have had some of the highest rates of coronavirus per capita in the U.S. Though Secretary Bernhardt extended the comment period earlier this year, circumstances have not improved for frontline communities. In fact, life has become more challenging; nightly curfews and weekend lockdowns are still being implemented on the Navajo Nation to combat COVID-19.
The Bureau of Land Management held another round of virtual town hall meetings which proved (once again) grossly inadequate in engaging Navajo and Pueblo communities that lack internet access in rural New Mexico. Many residents in the region also lack running water and electricity.
Indigenous communities cannot meaningfully participate in these sham virtual hearings, which means the hearings are by design excluding the voices of the communities that would be most deeply impacted by fracking.
In addition to the families and communities that would be directly impacted, Chaco Canyon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a sacred ancestral site for the Navajo, Hopi, and Pueblo people.
The deadline for public comment is Friday, September 25 — we need Secretary Bernhardt to extend it indefinitely!
The Trump administration’s brazen scheme to push its fracking plans in the midst of a pandemic is beyond outrageous. This process must be put on hold until it is safe to resume truly inclusive public forums.
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.
