Ninety-one percent of the area around Chaco Canyon in New Mexico has already been handed over to Big Oil and Gas, but the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding yet another lease sale to offer up even more land close to Chaco for potential oil and gas drilling.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the ancestral home to many tribal nations of the Southwest. The greater Chaco area is a community suffering greatly from the impacts of the oil and gas industry.1
The BLM’s proposed plan will further target indigenous communities' resources and sacred sites, pose a safety and health threat to the people who live on the surrounding land, and alter the quality and nature of this pristine landscape forever.
For more than 10 years we have been fighting the fossil fuel industry to preserve Chaco Canyon. Together, thanks to the action and support of people like you, we have made great progress to help protect the region, but there is still more to do to permanently protect this World Heritage Site for good!2,3