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Today President Biden and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will propose a 20-year mineral withdrawal around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, according to the Washington Post and New York Times. The withdrawal is expected to protect a 10-mile buffer surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park, removing the threat of oil and gas drilling in one of America’s most archaeologically-rich areas.
The withdrawal mirrors a legislative proposal supported by New Mexico’s congressional delegation, which has been pushing the Biden administration to take this action. The administration also announced it would begin an extensive process of consulting with Tribal nations in the Four Corners region to establish long-term certainty for energy production and conservation on public and Indigenous lands.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement, “Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked, and thrived in that high desert community. Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco, so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations.” President Biden will announce the move at the opening of the White House Tribal Nations Summit as one of several steps intended to strengthen the relationship between the federal government and American Indian tribes.
Center for Western Priorities Executive Director Jennifer Rokala emphasized the critical importance of the listening sessions and nation-to-nation consultations that the Interior Department will hold with Indigenous Americans and Tribal nations as well as the connection between today's action and the 30x30 goal, saying, “When President Biden and Secretary Haaland launched the America the Beautiful initiative earlier this year, we noted that it would take many tools to protect 30 percent of America’s land and waters by the end of the decade. Long-term mineral withdrawals like this are an important pathway for addressing the intertwined climate and biodiversity crises. We look forward to seeing what comes next.”
The area known today as Chaco Culture National Historical Park was a hub of the Ancestral Puebloan civilization from about 850 until it was abandoned in the 13th century, leaving behind architecturally majestic remnants of a sophisticated agricultural society. The plunder of cultural objects from this area led to the creation of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the authority to designate protections for public land.
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Claiming that we’re only taking short-term action to foster oil and gas production while we make the transition on the one hand, and on the other hand selling a carbon bomb of a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico that can’t go to production for close to 10 years—there’s no way to square that circle. It really points out the inconsistency between the federal oil and gas program today and the climate needs of America and the world.”
