Native Organizers Alliance - Big Oil is threatening Chaco Culture National Historical Park

 

Patricia, The Trump administration is attempting to reverse a federal ban on oil and gas drilling around Chaco Culture National Historical Park and we need to organize immediately to stop it. Also known as Chaco Canyon, this is the ancestral home of the Pueblo, Hopi, and Navajo peoples who have been in relationship with this land for more than a thousand years. It is a living landscape and designated UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with ancestral villages and places of ceremony and where medicines are harvested. More than ninety percent of public land around the park is designated for oil and gas development. Thousands of oil and gas wells, roads, and pipelines have destroyed significant cultural spaces already. But after decades of organizing, followed by almost two years of public hearings, Tribal Nations and federal agencies carefully crafted a 10-mile buffer to keep approximately 336,404 acres closed to new mineral development for 20 years. Now, they want to throw it all away so Big Oil and Gas can eke out a little more profit at the expense of Mother Earth. We can stop them. We’ve stopped them before. We can do it again. The Trump administration hasn't made it easy. They’ve given only 7 days for public comments that must be submitted through their website only. It is disgraceful to only allow 7 days of public comment on the fate of a 1,000-year-old sacred place. So I need to ask you to do something a little different than we’ve done before. Please copy this pre-written comment (or write your own) and paste after you click the ‘Submit a Comment’ link below: I do not support any attempt to repeal or overturn Public Land Order No. 7923. The 10-mile buffer keeping approximately 336,404 acres surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park closed to new mineral leasing and mineral entry for 20 years was carefully crafted over a period of 1.5 years with seven public meetings, meaningful Tribal consultation, and robust engagement with the public, cultural resource experts, economists and other stakeholders. This decision should be considered final and unchangeable during the 20 year period agreed to with its adoption in 2023. SUBMIT A COMMENT The deadline for submitting our comments is April 7th. That’s Tuesday. Please don’t wait. Summit your comment right away. Hawwih (“thank you” in Caddo) for working to protect Chaco Canyon from Big Oil greed. Judith LeBlanc (Caddo) Executive Director DONATE TODAY

Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund, please click here.