Oil and gas development close to one of the United States’ most culturally significant Native American sites may advance as the Trump administration considers reducing federal protections around New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is evaluating whether to alter a 2023 mineral withdrawal that blocked new oil and gas leasing on around 336,000 acres of federal land surrounding Chaco Canyon for 20 years.
The BLM’s draft environmental assessment outlines three choices: maintain existing protections, decrease the protected area from a 10-mile buffer to five miles, or abolish the withdrawal entirely, reopening the land to new mineral leasing. The BLM has initiated a comment period for the draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Revocation of Public Lands Order, with a deadline approaching soon. Newsweek reached out to the BLM for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northwestern New Mexico, holds significant archaeological remains of the ancestral Puebloan civilization. The broader region contains thousands of cultural sites, ancient roads, shrines, and ceremonial locations sacred to many Pueblo communities, the Navajo Nation, and other Indigenous groups. The proposed changes follow President Trump’s reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in southern Utah, sparking a prolonged dispute over conservation, public lands, and presidential authority.
Opposition to the Chaco Drilling Plan
The BLM plan would reopen areas around Chaco Culture National Historical Park for potential oil and gas leasing. In April, the Interior Department aimed to rescind Biden-era protections surrounding Chaco Culture, proposing to revoke Public Land Order 7923, which restricted drilling and mining near the park. Under the new proposal, authority over mineral leasing would return to the BLM, enabling new claims and development.
The plan has encountered resistance from groups such as the All Pueblo Council Governors, representing the 20 sovereign Pueblo nations of New Mexico and Texas. Deb Haaland, currently a gubernatorial candidate in New Mexico and former Secretary of the Interior during Biden’s administration, criticized Trump and BLM Director Steve Pearce for attempting to open Chaco to new mineral leasing, which she argues would inflict irreversible harm. Haaland has consistently advocated for the Chaco region, collaborating with the New Mexico congressional delegation to introduce the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act.
New Mexico Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat, expressed her opposition on social media, asserting, “Chaco Canyon is not for sale!” She emphasized the importance of preserving these sacred, ancestral landscapes. Meanwhile, the National Parks Conservation Association urged public support to protect Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The public comment deadline is Wednesday, July 29. Further comments can be made here. For editorial inquiries, contact John Fitzpatrick and Gray R. Thomas at Newsweek.