Tell the DOI to PROTECT Chaco Canyon and DEFEND local communities from Big Oil’s fracking!

The Greater Chaco Canyon Landscape is an important ancestral land to Indigenous Pueblo and Navajo communities, with ancient buildings and rock engravings that represent a deep cultural and spiritual significance to these tribes.

But the fossil fuel industry’s reckless fracking is DESTROYING this historic UNESCO World Heritage site and has already claimed 91% of this public land, continuing to rake in cash from damaging this national treasure.

To make matters worse, the harmful fracking practices used on these massive Big Oil projects are DEVASTATING to the health and safety of local communities -- causing air pollution, water contamination, and even increased risk of earthquakes.

We need your URGENT ACTION to help END the legacies of exploitation and extraction of frontline Indigenous communities in the Greater Chaco Region. Take action now to DEFEND these tribal entities from Big Oil’s destructive fracking and help SAVE Chaco Canyon before it’s too late >>

Comments

Dear Secretary Deb Haaland,

I am writing out of concern for the Greater Chaco region. The oil and gas industry must be held accountable for the impacts of 40,000+ existing oil and gas wells in the region, and the legacy of pollution, including abandoned, orphaned, and non-producing wells, must be addressed and fully remediated. It is critical that the Department of Interior protect this living and ancient cultural landscape and move forward the following through the Honor Chaco Initiative:

1. The Department of Interior must implement a comprehensive landscape-level planning process that includes the proposed 10-mile mineral withdrawal as well as finally analyzing the cumulative impacts of oil and gas activities on public health, local quality of life, cultural resources, water resources, air quality, environmental and social justice issues, and climate change.

2. The Bureau of Land Management must pause all leasing and permitting until land management decisions are able to center on the protection of the integrity of the cultural landscape, which includes tribally led ethnographic studies and meaningful Tribal consultation, including free, prior, and informed consent, extended to traditional Navajo Chapters, the Navajo Nation, the All-Pueblo Council of Governors, and all Tribes who trace lineage to these lands or to Chaco culture.

3. Community protections must be put in place to assure quality of life beyond the 10-mile buffer. Just transition efforts and community infrastructure investments must be funded to reconcile the impacts of sacrifice zones and environmental racism.

The Greater Chaco Landscape extends far beyond the boundaries of the National Park and holds environmental, cultural, and historical significance that must be safeguarded from further destruction. I urge you and your administration to take the necessary steps to honor the Honoring Chaco Initiative and fully protect the Greater Chaco Region.

Sincerely,

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