ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) – A coalition of Native American tribes and members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation are asking federal officials for more time for a proposal that would govern oil and fuel drilling and other advances near the Chaco Culture National Historic Park.
The UNESCO World Heritage site served as a war cry for environmentalists and peoples who tried to avoid drilling in the St. John’s Basin. They say there are culturally vital sites outside the park barriers that can be compromised if additional progression is allowed.
The Interior Department earlier this year agreed to extend the comment period by 120 days and another round of virtual meetings was held this week, with the first session dedicated to the Navajo Nation, which has jurisdiction over much of the land that surrounds the park. The checkerboard also includes federal, state and private land.
The Navajo Nation has come out in support of creating a permanent buffer around the park, albeit smaller than what the pueblos and environmentalists are calling for since royalties from development on tribal land and parcels owned by individual Navajos are an important source of revenue.
A meeting also was held Thursday with the pueblos and other tribes. The sessions will wrap up Saturday with one for the general public.
Bart Stevens, Navajo Regional Director of the Federal Office of Indigenous Affairs, said the purpose of providing tribes and others with more information on the opportunities seen for resource control in the San Juan basin, which encompasses much of northwestern New Mexico.
At Thursday’s virtual meeting, the All Pueblo Board of Governors asked the U.S. Department of the Interior. It suspends all activities and schedules similar to the proposed control plan until the end of the coronavirus pandemic. The organization among which made a similar request in February when the plan was first launched, claiming that COVID-19 hit many tribes hard and that all of their resources were unfinished to deal with the fitness emergency.
The stage is still terrible, the council said friday. Leaders highlighted the partial closures or closures of non-essential tribal government operations and the demanding situations of remote operation with limited Internet access.
Peoples dispute the timing of federal agency inspections in the region.
Within the barriers of Chaco Park, the stacked stone walls stand out from the back of the canyon, some perfectly aligned with the seasonal movements of the sun and moon. The circular underground halls called kivas are carved in the desert, surrounded by the remains of what historians once say is a center of indigenous civilization.
The Congressional delegation, in a letter sent Wednesday to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, said the pandemic continues to affect the lives of new Mexicans and their ability to participate in a public procedure that will affect the economy and way of life in the northwest corner. State.
Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for an end to a government criticism around Chaco Park before the control plan is changed.
They also wrote that the procedure is “accelerating” despite low oil prices, declining demand and market uncertainty.