Biden administration bars oil and gas drilling within 10 miles of Chaco Canyon

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced new protections Friday for New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park, barring oil and gas development for 20 years within a 10-mile radius of the area.

The announcement follows what the department said was an extensive period of consultation between tribal nations and Haaland, the nation’s first Senate-confirmed Indigenous Cabinet secretary. It will only apply to federal lands and will not affect existing leases, according to the Interior Department. No oil or gas leases have been issued in the affected area for about 10 years.

“Today marks an important step in fulfilling President Biden’s commitments to Indian Country by protecting Chaco Canyon, a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have called this place home since time immemorial,” Haaland said in a statement. “I value and appreciate the many Tribal leaders, elected officials, and stakeholders who have persisted in their work to conserve this special area.”

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, praised the move in a statement Friday.

“The Biden administration’s move to ban new fossil fuel development in the area is a fitting testament to the decades of hard-fought advocacy by the tribes with ties to the region. It’s also a win for the tens of thousands of people from all over the world who visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site every year to admire and learn from the Canyon’s invaluable archaeological and cultural resources.”

The decision comes after a number of concessions the Biden administration has made to Republicans on energy issues. Earlier this year, the Interior Department approved the Willow Project, a vast oil drilling project in Alaska backed by the state’s bipartisan congressional delegation but fiercely opposed by environmentalists — and Haaland herself during her time in Congress.

More recently, environmentalist groups have vocally opposed the inclusion of overhauls to energy permitting and the approval of a natural gas pipeline in the bill raising the federal debt ceiling, which Biden is expected to sign as early as Friday evening. Grijalva was one of 46 House Democrats to vote against the package, specifically lambasting its energy provisions in an interview with The Hill this week.