Peñasco Blanco at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. (Photo by Mary Cornatzer/Source NM)

In a new letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, New Mexico’s congressional delegation chastised federal efforts to revoke a 10-mile buffer zone for oil and gas development around Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

“Pursuing increased development on [Bureau of Land Management] lands within the ten-mile area that surrounds Chaco Canyon—so rich in cultural, spiritual, and historical significance—is misguided and risks permanent damage to one of the most sacred landscapes in North America,” the letter stated. “Additionally, it is unacceptable to push forward without full and robust Tribal consultation.”

U.S. Interior Department finalizes fossil fuel, mining ban near Chaco Canyon

The area around Chaco Canyon holds paramount spiritual and cultural significance to several New Mexico Pueblos, the Hopi Indians of Arizona and the Navajo Nation. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated the archaeological sites at Chaco among one of only 24 World Heritage Sites in the U.S.

The site sits atop the Mancos Shale formation in the San Juan Basin. Approximately 90% of federal lands surrounding the site are leased for oil and gas, according to the All Pueblo Governors Council. Pueblo governments and advocates fought for years for protections from further encroachment of oil and gas.

In 2023, under the Biden Administration, the federal government issued Public Land Order No. 7923, banning further oil and gas development on federal lands within 10 miles of the historic site for 20 years, which was celebrated by advocates and tribal governments.

In April, members of the delegation re-introduced federal legislation to make the withdrawal permanent. But a competing Republican-backed bill and the Trump Administration’s efforts to unwind the order are threatening that progress, the delegation said in their letter.

Bureau of Land Management officials failed to offer proper notice of virtual May 28 tribal consultation, the delegation said, adding that federal officials did not send a letter to all of the impacted tribal governments. The delegation pressed the federal government to hold in-person consultations, give a timeline for when decisions will be made and urged Burgum himself to tour in-person.

A Source NM request to the Bureau of Land Management for a copy of the letter sent to tribal governments in May went unreturned Monday.

Efforts to remove the buffer are unsurprising, said Julia Bernal (Sandia), the executive Director of Pueblo Action Alliance, who noted it was one of the plans outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025.

Bernal said her nonprofit is pushing for further safeguarding the ancestral site and reducing pollution from oil and gas, and worries that walking back Chaco protections will erode future restoration or protection efforts.

“If we’re undoing or just disregarding those very important mandated tribal consultation processes, then that really just does show how unimportant it is for this administration to uphold their sovereign rights,” Bernal said.

A reversal will face “widespread public opposition and yield minimal benefits,” in oil and gas development, the delegation wrote.

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