ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Several Pueblo leaders flew over Chaco Culture National Historical Park to see how close oil and gas drilling is getting to the historic ruins.
Sunday’s flight kicked off a week-long push tribal leaders for permanent protections for the greater Chaco Canyon area that will take them to Washington, D.C. Ahead of their trip to D.C., they found oil drilling creeping closer to the area.
“Very unfortunate sight to see. The land is pretty much being destroyed [with] nothing but roads and dead lands,” said Jenelle Roybal, the governor of the Pueblo of Pojoaque.
Under former President Joe Biden’s administration, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued an order in June 2023 that withdrew hundreds of square miles around Chaco Canyon from further oil and gas production for the next 20 years…