Biden blocks energy leases in New Mexico's Chaco Canyon as tribal nations summit meets
President Joe Biden on Monday said the administration will move to prevent oil and gas development for two decades near Chaco Canyon, an area in northwestern New Mexico that’s culturally significant to the area’s Native American communities and important for biodiversity.
The plan was formally announced during the White House Tribal Nations Summit, the first of meetings that Biden has pledged to hold annually to strengthen relationships between the administration and tribal nations. It is consistent with the administration’s goal to protect 30% of U.S. land and water by the end of the decade.
Biden’s action would bar oil and gas leasing within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park for 20 years.
“Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked, and thrived in that high desert community,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a former member of Congress from a New Mexico district that encompasses Chaco Canyon, said in a statement. “Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco.”
Read more: https://www.azmirror.com/blog/biden-blocks-energy-leases-in-new-mexicos-chaco-canyon-as-tribal-nations-summit-meets/
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