Since April, the Biden administration has been forced to reconsider more than 600 parcels of land poised to be auctioned off for oil and gas leasing. Originally put forth by the Trump administration, these 42 lease auctions were put under a moratorium through an executive order signed by President Biden, then legally challenged. Ultimately, an injunction was issued by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. Not content to see the president go back on his word because of one judge, Indigenous tribes and environmental groups are fighting back.
Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (Diné CARE), San Juan Citizens Alliance, WildEarth Guardians, and Sierra Club filed a lawsuit on Wednesday challenging the Interior Department’s plans for 45,000 acres of federal land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico that would be used by fossil fuel companies. “[Actions] will inflict substantial harm to the people and communities, environment, cultural sites, and sacred spaces of the Greater Chaco landscape, including the sacred Sisnaateel Mesa Complex that is central to Diné cosmology,” the lawsuit notes. “The physical destruction or impairment of these lands will result in irreparable damage to Diné culture and history.”
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Voice of America reports that the Bureau of Land Management assured residents that the parcels fall outside of a 10-mile buffer zone around the park, which Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is hoping to keep in effect for the next 20 years as part of an initiative to preserve Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The outlet claims Navajo Nation officials are outright supportive of oil and gas development and have even called for that buffer zone to shrink. Those officials don’t necessarily represent the wishes of fellow Diné, as clearly illustrated from this lawsuit.
“These Bureau of Land Management’s approvals for oil and gas leasing undermines the trust responsibility the Bureau has with Diné living on the Counselor, Ojo Encino, and Torreon lands,” Diné CARE Greater Chaco Energy Organizer Mario Atencio said in a statement. “It should not come to a lawsuit for the Bureau to reduce the adverse effects its oil and leasing bonanza is having on lands in the Greater Chaco Landscape. Somewhere, the Bureau administration needs to come into alignment with the Justice40, the ‘Honoring Chaco’ initiative, and other executive orders that are supposed to bring environmental justice to the Diné.”
The group Diné CARE is composed of Navajo Nation community members from Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. It has consistently fought for environmental protections since 1988. Diné CARE has previously challenged fracking near the Greater Chaco region, coal mining on Navajo Nation land, and further oil and gas development, citing clean air concerns.
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