Protect Chaco Canyon from Oil and Gas Development

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

We’re one big step closer to saving Chaco Canyon from drilling.

The U.S. House just passed the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, bipartisan legislation that would permanently protect lands within a 10-mile radius around the park from oil and gas extraction. Now, we need the Senate to do the same.¹

Go to https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=35383 to tell Sens. Toomey and Casey: Save Chaco Canyon from oil and gas drilling and development.

Chaco Canyon isn’t just home to thousand-year-old ruins — it also features night skies so filled with stars that it’s considered an International Dark Sky Park and one of the best places in the world to stargaze. Chaco Canyon’s unspoiled night views gives visitors a chance to see the same brilliant starscape that Chacoans saw thousands of years ago, while also protecting the elk, bobcats, badgers, bats, lizards and other wildlife that thrive in the dark. Drilling in or near the area would ruin that.^2,3

While Chaco is small compared to other parks, it is described as one of the most important cultural sites in the National Park System because of its sacred status to numerous tribes and its archeological importance.⁴

More than 91 percent of the federal land around Chaco is already leased to oil and gas operations. And the development has taken a toll on the health of the land and surrounding communities. So much methane has been released as a result of these operations in New Mexico that a methane cloud the size of Delaware looms overhead.⁵

But we can still save Chaco Canyon. The Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act would protect the land from encroaching oil and gas companies and prevent them from developing within a 10-mile radius from the park, as well as terminate any pre-existing leases that are not productive.⁶

Stand up for public lands.

This legislation will protect more than 316,000 acres from oil and gas development and the use of coal minerals. Experts estimate that, if passed, the bill will protect more than 5,000 priceless artifacts.⁷

We called on our representatives to support this legislation, and it passed in the House. Now, we need to do the same for the Senate and get this bill across the finish line.

Tell the U.S. Senate: Protect Chaco Canyon from oil and gas development.

1. Scott Turner, “House passes Chaco Canyon protection,” Albuquerque Journal, October 30, 2019.
2. “International Dark Sky Park,” National Park Service, last accessed November 4, 2019.
3. “Chaco Culture,” National Park Service, last accessed November 7, 2019.
4. Ernie Atencio and Paul Reed, “We can still save Chaco Canyon,” Albuquerque Journal, September 9, 2019.
5. Ernie Atencio and Paul Reed, “We can still save Chaco Canyon,” Albuquerque Journal, September 9, 2019.
6. Scott Turner, “House passes Chaco Canyon protection,” Alburguregure Journal, October 30, 2019.
7. Scott Turner, “House passes Chaco Canyon protection,” Alburguregure Journal, October 30, 2019.