The Biden administration will move toward ending the issuance of new oil and gas leases on federal lands near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a Native American heritage site in northwestern New Mexico.
President Joe Biden is set to announce the plan during the Tribal Nations Summit on Monday. The Interior Department said the Bureau of Land Management will begin consideration of a 20-year ban on new leases on federal lands located within a 10-mile radius of the park.
“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 said in a statement. “Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco, so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations.”
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The bureau will move in the coming weeks to segregate the targeted portion of federal lands for two years as it conducts an environmental analysis and accepts public comments on the proposed withdrawal, the Interior Department said.
The move is another in a series by Biden targeting resource extraction and transportation on or near federal and tribal lands. Biden imposed a moratorium pausing all new oil and gas leases on federal lands during his first week in office, revoked the Keystone XL pipeline, and suspended all leases to drill oil and gas on Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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The administration also announced in October that it will consider a 20-year mineral leasing withdrawal of key portions of national forest lands in Minnesota and conduct an environmental review for the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, pausing all new mineral leases where the Twin Metals mining project is underway.
