Biden admin issues 20-year oil drilling ban near Indigenous site, ignoring pleas from Native America

[Elderberry]

By Thomas Catenacci | Fox News 6/2/2023

Biden admin issues 20-year oil drilling ban near Indigenous site, ignoring pleas from Native Americans

The Navajo Nation said its members would be 'pushed into greater poverty' if the Biden admin moved forward with the action

The Biden administration is moving forward with a 20-year ban on new oil and gas leasing near an Indigenous cultural site in New Mexico despite stark opposition from Native Americans in the region.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland finalized the action Friday which bans fossil fuel and mineral leasing within a 10-mile buffer zone around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. The ban ultimately amounts to a withdrawal of approximately 336,404 acres of public lands from mineral leasing near the site some Native Americans consider sacred.

"Today marks an important step in fulfilling President Biden’s commitments to Indian Country by protecting Chaco Canyon, a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors have called this place home since time immemorial," Haaland said in a statement.

"The exceptional landscape in the Greater Chaco region has profound cultural importance," Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Tracy Stone-Manning added. "Today’s announcement marks an important step in ensuring Indigenous voices help inform the management of our public lands."

The action comes nearly two years after the Department of the Interior (DOI) and BLM first proposed the leasing moratorium within the 10-mile radius at the Chaco Canyon site.

However, the proposal has been met with fierce opposition from the nearby Navajo Nation, local officials and energy producers.

More: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-issues-20-year-oil-drilling-ban-ignoring-pleas-native-americans

[MajorClay]

Live by the executive order die by the executive order.

[Smokin Joe]

Within 10 miles of the border of the site? That's a lot of buffer zone.

He isn't 'protecting' anything, least of all the Natives.

No one offered him 10%.

By contrast, the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) in ND have oil under their reservation. The tribe cut a deal with oil companies over royalties, issues commercial vehicle permits for those from outside the reservation who want to work there, etc. There is enough money involved that each tribal member gets 3-4 $1000.00 checks a year from the royalty fund, and interpretive center, tribal government buildings, and government services on that Reservation are not hurting for funds.

The Navaho get to look at the ruins...

The national park would fit in a 5X10 mile box, and take up about 2/3 of that, the buffer zone takes up far more land than the actual park.