The Trump administration is asking the public to weigh in before it decides whether to slash protections on lands surrounding New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, a park that preserves ancient Native American ruins and artifacts.
Over the next two weeks, the Bureau of Land Management is accepting comments on its proposal to undo prohibitions on mining and oil and gas drilling in a 10-mile area around Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
A draft environmental analysis released this week concluded that revoking the protections implemented during the Biden administration on more than 330,000 acres could result in the production of the equivalent of more than 2.2 million barrels of oil over the next 20 years. It also predicts that new coal and uranium mining would be unlikely to happen over the next 20 years.
BLM’s analysis considers keeping the 10-mile buffer in place, cutting it to 5 miles or revoking it entirely. The Interior Department under Trump has pushed to remove barriers to oil and gas production across the country.
