Oil and Gas Lease to Auction 840 Acres Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Oil and Gas Lease to Auction 840 Acres Near Chaco Culture National Historical Park

There is a real push for oil and gas development in and near our national lands. One such effort is underway with new vigor in New Mexico, near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

The auction is set for Jan. 25th at 9 a.m.

Land spanning from Rio Arriba and Sandoval counties.

The lease has been challenged and delayed with opposition 3 times. There are real fears of adverse effects on the nearby communities.

“That’s the purpose and reason for fighting it all along,” former Torreon council member Daniel Tso said of drilling’s risk to local residents. “They are opposed to it.”

The Bureau of Land Management, or BLM for short, launched a community outreach effort to receive input from the community. Tribal members raised objections to the lease over concerns for sacred land and worries of adverse affects such a lease would have on their communities.

End result of this outreach, the BLM has effectively ignored the input they received. Despite cries from the tribal leaders of adverse effects on sacred land, the lease is planned to go forward.

Fracking is of particular concern. The previous assessment on energy development adverse effects on land was conducted in 2003, before the method of fracking had been developed. The lease comes within 20 miles of park boundaries and would pose a real threat.

The special interests driving the narrative of privatizing federal lands is that federal lands encroach on people’s liberty to live free. Seem’s like oil, gas, and mining encroaches on that liberty more so.

For more on this, visit: The Durango Herald

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