BLM fast-tracks proposal to open Chaco Canyon to oil and gas drilling
Arlyssa D. Becenti
Arizona Republic
Updated July 16, 2026, 12:23 p.m. MT
BLM fast-tracks proposal to open Chaco Canyon to oil and gas drilling
Arlyssa D. Becenti
Arizona Republic
Updated July 16, 2026, 12:23 p.m. MT
. . .
The move would reverse a 2023 decision that created a 10-mile protective buffer zone around the park for 20 years.
Pueblo leaders oppose the plan, citing the area's cultural significance and incomplete surveys of historic properties.
The Bureau of Land Management plans to reopen the area around Chaco Culture National Historical Park for possible oil and gas leasing, giving the public until July 29 to comment.
In April, the Interior Department moved to revoke protections surrounding Chaco Culture with a proposal to rescind Public Land Order 7923, which put wide areas of land around the park off limits to mining and drilling.
The BLM has now opened a 14-day comment period for the draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Revocation of Public Lands Order 7923.
The move came just days after President Donald Trump slashed the boundaries of two Utah national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, by nearly 3 million acres. Both are important to tribes in the region.
. . .
The BLM's announcement drew harsh comments from opponents of the plan.
"Don't allow protection that took decades to build to be reversed with the stroke of a pen," said All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman Joey Sanchez of the Pueblo of Santa Ana. "We said that in May. We are saying it again today, and the Department has now put in writing exactly what it intends. It intends to erase all of it, and it has given the public two weeks to object."
More:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2026/07/16/blm-plans-to-open-chaco-canyon-to-drilling-fast-tracks-review/90937169007/
Or:
https://archive.is/20260716145052/https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2026/07/16/blm-plans-to-open-chaco-canyon-to-drilling-fast-tracks-review/90937169007/
= new reply since forum marked as read
The move came just days after President Donald Trump slashed the boundaries of two Utah national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, by nearly 3 million acres. Both are important to tribes in the region.
I hope people provide comment to this and are active in speaking out about it. Not that this admin would take note of the comments, a louder approach might get some notice while the comments would be evidence for litigation later.
