NM Lawmakers Urge Interior Department to Extend Public Process for Proposed Chaco Canyon Drilling Plans During Pandemic

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) urged the Trump administration to extend the period for public input and delay onsite inspections for the draft Farmington Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA)– which includes potentially opening up more areas around Chaco Culture National Historical Park to oil and gas drilling – until the COVID-19 crisis can be contained.

The lawmakers, in a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, are requesting that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reconsider its plans to move forward with the “virtual” public meetings, as Northwest New Mexico communities affected by the process often lack adequate broadband and are being hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the lawmakers note, the pandemic conditions that warranted an initial delay in the public process – which the Interior Department agreed to in May – still stubbornly remain in place today.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to radically alter the lives of New Mexicans, limiting their ability to fully participate in public processes fundamental to the economy and way of life in and around the BLM Farmington District in the Northwest corner of our state,” the lawmakers wrote. “Despite these concerns, several public processes proceed apace, hurtling forward to provide additional acreage for an oil and gas industry with seemingly little need for it, given the worst price and oversupply conditions in at least a decade. Accordingly, we ask you to indefinitely pause onsite inspections for applications for permit to drill (APDs) and the larger public process for the RMPA until this deadly virus can be contained.

“Further, virtual public hearings planned for the end of this month still offer the same hollow promise of meaningful public engagement,” the lawmakers continued, highlighting the obstacles to public comment during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The disperse population and rural character of the Farmington District has so far prevented the presence of adequate internet service in the surrounding area.  Many homes lack access to this now basic utility, and the public facilities such as schools, libraries, and city and Tribal buildings with suitable internet access that could otherwise host meetings rightfully remain closed to large groups to protect the public health.  This has not changed since May.”

The lawmakers further stressed that a critical study of the Chaco Canyon area they spearheaded in Congress last year should be completed first to inform any amendment to the RMPA. “We fail to understand why the BLM continues to move the required cultural study forward on a parallel process to the RMPA. Instead, the cultural study should be completed first and then used to inform any amendment to the Resource Management Plan. In addition, the public health conditions preventing safe public comment periods for the RMPA may well prevent work on the cultural study. While this may further delay the RMPA process, we fail to see how an adequate RMPA can be completed without full consideration of the study as intended.

“In light of these circumstances, we ask you and the BLM to work with members of the public, tribal interests, and leaseholders to delay until a suitable future date can be found and a safe working plan is developed to conduct these important meetings,” the lawmakers concluded.

In 2019, the New Mexico congressional delegation secured protections for the Chaco Canyon area in the Fiscal Year 2020 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. The bill prevents BLM from leasing oil, gas, and minerals on BLM land within a 10-mile radius of the park, reinforcing a long-standing “buffer zone” – developed in close coordination with the federal government, the state, the Navajo Nation and Pueblos – to safeguard sacred sites and sensitive cultural items. The prohibition applies while a Tribally-led cultural resources investigation is undertaken in the area, which is funded by $1 million in the bill to allow Tribes to identify culturally and historically significant areas. The bill includes strong protections for Tribes and allottees to ensure they can continue to make their own decisions on how and whether to develop their own lands for oil and gas.

The full text of the letter can be found here .