Congress to vote on buffer zone for historical New Mexico park

The new legislation could provide an answer to the decades-long debate over drilling near Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

|
Eric Draper/AP/File
Tourists cast their shadows on the ancient Anasazi ruins of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. The House will vote Oct. 31, 2019 on whether to halt drilling on nearby federal land.

Walls of stacked stone jut up from the canyon floor, some perfectly aligned with the seasonal movements of the sun and moon. Circular ceremonial subterranean rooms called kivas cut into the desert, surrounded by the remnants of what historians say was once a hub of indigenous civilization.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is at the center of a decades-long debate over how to manage oil and gas development in a sprawling area of northwestern New Mexico that is dotted by sites tied to the park but that lie outside its boundaries.

The U.S. House is set to vote Oct. 31 on legislation that would prohibit drilling on the checkerboard of federal land that borders the park.

Federal land managers have been deferring any interest by the oil and gas industry in parcels within a 10-mile radius of the park to address the concerns of environmentalists and Native American leaders. The legislation would codify that practice, essentially establishing a buffer around the park.

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a New Mexico Democrat, is among the sponsors. He remembers first visiting the park years ago when he was in his 20s.

"There's something incredible, magical, spiritual that you feel as you walk up to Chaco, touch those stones that have withstood the test of time and you think of all the people who came before us. It's emotional," Mr. Lujan said.

The congressman is confident the bill will have bipartisan support. He pointed to the willingness of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to defer drilling leases around Chaco while regulators prepare a new management plan for the region's resources. Mr. Bernhardt's decision came earlier this year after touring the world heritage site and meeting with leaders from the Navajo Nation and New Mexico's pueblos.

Similar legislation to create a protective zone around Chaco is pending in the Senate.

The campaign to curb drilling in one of the nation's oldest basins has spanned at least three presidential administrations. In recent years, concerns expanded beyond environmental impacts to the preservation of cultural landmarks.

Tribal leaders and environmentalists have praised the legislation, saying it would protect irreplaceable sites beyond the park.

The measure calls for withdrawing nearly 500 square miles of federal land holdings, preventing future leasing of mineral rights on those parcels.

However, passage would not mean development comes to a halt. Most of the land within the protection zone belongs to the Navajo Nation and individual tribal members who would retain their sovereignty and property rights.

Still, many allotment owners are concerned their holdings will be landlocked if the federal parcels are off limits. That would mean millions of dollars in lost revenues for some families on Navajo Nation, which has struggled for years with high rates of poverty and unemployment.

Environmentalists, archaeologists, and pueblo leaders from elsewhere in New Mexico for years have called for a drilling moratorium. Pueblo leaders say their cultural ties to Chaco are still strong. Some also have concerns about pollution from increased drilling.

Some leaders met with Mr. Lujan last week while in Washington, including E. Paul Torres, chairman of the All Pueblo Council of Governors.

"We need the buffer zone for sure," Mr. Torres said. "The oil wells are getting dangerously close to Chaco right now and that's what we do not want to see."

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Congress to vote on buffer zone for historical New Mexico park
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2019/1030/Congress-to-vote-on-buffer-zone-for-historical-New-Mexico-park
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe