Commenters demand more meaningful protections for Greater Chaco and greater involvement of impacted communities For Immediate Release: May 6, 2022 (Photos) Santa Fe, NM – Today, the Greater Chaco Coalition/Frack Off Chaco, composed of environmental justice advocates, Indigenous grassroots organizations,
Greater Chaco Coalition and Citizens Caring for the Future Respond to Biden Administration’s Decision to Restart Oil and Gas Leasing in New Mexico
Greater Chaco Coalition Demands More Than Piece-Meal Protection in Response to 10-Mile Buffer

Despite applauding President Joe Biden and Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s announcement in November to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape through a still-undefined “Honoring Chaco” process, members of the Greater Chaco Coalition are tempering their enthusiasm for the Department of Interior’s notice today of a 90-day public comment process surrounding the 20 year administrative withdrawal of federal minerals from future oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile buffer around Chaco Culture National Park, as the administration has reneged on its promise to end federal fossil fuel leasing, and as Bureau of Land Management moves to finalize its massive fracking plan for the region and broader landscape protection efforts have yet to begin.
Greater Chaco Coalition celebrates new path forward for landscape protection

Members of the Greater Chaco Coalition are applauding President Joe Biden and Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s announcement to finally address environmental justice and meaningful tribal consultation for the Greater Chaco region by launching a new collaborative landscape level planning process in 2022 with Tribes, elected officials, communities, and stakeholders.
Greater Chaco Coalition Comments Delivered

On Friday, Oct. 1, members of the Greater Chaco Coalition delivered stacks of comments representing nearly 2-million protests collected since 2016 opposing federal fossil fuel leasing to the Bureau of Land Management’s state headquarters in Santa Fe. Representatives once again shared a timeline of extractive colonialism in New Mexico and once again, urged agency officials to stop sacrificing more New Mexico land for oil and gas.
Greater Chaco Coalition Responds to DOI Virtual Forum on Federal Oil and Gas Leasing

In response to The Department of the Interior virtual public forum the Greater Chaco Coalition, a collaborative effort between over 200 Indigenous community leaders and groups, environmental justice advocates, and environmental groups representing thousands of New Mexicans and millions of Americans issued a public statement that the oil and gas leasing program must be fundamentally reformed.
Protecting the Checkerboard
One-time Opportunity: Protect New Mexicans from Harmful Oil & Gas Pollution
Comment deadline on Chaco plan extended

As federal and state health guidelines were announced in March in response to COVID-19, New Mexico’s entire congressional delegation, Tribal leaders, Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Dept., and multiple groups called on Interior Secretary Bernhardt to extend the May 28 comment deadline to allow for the public and state and tribal governments to meaningfully engage. Instead of heeding pleas to extend the comment period, 15 days before the deadline the BLM and BIA held four virtual meetings. That did not go well.