chaco – Rio Grande Chapter

D.C. Premiere of “Our Story: The Indigenous-Led Fight to Protect Greater Chaco”

A delegation of Indigenous community leaders and Greater Chaco protectors traveled from New Mexico to Washington D.C. to lobby members of congress for Greater Chaco protections, and premiere a film screening of the award-winning Our Story: The Indigenous Led Fight to Protect Greater Chaco (film trailer) which showcases the threats the Greater Chaco Landscape and its communities face from continued oil and gas leasing and drilling.

Continued leasing undercuts Greater Chaco progress

President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland have taken steps to protect lands near Chaco Culture National Historical Park by initiating a 20-year pause on new oil and gas leasing and drilling within 10 miles of the park and Honoring Chaco Initiative. However, these protections should go further to include protecting the region’s air and water quality, the health and safety of surrounding communities, sacred sites throughout the landscape, and much more.

Coalition delivers 80K comments to Bureau of Land Management to “Truly Honor Chaco”

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

The Greater Chaco Coalition and Citizens Caring for the Future jointly issued a statement condemning the Department of the Interior’s decision to resume oil and gas leasing on public lands across the United States, including 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

The area in and around Counselor, NM is made up of a “checkerboard” of various jurisdictions; federal, state, tribal, private, and allotment. The people most impacted by decisions – the Navajo Nation – generally are excluded from the decision-making process.

One-time Opportunity: Protect New Mexicans from Harmful Oil & Gas Pollution

On September 16, conservation groups joined hundreds of others in urging Gov. Lujan-Grisham’s state agencies to take advantage of the opportunity to slash our state’s climate pollution and make the air healthier for all of us.

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