Navajo fight Biden administration’s plan to fence off drilling around New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon

President Biden is looking to other countries such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia for oil even as he seeks to throttle drilling near New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, much to the frustration of Navajo Nation members, including Ervin Chavez.

Mr. Chavez is one of the thousands of Navajo who own mineral rights around Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland wants to establish a 20-year ban on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands within a 10-mile buffer zone of the park.

The proposed withdrawal of 351,479 acres would not apply to privately held lands. Given that the region is a checkerboard of public and private property, the measure effectively would strand mineral resources on the allotted lands of Navajo families.

“If they freeze all the federal lands in and around the allotment lands out in the northern part of Chaco Canyon, it basically will isolate the allotment lands,” said Mr. Chavez, who heads the Shii Shi Keyah Association, a group of Navajo Nation mineral allottees. “It would not make it feasible for oil companies to go in and drill when they know all the other lands are frozen.”

Drilling provides an important source of revenue in struggling San Juan County, and the allotments support U.S. energy production as the nation grapples with a fuel crunch exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month.

“We knew they were buying oil from the foreign countries, namely Russia. And here we have all this land, all this oil in the United States back in our region that can be produced, and here they are trying to freeze lands and tell us not to produce on it?” Mr. Chavez said. “It doesn’t make sense at all. To us, it’s like, ‘Wake up, people. Start reopening the federal lands here.’”

The Navajo Nation Council has thrown its support behind a compromise: a 5-mile buffer zone. Supporters say such a plan would allow oil and gas producers to access most of the allotments while protecting sacred sites and cultural resources.

In a Nov. 24 letter to Mr. Biden, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer said the proposed withdrawal would have a “devastating impact because the indirect effects would make the allottee land worthless from the standpoint of energy extraction.”

“In fact, the existing temporary ban on leasing [has] already impacted our people, as energy companies have told some of our Navajo allottees that they will not pursue exploratory drilling unless they know they can access the sites using horizontal drilling through the federal lands,” the Navajo letter states.

So far, the Interior Department is holding out for a 10-mile buffer. So is the All Pueblo Council of Governors (APCG), an alliance of 20 Pueblo tribes based in Albuquerque, more than 100 miles from Chaco Canyon, with historic ties to the region.

“This long sought-after measure protects a critically sensitive area of the Greater Chaco Region, a sacred landscape replete with cultural resources significant to Pueblos, the Navajo Nation, and other Tribal Nations and Native communities,” the APCG said in a Nov. 15 statement. “The withdrawal area includes over a dozen Chacoan great house communities, many ancient roads, and thousands of cultural resources.”

Ms. Haaland, the first American Indian Interior secretary, is a member of one of the Pueblo tribes, the Pueblo of Laguna. Some Navajo accuse her of acting as a hometown referee.

“We totally believe that there is a conflict of interest,” said Delora Hesuse, a Navajo member who lives on her allotment in Nageezi, New Mexico.

The Interior Department declined to comment on the conflict of interest accusation.

The Pueblo council noted that the Obama administration placed an “informal moratorium” on federal oil and gas leasing in the area well before Ms. Haaland assumed office.

She was confirmed by the Senate in March 2021 after serving a term in Congress representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, which includes most of Albuquerque.

“While Secretary Haaland is a Pueblo person herself, we believe her cultural competency in this area will only help her and her many dedicated staff consider whether to complete this administrative withdrawal,” the APCG said in an email. “They have demonstrated that they are following the requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act closely, including taking public comment and conducting tribal consultations before any decision is made.”

The issue is clearly a priority for Ms. Haaland. In 2019, she sponsored a bill that would have created a 10-mile buffer around the Chaco cultural park. The measure passed the House but died in the Senate.

“Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked, and thrived in that high desert community,” Ms. Haaland said in her Nov. 15 announcement. “Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco, so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations.”

The Bureau of Land Management on Friday extended the deadline for public comment to May 6. Two public hearings are scheduled: the first in Farmington, next to the Navajo reservation, on April 27, and the second in Albuquerque, home of the Pueblo, on April 29.

Navajo vs. Pueblo

Given that the Navajo and the Pueblo civilizations date back centuries, there is plenty to unpack.

Both tribes have ties to Chaco Canyon. Ancient Puebloans lived there, but most of them left in the 13th century. The Navajo began settling there in the 17th century, according to the National Park Service.

Then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt placed a one-year leasing moratorium on the area in May 2019, but that was before the Navajo Nation, which previously supported the 10-mile buffer, voted in 2020 for legislation in favor of the 5-mile compromise.

In doing so, the Navajo “depart[ed] from the Navajo Nation’s agreement with the Pueblos,” the APCG said.

“Despite this, there are still many within the Navajo Nation that support the 10-mile withdrawal area,” the Pueblo council said. The “Pueblos have consistently sent letters to Navajo leadership requesting to meet since 2019, but they have not received a response.”

Certainly, the Pueblos have a legitimate interest in preserving the Chaco area’s artifacts and ruins. What irks the allottees is what they see as the federal government prioritizing the Pueblo prerogatives over those of the Navajo, even though they still live in the area known as Eastern Agency.

“Chaco Canyon is smack dab in Navajo country, and the Navajo Nation has passed a resolution in support of a five-mile buffer around the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park,” said Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma. “It’s a compromise. It’s a good compromise. It’s something the industry supports, even though it will put some energy resources off-limits.”

On the other hand, she said, “you’ve got an administration and they’re true believers, so any excuse to shut off oil and natural gas is something that they’re going to jump at.”

Interior Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland traveled in July to the Chaco region to confer with stakeholders, but Ms. Hesuse wants the secretary herself to meet with allottees, given that “we’re the ones impacted.”

“We’ve been to those [hearings],” Ms. Hesuse said. “There was one last month, and I asked the same question: How come Deb Haaland hasn’t met with us? She never met with us in her home state. I mean, we live in New Mexico. She’s from New Mexico.”

The allottees did meet with Mr. Bernhardt in Washington, but Ms. Haaland “never reached out to us, she’s never talked to us, but she stated that she’s totally against oil and gas,” said Ms. Hesuse, who testified in 2019 against the Haaland bill.

Nobody would confuse the Navajo allottees with Russian oil oligarchs, but the tribal members do have significant revenue at stake.

According to the Navajo Nation, 53 individual Indian allotments have been leased within the proposed 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco. They generate an average of $6.2 million per year in royalties for 5,462 allottees.

“Many allottees, including Navajo elders, rely on this income to meet their daily needs,” the Navajo Nation letter said. “However, the gravity of this decision is much larger as there are 418 unleased allotments associated with approximately 16,615 allottees. So, this rule could impact over 22,000 allottees.”

In 2015, the Federal Indian Minerals Office paid $96 million in royalties to 20,835 allottees, Ms. Hesuse said in her testimony.

The allotments often support multiple family members. Ms. Hesuse shares her allotments, some of which were passed down from her grandfather Sam Comanche, with 26 relatives or heirs.

“On average, a lot of the families are getting payments of anywhere between $1,000 and $2,000 on a monthly basis,” Mr. Chavez said. “Because of undivided interests, that allotment land might include up to 50 to 100 people. So everybody gets a check for that amount. Let’s say it’s 100 times $1,000. That’s how much companies are paying out to allottee families.”

That’s real money in San Juan County, where the median household income in 2019 was $50,518, below the U.S. average median income of $68,703, according to Census Bureau figures.

“It’s already an economically depressed area as it is,” Mr. Chavez said. “So this money, even though it’s not a whole lot of money, becomes life or death in some cases for a lot of the families.”

The Navajo argue that precautions are in place to protect the site and that drilling activity is subject to strict rules on protecting bones and potential artifacts.

“There’s been drilling of oil and gas and coal in the area, and Chaco Canyon’s always had a protection act,” said Ms. Hesuse, who has toured drilling sites with other allottees. “It’s always been fenced. Nobody goes in and out of there. Traditionally in our culture, that’s really a taboo for us. We don’t go down there because of the artifacts left by the Anasazi. From generation to generation, we were told to leave that place alone.”

Those supporting the Interior proposal include environmental groups and New Mexico Democrats such as Sen. Martin Heinrich, who said he will introduce legislation for a permanent ban on mineral development on federal lands in the region.

“Chaco Canyon is one of the most precious landscapes on Earth and holds deep meaning for tribes, pueblos and communities in northern New Mexico,” Mr. Heinrich said in a Nov. 15 statement.

As far as Mr. Chavez is concerned, the need for more domestic production in the face of a global energy crisis should tip the balance in the Navajos’ favor.

“With gasoline soon to hit $6.00 a gallon, they are shutting down oil/gas leases and production. We have the oil and gas here in the USA,” he said in a recent Facebook post. “Come on Biden, wake up.”