Tell DOI Sec Burgum: Don’t Let Big Oil Destroy Chaco Canyon

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is reportedly considering reversing protections for Chaco Canyon—a move that could reopen this sacred, irreplaceable landscape to oil, gas, and other extractive industries.

We’re calling on Secretary Burgum and the Interior Department to abandon any plan to open Chaco Canyon and the Greater Chaco region to drilling or mining—now and forever.

Chaco Canyon is not expendable land. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a center of Indigenous culture and history, and one of the most significant archaeological landscapes in North America. For thousands of years, Pueblo, Hopi, Navajo, and other Tribal Nations have maintained deep cultural, spiritual, and ancestral connections to this place. Their voices must not be ignored in favor of short-term profits from fossil fuels.

In 2023, the federal government finalized a 10-mile mineral withdrawal around Chaco Canyon after years of Tribal consultation, organizing, and public pressure. That protection was a long-overdue step toward respecting Tribal sovereignty and preserving sacred sites. Reversing it would be a betrayal of Tribes, of the public, and of our responsibility to protect cultural heritage and the climate.

Oil and gas development in the Chaco region has already caused air and water pollution, health harms, and landscape destruction for nearby communities. Expanding extraction would only deepen those harms while accelerating the climate crisis at a moment when we must rapidly move away from fossil fuels—not lock in more damage.

This is a clear choice. Secretary Burgum can stand with Tribal Nations, historians, conservationists, and millions of people who believe some places are too sacred to sacrifice. Or he can side with polluters who see Chaco Canyon as just another place to drill.

We demand that the Department of the Interior:

1: Uphold and strengthen protections for Chaco Canyon

2: Reject any new oil, gas, or extractive activity in the Greater Chaco region

3: Honor Tribal leadership and sovereignty in land management decisions

Please sign the petition to tell Trump’s Department of the Interior that Chaco Canyon is not for sale. Protect Chaco. Leave it in the ground. 

The petition to Secretary of the Interior Burgum reads: Please reverse course on any decision to consider revoking Public Land Order (PLO) No. 7923, which currently protects lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park from new federal oil and gas leasing. This order was the result of years of Tribal consultation, organizing, and public advocacy—and it must be upheld, not dismantled.
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Sources:

https://www.nmwild.org/every-action/join-the-fight-to-protect-chaco/

https://vasquez.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-vasquez-leads-new-mexico-delegation-urging-interior-secretary-burgum