BLM planning smaller Chaco lease auction
By Miya King-Flaherty
Chapter Public Lands fellow Despite a recent explosion that destroyed thirty-six storage tanks on July 11 in Nageezi, N.M., the Bureau of Land Management’s Farmington Field Office continues to lease lands and approve drilling permits. The BLM’s Environmental Assessment reports, which are supposed to thoroughly analyze the impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) before approving leases and drilling permits, constantly cite ‘Findings of No Significant Impact’ to the surrounding communities, land, water or sacred sites. The explosion occurred ...
Chapter Public Lands fellow Despite a recent explosion that destroyed thirty-six storage tanks on July 11 in Nageezi, N.M., the Bureau of Land Management’s Farmington Field Office continues to lease lands and approve drilling permits. The BLM’s Environmental Assessment reports, which are supposed to thoroughly analyze the impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) before approving leases and drilling permits, constantly cite ‘Findings of No Significant Impact’ to the surrounding communities, land, water or sacred sites. The explosion occurred ...
Chaco Canyon: Too precious to frack
Our public lands are under siege, and the Bureau of Land Management continues to prioritize oil and gas extraction over our climate, air and water. We need your help to protect Chaco Canyon and the surrounding communities from fracking. https://www.riograndesierraclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/METHANE-CUT-5-SD.mp4 ...
Don’t let BLM auction off Chaco to oil and gas
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is Northwest New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, where there are over 56,000 oil and gas wells and processing plants. Last month, NASA released a report that identified natural gas waste and methane pollution as major contributors to the methane cloud hovering over the Four Corners. Now, the BLM is planning to lease 843 more acres of land in the Greater Chaco area to oil and gas developers at a Jan. 18 auction. The BLM’s Farmington Field office ...
By Miya King-Flaherty, Chapter Public Lands fellow In June, the Bureau of Land Management announced that it would postpone a planned lease of three Chaco Canyon-area parcels intended for oil and gas development until at least January. But the BLM’s Farmington Field Office has already approved nearly 300 wells for horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and has leased roughly 91% of public lands in the greater Chaco Canyon area. The BLM claims to thoroughly review the direct, indirect and cumulative ...
Forum Series: Health Impacts of Oil and Gas in the Four Corners
Join us for the launch of our series of 3 forums on the health impacts of oil and gas in the Four Corners area. Part I: Mapping the Threats Date & time: June 30th, 2016 at 6:30pm
Location: Step Back Inn, 123 W. Aztec. Blvd., Aztec, NM 87410 Our featured speaker is Dr. Jordon Johnson of Mckinley Community PLACE MATTERS – NM Health Equity Partnership. He will discuss some of the health issues related to oil and gas development in the region, as ...
Location: Step Back Inn, 123 W. Aztec. Blvd., Aztec, NM 87410 Our featured speaker is Dr. Jordon Johnson of Mckinley Community PLACE MATTERS – NM Health Equity Partnership. He will discuss some of the health issues related to oil and gas development in the region, as ...
Robert Tohe, senior representative for Sierra Club’s Our Wild America, is organizing a tour of the greater Chaco Canyon and outliers. The purpose of the trip is to call national attention to the ongoing impacts of oil and gas to the cultural landscape and resources in the region. Robert is the New Mexico representative working on dirty fuels campaign for the Sierra Club. Robert has invited several other area tribal representatives to provide an indigenous perspective on the historical significance ...
Santa Fe National Forest gets earful from Chaco Coalition
By Teresa Seamster,
Northern New Mexico Group chair For the past year, legal efforts and public comments have failed to halt leases to develop Mancos Shale oil on 13 parcels covering 20,000 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest north and east of Cuba, N.M. The Bureau of Land Management has granted drilling permits for two wells near Lake Abiquiú, and fears of water contamination and other toxic releases are growing locally. A recent comment letter to the Santa Fe ...
Northern New Mexico Group chair For the past year, legal efforts and public comments have failed to halt leases to develop Mancos Shale oil on 13 parcels covering 20,000 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest north and east of Cuba, N.M. The Bureau of Land Management has granted drilling permits for two wells near Lake Abiquiú, and fears of water contamination and other toxic releases are growing locally. A recent comment letter to the Santa Fe ...
Chaco Coalition challenges BLM
By Teresa Seamster March 11, 2015, was 108 years to the day that President Theodore Roosevelt declared Chaco Canyon to be a historical monument in 1907. The threat to Chaco in that time was the looting of archaeological treasures and sacred artifacts. Today, it is ramped-up oil and gas development, especially fracking and contaminated water supply. On March 11, WildEarth Guardians, Western Environmental Law Center, Diné CARE and San Juan Citizens Alliance, all groups in the Greater Chaco Coalition, filed ...
Lawmakers ask for protection against fracking in Chaco
SANTA FE, N.M., May 18, 2015 – New Mexico’s congressional delegation is asking U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to monitor a possible escalation of fracking in an area considered sacred by many Native Americans. In a letter to Jewell, Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan stress the historic, cultural and ecological significance of Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Teresa Seamster with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club says she is hopeful that the ...