They Spoke “Truly Honor Chaco” to Power
Coalition Delivers Nearly 80K+ Comments to Bureau of Land Management at Rally
The Paper
BY: Gwynne Ann Unruh
The oil and gas industry’s stranglehold is strong in New Mexico, with the state receiving $1.1bn last year from mineral leasing on federal lands– more than any other US state, directly undermining efforts needed to halve greenhouse gas emissions this decade. New Mexico is the fastest-warming and most water-stressed state in the continental US, where wildfires have recently devoured over 120,000 acres and remain uncontained.
Today’s action underscores long-standing calls for landscape-level management outside of the 10-mile buffer that includes the cultural, social, economic and environmental concerns that have been raised and for the meaningful involvement of impacted communities and Tribal Nations to truly ‘Honor Chaco’. If no further action is taken to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape from fossil fuel extraction and related development, the Greater Chaco region will remain an “energy sacrifice zone” and public health and environmental concerns will continue to worsen.