06.02.23

Ranking Member Grijalva Cheers New Protections for Sacred Chaco Canyon Area

Washington, D.C. – House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today issued the following statement on U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s announcement of a 20-year moratorium on new oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

“A place as special and sacred as Chaco Canyon deserves protections that extend beyond the park’s limited boundaries,” Ranking Member Grijalva said. “The Biden administration’s move to ban new fossil fuel development in the area is a fitting testament to the decades of hard-fought advocacy by the tribes with ties to the region. It’s also a win for the tens of thousands of people from all over the world who visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site every year to admire and learn from the Canyon’s invaluable archaeological and cultural resources. I want to thank Secretary Haaland for her continued efforts to usher in a new era of respect for Indian Country and Indigenous peoples’ history on our public lands, like Chaco Canyon, since time immemorial.”

Chaco Canyon is revered across the globe for its significant archaeological resources, including preserved elements of Puebloan structures dating back thousands of years. In 1987, Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other Chaco sites were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As the UN notes, among many other remarkable features, the site “has an ancient urban ceremonial center that is unlike anything constructed before or since.”

In April 2019, then-Chair Grijalva and members of the New Mexico congressional delegation visited Chaco Canyon to hear from tribal and elected leaders about the significant risks to the site from nearby oil and gas drilling.