New Mexico activists oppose mining at ancient Indigenous site

(The Center Square) - Opposition has grown against federal plans to allow oil and gas drilling at a more than 1,000-year-old Indigenous UNESCO site, which features the ruins of an ancient New Mexico community.

New Mexico activists and Indigenous political leaders have expressed widespread opposition to plans by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to revoke protections for the 338,690-acre site that surrounds the much smaller Chaco Culture National Historical Park. That was seen during the BLM's two-week public comment period that was to end just before midnight Mountain Daylight Time on Wednesday.

“These are archaeological sites, sacred places that us Pueblo people and other Indigenous people continue to use to this day,” Joey Sanchez, chairman for the All Pueblo Council of Governors, a council of 19 Indigenous nations in New Mexico and one in Texas, told The Center Square. “You endanger these places for our future generations and for us as Indigenous people. It's our identity. It's still part of our way of life.”

The Chaco Culture National Historical Park, located in New Mexico as well as the Navajo Nation, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Chaco Canyon site is home to several ancient ruins from the Chaco society dating back to the 800s, with the area remaining a pilgrimage destination for Indigenous communities. The structures, up to five stories tall and built largely of sandstone, include several sprawling “great houses,” which were once the cultural center of the region, according to UNESCO.

“Chaco Canyon is not merely a national park within my district,” state Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta wrote in a public comment on the project, which her office forwarded to The Center Square.

“It is one of the most significant cultural and archaeological landscapes in North America and a place of continuing spiritual, cultural, and historical importance to Tribal Nations throughout the Southwest," said Abeyta, a Democrat whose legislative district includes San Juan County, home to Chaco Canyon.

In 2023, the Biden administration closed mining and drilling for 20 years within a roughly 10-mile radius of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The decision came after years of pressure from Indigenous leaders – progress they said the Trump administration is eager to reverse with this decision.

The BLM Environmental Assessment said its plan to reopen land in the Chaco Canyon area to oil and gas drilling came after President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order “Unleashing American Energy.”

The BLM did not respond to multiple requests for comment by The Center Square. But the agency's environmental assessment for the mining project estimated a total annual economic output of around $7.4 million.

The Native Land Institute, an Indigenous advocacy group, highlighted the National Park’s existing $3 million in annual economic impact based on tourism, according to the National Park Service, which noted that happened without the likely negative public health impact of mining.

The New Mexico Indian Affairs Department told The Center Square in an email that the development benefits are “modest.”

Opponents to the BLM plan have alleged the federal government has attempted to skirt both public comments and legally required government-to-government consultations with local Indigenous Nation leaders.

Sanchez said that only a handful of the 20 governors of the Pueblo nations of New Mexico and Texas had received the consultations by the U.S. government. He added that while they met with BLM Director Steve Pearce, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who oversees the BLM, said he was unavailable to meet.

“Just like anybody else, you feel disrespected,” said Sanchez. “You feel they [the U.S. government] talk about working together, but they are not working together with us.”

The public comment period is much shorter than the typical 90-day timeline for similar projects, according to the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department. The department added that the original withdrawal of the land under the Biden administration totaled 120 days. “IAD believes that the comment period is too short for this action."

The previous BLM public comment period on the proposal for the site was only one week long in March.

“[We’re] being treated unfairly,” said Sanchez. He added later, “It's just heartbreaking that they gave us this limited time to express our objection to the proposed withdrawal of this.”

Despite the short public comment period, Sanchez estimated that as many as 100,000 people had submitted public comments on the project, but added that the figure would likely not be determined until Thursday.

The BLM did not respond to The Center Square's question about the total number of public comments received.