Haaland slaps Navajo Nation in the face with Chaco Canyon decision
On Friday, Joe Biden’s U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a former Democrat congresswoman from New Mexico, released her decision regarding banning drilling near Chaco Canyon.
Haaland declared that she would issue the withdrawal of federal lands within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Canyon from new oil and natural gas leasing for the next 20 years.
The decision ignored opposition from the Navajo Nation and conflicts of interest with her own daughter, Somah Haaland, lobbying Congress in support of the ban.
“Despite her conflicts of interest, Secretary Haaland announced a withdrawal of land around Chaco that threatens the livelihoods of 5,500 Navajos near the park. She completely ignored the democratic resolutions of the sovereign Navajo Nation whose lands surround the park to put the interests of her tribe, based a hundred miles away, and obstructionist groups first,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance (WEA).
“The decision prevents Navajo property owners from accessing the oil and natural gas resources they own which provide them with their sustenance. Secretary Haaland didn’t even consider the Navajo compromise proposal when conducting the NEPA analysis necessary to support this decision, which leaves her and the Interior Department legally vulnerable.”
In May, the Navajo Nation voted to reject any buffer around Chaco Canyon. In its resolution, the 25th Navajo Nation Council stated, “If the buffer zone is adopted, the Navajo allottees who rely on the income realized from oil and natural gas royalties will be pushed into greater poverty.”
“The economic costs of Interior’s land withdrawal and prohibition of oil and natural gas leasing will cost Navajo members an estimated $194 million over the next 20 years. Exposing the secretary’s fallacy that it will not impact Navajo lands, the Council noted that the withdrawal will cause Navajo lands to be landlocked and inaccessible to development,” noted WEA.
The group noted, “Sec. Haaland has several conflicts of interest related to Chaco as the Alliance pointed out in a recent letter to the House Committee on Natural Resources. The secretary’s conflicts involve her daughter’s ties to the climate group Pueblo Action Alliance (PAA). While ignoring the Navajos during the review process, Sec. Haaland granted PAA special access to her office to further her daughter’s lobbying activities.”
In a November 2021 letter to Sec. Haaland, Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, and Vice President Myron Lizer wrote, “By simply bypassing true and inclusive tribal consultation with the Navajo Nation and our Individual Indian Allottees, the Biden-Harris Administration is markedly undermining the trust responsibility they owe to the Navajo Nation and the 22,000 Individual Indian Allottees impacted by this decision.”
Despite the pushback from tribal stakeholders, Haaland flatly ignored the Nation’s input to instead push forward her daughter’s lobbying efforts on behalf of eco-left dark money organizations.
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