Udall and Connor visit Chaco, seek to amend resource management plan
A tourist makes his way toward a kiva at the Pueblo Bonito ruins on Monday at Chaco Canyon Culture National Historical Park. Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, toured the park and discussed protecting it while oil and gas drilling take place nearby. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
CHACO CANYON, N.M.
Sen. Tom Udall. D-NM, visited the Chaco Canyon Culture National Historical Park World Heritage Site on Monday, June 29, to talk about protecting it while allowing oil and gas drilling to take place nearby. (Times photo – Donovan Quintero)
Walking on the ancient trail toward Pueblo Alto on Monday, Sen. Tom Udall talked about protecting Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, while allowing oil and gas drilling to occur nearby.
There needs to be a balanced approach and careful planning with the Bureau of Land Management’s amendment to its 2003 Resource Management Plan that will protect the UNESCO World Heritage Site’s sensitive archeological places, according to the senator.
Udall toured Chaco Canyon Monday with Mike Connor, deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Interior, and officials from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, BLM, and National Park Service. Later after their hike to Pueblo Alto, the leaders met with stakeholders, including Navajo allottees from Nageezi and anti-fracking grassroots activists, about the RMP proposal and its impacts for the future of oil and gas leasing in the San Juan Basin.
Connor’s visit to Chaco came after Udall issued a letter to Sally Jewell, secretary for the DOI, to send a top level official to visit Chaco, as the BLM works on a new resource management plan in the Farmington Field Office.
“This is a critical time,” Udall said about Connor’s visit to Chaco, located in northwestern New Mexico. “The timing is right.”
The protection of Chaco Canyon, while development of oil and gas occurs in the Gallup-Mancos plays, is a priority for Udall. Ongoing leasing and drilling in other areas of the BLM Farmington Field Office are under the 2003 Resource Management Plan. There is no drilling within a 10-mile radius buffer zone around the park, according to BLM officials.
Allottee Daniel Tso from Torreon, N.M., speaks about Sen. Tom Udall’s, D-NM, visit to the Chaco Canyon Culture National Historical Park on Monday, June 29. Tso is an allottee in the Nageezi, N.M., area, which is located 36 miles south of Bloomfield, N.M. (Times photos – Donovan Quintero)
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