The Biden administration is expected to ban oil and gas leasing near a Native American historical site despite heavy opposition from local tribal leaders, who say the ban would prevent them from collecting royalties on their land.
The rule, which the Department of Interior (DOI) announced in November 2021, would implement a 20year moratorium on federal oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in northwest New Mexico.
According to the Interior Department, the rule, which would amount to a withdrawal of 336,000 acres of public lands from mineral leasing.
Tribal members of the Navajo nation who own land in the Greater Chaco regions, said the oil companies aren't destroying the park.
Representative from a group of Navajo citizens who own land that has been allotted to them by the federal government for generations and which is often leased to oil and gas drilling and exploration companies, said the group opposes the Biden administration rule, saying it would prevent them from collecting much-needed royalties on the land they've held for decades.
While the administration has stated the rule wouldn't impact Indian-owned allotments, blocking federal land leasing would ultimately block development on nonfederal land, according to local stakeholders including Navajo Nation leadership, stating it would a devastating impact because the indirect effects would make the allottee land worthless from the standpoint of energy extraction.