US oil lease near sacred park pushes forward

[left-of-center2012]

U.S. land managers will move forward in March with the sale of oil and gas leases that include land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico and other areas sacred to Native American tribes.

“We cannot help but protest what appears to be an intentional bias in the favoring of oil and gas development over other interests,” former Acoma Pueblo Gov. Kurt Riley said last week during a congressional forum.

The battle over energy development around Chaco, which is bordered by the Navajo Nation and a checkboard of state and federal land, has been simmering for years. The Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs began working together on revamping the resource management plan for the San Juan Basin, which covers a larger portion of northwestern New Mexico and parts of southern Colorado.

The partnership was meant to ensure tribes would be consulted and that scientific and archaeological analysis would be done to guarantee cultural sensitivity.

Paul Reed with Archaeology Southwest said “Aside from the sites that everyone knows about in Chaco, there are a number of communities that exist within the 10-mile zone that we think need a greater level of protection,”.

https://www.apnews.com/cb5aa97fc7b243a3baef02a3ab1ff0f4

Chaco Culture National Historical Park http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/chaco_culture/national_historical_park.html

[Jeffersons Ghost]

1. As an Albuquerque resident, news of tapping into the oil-field that made Texas rich was good news

I realized it would improve our impoverished educational system; But as someone, who prides themselves on publicizing the plight of Native Americans I am concerned. In New Mexico, Native Americans are my neighbors and friends, because I live on the poor side of town and exist on Social Security and a VA pension. Aside from posting numerous, news reports on the Nathan Phillips incident and working to elect one of the first Native American women to Congress, I took a great deal of time researching and writing this Opening Post:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211466883

[Ilsa]

2. Sometimes i wonder if it will take

acts of extreme violence to stop the corporate takeover of lands.

Maybe these tribes should go takeover some mainstream religious buildings, like cathedrals, and start doing business out of them, to prove a point.