New Mexico delegation and local tribal leaders gathered to reaffirm their commitment to protecting public lands, firmly stating, “Chaco Canyon is not for sale.”
On Friday, Nov. 21, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D) hosted a press conference alongside Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D) and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D), where Gov. Myron Armijo of Santa Ana Pueblo spoke at the Indian Pueblo Culture Center to discuss the U.S. Department of the Interior’s recent moves to repeal Public Land Order 7923, which protects land near Chaco Canyon, including a 10-mile buffer zone, from oil and gas development.
In late October, President Donald Trump’s administration notified several tribal leaders about plans to revoke the 20-year ban on oil and gas development across roughly 336,000 federal lands near Chaco Canyon, according to The Associated Press.
Armijo opened the event by describing the spiritual importance of Chaco Canyon, and why the battle to protect it matters.
“Chaco Canyon is more than a distant memory. It's not a thing of the past. We're here today talking about it and here to protect the area. It's a place where our ancestors thrived, embodying who we are as Pueblo people,” Armijo said. “The great houses, the kivas, the stonework, and the roads radiating out across the landscape, are all reminders of a sophisticated people whose legacy we carry forward. When we speak of protecting Chaco, we speak of protecting ourselves.”
Armijo said that the current U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum had been invited to visit Chaco to help him understand the significance, but he has not responded. In 2019, when PLO 7923 was first proposed, then Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt was extended the same offer, and accepted the invitation.
“Our message resonated and it helped delay harmful decisions and reaffirmed that nothing replaces on the ground conversation, and that's what we want,” Armijo said.
Ray Luján, who is leading the reintroduction of the “Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act” that seeks to withdraw and protection of certain federal land near Chaco Canyon, spoke on the necessity of protecting Chaco Canyon and the history of PLO 7923.
“For those that don't understand the sacredness of Chaco, I hope they understand that it's a special place that deserves to be protected,” Ray Luján said.
Heinrich, a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and co-founder of the U.S. Senate Stewardship Caucus, said Chaco Canyon is not a museum or a place of the past, but rather an active and valuable, irreplaceable cultural space.
“It is a living cultural landscape, and that's why so many people have come together to protect it. I invited Secretary Bernhardt out to Chaco Canyon and he took me up on it, and I will extend that invitation again today to Secretary Burgum once again. But when Secretary Bernhardt came out, I could see his understanding of this place changed. From thinking it was just something for the history books, to understanding its connection to today's leaders and tomorrow's leaders who will follow in their footsteps,” Heinrich said.
Stansbury said she’s angry about how the repeal of PLO 7923 is being handled by the federal government.
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“If you are not angry, get angry. It is time for us to stand up, to stand with Pueblo and Diné leaders to fight back, to help the public understand what is happening,” Stansbury said. “Join us in that fight. Raise your voices, call members of Congress, call the White House, call the Department of Interior, organize, and let's protect Chaco Canyon because Chaco Canyon is sacred. It is our heritage, it is our culture, it is our landscape and I will just say it one more time — Chaco Canyon is not for sale.”
Ray Luján said that despite New Mexico oil production being at an all-time high — with New Mexico producing 2 million barrels of oil per day in 2024, twice as much as it was producing in 2019, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas — the second Trump administration is attempting to repeal the protections the first Trump administration supported.
“I can't imagine that they would not agree that there are places that need to be protected in the United States. Oil and gas generation is at an all time high in New Mexico already,” Ray Luján said. “Why this place? Why choose to go into this area and the way that the Trump administration disrespectfully notified the Pueblo governors during the shutdown? No meaningful consultation. I'm beside myself and I don't understand it.”
Ray Luján reiterated a desire to have decision-makers — including Burgum and Trump — visit the site to help them grasp its significance before making choices about its fate.
“They need to have conversations with these governors and understand what's happening here,” Ray Luján said.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
