Tribes Call for Ban on Drilling Near Sacred New Mexico site

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Tribes Call for Ban on Drilling Near Sacred New Mexico site
March 21, 2019 9:15 PM
Associated Press



FILE - Tourist Chris Farthing from Suffolks County, England, takes a picture while visiting Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico, Aug. 10, 2005.


ACOMA PUEBLO, N.M. —
Native American leaders are banding together to pressure U.S. officials to ban oil and gas exploration around a sacred tribal site that features massive stone structures and other remnants of an ancient civilization but are facing the Trump administration’s pro-drilling stance.

Creating a formal buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park has been a long-running issue, but tribes are pushing for further protections as U.S. officials revamp the management plan for the area surrounding the world heritage site as well as large portions of northwestern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

Federal officials repeatedly have denied drilling leases within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius of the park as tribes, environmentalists and archaeologists have raised concerns about the potential effects on culturally significant sites like ceremonial structures called kivas outside Chaco’s boundaries.

A thousand years ago, the site was a ceremonial and economic hub for the Pueblo people, historians say.



Read more: https://www.voanews.com/a/tribes-call-for-ban-on-drilling-near-sacred-new-mexico-site/4842364.html

[Bayard]

1. I've been to Taos Pueblo

Also a thousand years old, in northeastern NM. Its amazing, and the people are so gracious, even if you walk into one of their homes by mistake.

I can't imagine any of these historical sites being desecrated, or their cultural and religious significance being ignored. tRump--go pick on the Baptists!

[ancianita]

2. I've been to the Chaco Canyon area.This is evil.Hope the tribes are doing legal pushing against it.