Oil leases near Chaco in New Mexico lead to lawsuit

FILE - Hopi Vice Chairman Clark Tenakhongva, right, talks to UnitedStates Interior Secretary Deb Haaland after a celebration at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico, Nov. 22, 2021. The Biden administration's approval of oil leases in a corner of New Mexico that has become a battleground over increased development and preservation of Native American sites has prompted another legal challenge. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

 

Environmental groups have gone to court to block the Biden administration after it approved oil leases in northwest New Mexico, a site of historic Native American sites.

The lawsuit was filed against the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. It contends the federal government is reneging its promise after approval oil and gas development on federal lands near Chaco Culture National Historical Park reported the Associated Press.

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