U.S. Senators and Representatives from New Mexico joined Pueblo leaders in urging the Department of Interior to continue protecting the Chaco Culture National historical Park from oil and gas drilling.
Their call came after the Bureau of Land Management in October started a process to revoke protections for 10 miles around the national parks to allow for possible oil and gas exploration.
The delegation urged Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to visit the Park and move forward with continued protection. In September, the congressional delegation and Pueblo governors held a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol in September to demand that the Trump administration protect Chaco Canyon.
The Chaco Canyon contains structures constructed more than a thousand years ago by ancestral Pueblo people.
U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján were in attendance alongside U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury reported KUNM.
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