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For Immediate Release—July 18, 2021
Link to totem pole journey photos, statement from All Pueblo Council of Governors are below.
Pueblo and Diné leaders call on Biden to protect Greater Chaco Canyon
Tribes and Indigenous activists want no new oil and gas leases in sacred lands
Counselor, NM – Pueblo and Diné leaders and activists today hosted an event calling on
President Biden to protect Greater Chaco Canyon and stop issuing new oil and gas leases in the
sacred landscape.
In an event held as part of the Red Road to DC, a cross-country tour highlighting Indigenous
sacred sites at risk, elected leaders and grassroots organizers urged Biden to take immediate
action to stop the issue of new oil and gas leases in the Greater Chaco Region. Organizers of the
Red Road tour stopped at the Counselor Chapter House in New Mexico to display a totem pole
by Lummi Nation carvers to highlight sacred sites at risk due to development and infrastructure
projects. They met with hosts from the Diné CARE, Native American Voters Alliance Education
Project, All Pueblo Council of Governors, and the Pueblo Action Alliance.
“Chaco Canyon has been at the core of our organizing efforts for Pueblo Action Alliance,” said
Julia Bernal, director of the Pueblo Action Alliance. “We have worked to raise awareness from the
women, femme, and youth perspective on why it’s important for us to protect cultural landscapes
like the Greater Chaco region. The Greater Chaco region is our ancestral history, our modern
Indigenous resistance, and our way to fight to plan our own futures.”
The Bureau of Land Management has proposed to permit 4,000 new wells and over 500 new
drilling permits under the newly drafted Resource Management Plan in the ancestral homelands
of the Navajo and Pueblo nations. The region is home to many of the sovereign nations’ cultural
resources and sacred lands. More than 91% of the public lands surrounding the Chaco Canyon
Cultural historic park are already occupied by energy companies under the federal fossil fuel
leasing program.
“The fight to Protect Greater Chaco encompasses the fight against the climate crisis, the fight for
inherent Tribal sovereignty, the fight against resource extraction and exploitation, and the fight to
address the adverse health impacts on the communities who live in the region,” said Bernal.
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Contact:
Brad Angerman, Pyramid Communications
bangerman@pyramidcommunications.com
702-218-4490
For additional information, photos, and a full list of tour stops for the Red Road Journey to DC,
visit redroadtodc.org.
