On June 2, when U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland approved a moratorium on new oil and gas leases around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, some Navajo allotment owners rejoiced.
Navajo people who identify with the lineage of the Pueblo people who lived in and around Chaco Canyon centuries ago say the moratorium will help protect the sacred sites there.
“It helps us retain the sacred areas, sacred spaces, and it helps us to have access to practice our way of belief,” says Daniel Tso, a Navajo elder.
Mario Atencio is an environmental activist and an allottee who lives in Counselor, New Mexico. Atencio says oil and gas drilling is damaging the environment around Chaco Canyon. He showed us a spot where a pipe burst a few years ago and caused a large oil spill.
“53,000 gallons of produce water and crude oil busted out of there. And that retaining wall is actually failing,” said Atencio.
The story of Navajo allotment lands is complicated. Navajo people lived on the land intermittently over the past few centuries. They were forcibly removed in the 1800s, then allowed to return. Eventually, some lands were allotted to tribal members in 160-acre parcels.
While allottees own their parcels, they're held in trust by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. The federal agency also oversees leasing for oil and gas development on allotment lands and takes a cut of the royalties.
The Biden administration only banned new leasing on federal land in the region. Allottees can still legally lease their land for development. However, opponents say the ban will kill the oil and gas economy near Chaco Canyon because companies won’t invest in infrastructure like pipelines and compressor stations without federal lands on the table.
“Anything that is below that allotment land belongs to the Indian people. The United States, for the longest time, would not admit that the Indian people owned those minerals,” said Ervin Chavez, President of the Nageezi Chapter of the Navajo Nation. Chavez is part of a group of allottees who oppose the new ban on leasing.
“You will never be a billionaire on oil and gas revenues. If you have something under your land, and you can live off, or make money off, or raise your family, and send them to school, you would use it,” added Chavez.
“You will not find a company that will spend that kind of money to do that. They would go elsewhere. This area is going to be abandoned,” said Chavez.
Opponents have powerful allies in government. The Navajo Nation Council and President Buu Nygren have publicly opposed the ban. According to Nygren, the moratorium makes it nearly impossible for Navajo allottees near Chaco to lease their lands.
“These allottees are the closest thing we have to land ownership in Indian country. To do it to them in this manner, which is unjust and unfair to them, is just unbelievable. In this case, you've got over 5,000 allottees directly affected financially,” said Nygren.
Danny Simpson is a Navajo Nation Councilmember who claims the drilling moratorium was pushed by Puebloan tribes. They're descendants of the people who built Chaco but are now located elsewhere in New Mexico.
“We call it a land grab. The Pueblo say they have ties to this land, and that's why they want to have a lot of say on how things are developed in these areas,” said Simpson.
According to Simpson, the Navajo Nation intends to pursue legal action against the Biden Administration. He offered no details on the legal argument the tribe will make in court if and when it files a lawsuit.
This story is part of Voices From the Edge of the Colorado Plateau, a reporting collaboration between KSUT Public Radio and KSJD Community Radio. It seeks to report on underrepresented communities in the Four Corners. The multi-year project covers Native, Indigenous, Latino/Latina, and other communities across southwest Colorado.
