Indigenous Groups in New Mexico Demand Action as Toxic Waste Spills Quadruple
Frontline groups say an Interior Department plan to clean up extraction sites in the Greater Chaco Region has stalled.
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Frontline groups say an Interior Department plan to clean up extraction sites in the Greater Chaco Region has stalled.
More than 336,400 acres of public land are now off limits for mining and oil drilling for 20 years.
U.S. DOI has sought to preserve the resources of this historically and culturally valuable area by withdrawing the public lands and federal mineral estate surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from new oil and gas leasing.
The protections are aimed at preserving thousands of archaeological sites in northern New Mexico sacred to many Native American tribes in the region.
Environmentalists, Indigenous groups sue feds over improper oil-lease permitting in New Mexico for the third time in three years.