Dine’tah: Oil and Gas Industrialization

Dinétah is the traditional homeland of the Navajo.  Much of this Navajo homeland is beyond the jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation government.  This part of Navajoland is the cradle of Navajo culture.  Over 20,000 oil and gas wells have desecrated the landscape.

Located in NE New Mexico in Dine'tah near Gobernador Knob Don and Jane Schreiber's 3000 acre ranch contains over 120 active oil and gas wells.  The Schreiber's strive to bring awareness of the devastating issues of methane poisoning caused by the oil and gas industrialization of the cultural landscape.

Follow this link to video the film: 

be strong, be safe, Carlan

 

Elected Officials Urge Interior and White House to Permanently Protect More BLM Land

On May 24, 2022, The Mountain Pact released a letter signed by 123 local elected officials from Western states that calls on the Biden administration to protect more Bureau of Land Management lands as part of the administration’s America the Beautiful initiative. The initiative is an effort to protect, conserve, connect, and restore 30 percent of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030 in response to the warning by scientists that globally we must conserve and restore at least 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030 if we hope to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems and mitigate the impacts of climate change. … “Nationally, only 14% of BLM lands are permanently protected. As a result, many of the areas important to our citizens and visitors are at risk of being unnecessarily degraded or lost.” The Mountain Pact

 

San Juan Solar Project

The Four Corners region of the Southwest is seeing the remarkable shift to investment in renewable energy. The Four Corners Solar Center is an approximate 1,400 MW solar photovoltaic and battery storage facility proposed by Photosol Development US, LLC (Photosol). The San Juan Solar Project is part of this historic energy transition.

To view the location of this historic project click here.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Sixty Day Pause 

President Biden and his administration have put in place a 60-day pause on new oiled gas leasing and permitting.  They have frozen the nearly finished BLM-BIA resource management plan amendment (RMPA) and environmental impact statement (EIS) work for the Greater Chaco-Farmington area. These are all excellent steps forward. More needs to be done. The Greater Chaco Landscape needs the permanent protection of a bill that passes both houses of Congress and is signed by President Biden. The All-Pueblo Council of Governors, the Pueblo of Acoma, and other Pueblos and Tribes have called for the protection of Greater Chaco for years. Now is the time to create this important and necessary protection for all future generations.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Deb Haaland's Nomination to Interior 

The nomination of Deb Haaland to be Interior Secretary is not just a historic but a redemptive act.  For the first time in our history, a Native American will hold a Cabinet-level post.  As secretary of the interior, Haaland will play a key role at a crucial moment in our nation’s relationship with its more than 450 million acres of public lands, and will have a chance to reverse our exploitive history toward our country’s first people.  Haaland will also serve as a powerful counterweight to President Donald Trump’s original choice as Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke, who resigned amid ethics controversies and whose signature move was the massive reduction of Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah, the only national monument to grow out of the thinking, planning and advocacy of Native Americans.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Shiprock Solar Project

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) voted unanimously to replace the San Juan Generating Station power with 100% renewable energy when the coal-fired power plant is retired in 2022. This decision will modernize power generation, improve public health, and stabilize the local economy.  We will document this historic transition over the next two years to educate and create an historic record for future generations.  To better understand the importance of this historic transition click here for the video.

be strong, Be safe, Carlan

 Chaco-Area Sacred Sites Drilling Plan Expedited

A proposal that would increase oil and gas drilling in the Greater Chaco region of northwest New Mexico is one of a long list of energy projects that are being “expedited” by the U.S. Department of Interior during the COVID-19 pandemic, under the direction of the Trump Administration. The information was revealed in a letter dated July 15 from the DOI Deputy Secretary Katharine MacGregor and obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The BLM ultimately granted a 120-day extension, which will run out September 25, but the agency has refused to halt the process until after the pandemic. Instead, it has held a series of webinars for public engagement, including several held at the end of August. 

The BLM Deputy Director William Perry Pendley argued in April that online information sessions would actually increase public participation. But for many of the communities directly impacted by the proposal, accessing broadband to participate in the webinars presents its own challenges. 

Sixty percent of Navajo Nation residents currently lack access to broadband, according to Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez.

Tribes, Congress, and the public have repeatedly demanded the Bureau of Land Management keep its promises to protect the culture, communities, and climate of the Greater Chaco Landscape.  The BLM is exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to drill more than 3,000 new fracking wells, and refuses to include Tribal-led efforts to protect sacred sites during the planning process.

be strong, be safe, Carlan