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

 

Remembering Molly

Covid-19 has impacted all of us around the world.  Here in the Southwest the Navajo Nation has experience Covid at it's worst.  Many community members, families, and close sisters and brothers have experienced it first hand.  The losses have been devastating.  Molly was one of them.  She journeyed onto the next life this summer.  

Molly lived in Burnham, NM on the Navajo Nation.  She was a powerful voice with Lucy Willie standing strong and tall against the proposed Desert Rock coal power plant.  The two women were rocks.  Not willing to move or budge until things were set straight.

Working with both of these incredible Navajo women for many years was both an honor and life long experience.  Their words were spoken with truth and integrity.  Molly always listened carefully long before she spoke.  Lucy and Molly are together again.  I know that in my heart.  That thought alone brings a warm smile filled with love and respect to my face.  Thank you my sisters for everything you have done for your families, community, and Mother Earth.  Safe journey.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Public Health and the Greater Chaco Landscape

Families living in rural areas south-west of Counselor, New Mexico, are sharing stories about sickly bull snakes and near-death rattlers above ground during the snowy, winter months this past winter and spring.

The people have a theory for what is happening: underground vibrations from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, forced the snakes from their dens and on to the surface.  Over the years, community members of the Navajo Nation have noticed other changes. Vegetation has died off and the climate has became drier. People living in homes with dirt floors have felt vibrations from the ground late at night, from 2 to 4am.

The Navajo and Puebloan lands of north-western New Mexico where Counselor is located are no stranger to drilling. The first oil well in the area was reportedly drilled in 1911 with natural gas following soon after.

Today, the US Bureau of Land Management is considering a plan, known as the Mancos-Gallup Amendment, which could lease land in the region for some 3,000 new wells – many of which would be for fracking oil and gas. The plan would expand drilling into some of northern New Mexico’s last available public lands, threatening the desecration of sacred Native artifacts near Chaco Canyon while bringing in a swath of new public health risks to a place that’s already reeling from one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the world.

Under the Trump administration, the amount of US lands up for lease to oil and gas companies has soared – 461 milion acres across the country, as of earlier this year. To New Mexico environmentalists and indigenous activists, the new plan is just another instance of the administration’s energy dominance agenda threatening some of the country’s most pristine lands.

Chaco park and other parts of the canyon are protected from drilling through a congressional funding bill. But there are some 250 outlying sites spread throughout north-west New Mexico, said Michelle Turner, an archaeologist studying the region. Many of those sites are connected by ancient roads, she said, which are gradually being erased by drilling-related development.

Covid-19 is making health concerns more prescient. The Navajo Nation and surrounding areas have some of the highest per-capita infection rates in the world. Community members are concerned that air pollution in the region will exacerbate the death toll, pointing to a recent Harvard study showing that people living in areas with higher pollution have a significantly higher death rate.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Looking Back

The New Mexico History Museum will be opening an exhibit called "Looking Back: Reflecting on Collections."  Four photographs from the Naamehnay Project Navajo Nation Four Corners work will be featured in the exhibit.


The exhibit will be up for about a year.  The public opening and reception will be on Sunday, March 8 from 1to pm.
Look forward to seeing you there.
be strong, be safe, Carlan

Opening the Entire Chaco Protection Zone to Oil and Gas Industrialization

A yearlong federal moratorium on oil and gas leases within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park ended this past Saturday.  Today the Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Regional Office released a joint Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

The Trump Administration’s plan envisions opening the entire Chaco Protection Zone to leasing, including lands that directly border the National Park. Even where protections are proposed for Chaco, they will do little to protect the Park, other nearby Chacoan cultural resources, and the Native people who live on the landscape surrounding the Park.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Management Plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Open Lands for Extraction

The Trump administration announced it was opening two national monuments to development. The culturally and geologically significant Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments will be available for cattle grazing, mining, and oil and gas development. Five tribes had formed a coalition in 2015 to promote protection of the Bears Ears region; dozens more tribes have expressed support for their effort.

The Interior Department’s release of a formal land-use blueprint for the approximately 861,974 acres of land will allow oil, gas and coal companies to complete the legal process for leasing mines and wells on land that had once been part of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, established by President Bill Clinton. In December 2017, President Trump cut the monument’s acreage about in half, aiming to open the newly unprotected land for drilling and development. At the same time, he removed about a million acres from another Utah monument, Bears Ears. Together, the moves were the largest rollback of public lands protection in United States history.

Under the plan, much of Bears Ears and nearly 1 million acres in and around Grand Staircase are open to grazing. BLM will also make two new routes in Grand Staircase open to off-road vehicles, which archaeologists and conservationists are concerned could damage vulnerable artifacts and natural features. “These plans represent the lowest common denominator for BLM stewardship,” Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, one of the plaintiffs in the monuments lawsuits, said in a statement. “One of the wildest landscapes in the lower forty-eight states will be lost if these plans are carried into action over the next few years.”

be strong, be safe, Carlan
 

New Mexico in Black and White

The light in New Mexico is magical.  Dawn to dusk.  Clear skies to storms.  Each day each moment changing. Stunning landscape to create black and white photographs.  March 22 - 27 I have the pleasure of teaching Expressive Black and White Landscapes and Fine Art Digital Printmaking at the Santa Fe Workshops.  Join me as we travel across the New Mexico landscape capturing once in a life time moments and creating exhibition black and white prints.  For more information and to register visit Santa Fe Workshops.

Look forward to our paths meeting in Santa Fe for an exciting week of making photographs together.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Two Weeks, Two Wheels, and Two Lanes

For the past five years I have been criss-crossing the US, north to south, and east to west, on the old two lane US Highways.  Making photographs, meeting folks along the way, collecting stories.  All on two wheels. On editorial assignments for Harley-Davidson HOG® magazine.  Many of you have followed this blog and have been side by side with me on these incredible journeys.  Thank you all for that special companionship.

This past July I rode, photographed, slept, and ate across America on US Highway 2 dubbed the Great Northern.  Began the journey in St. Ignace, Michigan.  Crossed Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, ending just north of Seattle, Washington.  Just over 2800 miles.

The concept for the story was going Bronson-style "lightening up" as Nancy calls it.  Just the basics: photo gear, cell phone, paper maps, and a duffel with a few essentials.  For two weeks I never turned on the TV.  Sparing myself from everything that appears to be wrong.  By the time I reached Seattle, my spirit had been gratefully renewed with everything that is perfectly right.

My trusty companion on the ride was Ol' Sport.  Simple, basic, lightening up.  Ol' Sport and me - what a ride we had - a couple of buddies traveling down that ribbon of highway that connects us all together.

The published story is in the current issue of Hog® magazine. I was excited to see they used one of my images on the cover as well.   If you would like to read the story click here for a pdf copy.

"Wow! What a Ride".

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Congressional Bill Includes Protection for Greater Chaco

Congress took action last week to protect Chaco Culture National Historical Park from oil and gas drilling.  The appropriations bill ensures that there will be no more leasing on federal lands within ten miles of the park, pending needed studies and consultation with tribal communities.  The ten-mile zone around the park is particularly important, as it includes more than a dozen Chacoan great house communities, ancient roads, and thousands of other significant cultural resources.  Thank you, Senator Udall, Congressman Lujàn, and the entire New Mexico congressional delegation for securing these important protections.

Thank all of you for your support to help make this happen.  A good note to end the year on.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

The Clock is Ticking

The clock is ticking. It has been almost exactly six months since Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt agreed to halt oil and gas lease sales within a ten-mile buffer zone surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park for one year. That means we are halfway to the end of Interior’s temporary ban on new developments near the park, and the fate of the Greater Chaco Landscape remains in limbo. Chaco is like no other place on earth. It is a living cultural landscape with significant architecture, pictographs and petroglyphs, and other resources that are reminders of the economic, agricultural, and ceremonial hub.  http://bit.ly/36lgQ2W – By Paul Reed, Archaeology Southwest

Please take a moment to follow the link to learn more.  The Greater Chaco Landscape connects the people of the American Southwest to our shared heritage, and it must be granted official federal protections before it is lost forever.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Guadalupe Outlier - Greater Chaco Landscape

Over twenty years ago I was wandering around out in the Greater Chaco Landscape of New Mexico.  Nancy and I were living in Seattle.  A conversation with a friend had led to me making a trip to New Mexico and spending some time in his family's cabin near Cuba, NM.  Driving north from Albuquerque Cabezon loomed large on the horizon.  Over the next week I explored dirt roads leading out into a stunning landscape.  Stopping often to make photographs, it was a photographer's holiday.  Meeting a local rancher, he asked "are you looking for the old Indian ruins"?  He pointed me in the direction along the mesas by the river.  I found Guadalupe.

Much has changed over those twenty years.  The site was discovered in the early 1970's.  Located on BLM land it is the responsibility of the BLM for the stewardship of this sacred site.  Nancy and I have returned numerous times to this very special place.  We have seen many changes.  Most not for the better.  Once a location found as it was when the Ancestral Chacoans left, today the BLM has desecrated the site with metal roofs placed on sacred kivas, cemented walls, and the removal of most of the signs of the Pueblo People.  

Last week I flew the site to document and record the site conditions.  My heart was saddened by what I saw.  

Click here to see Guadalupe as it is today.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

America's 11 Most Endangered Places 

On May 30, 2019, the National Trust announced its annual list of 11 most endangered places.  America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is a list of places in the United States that the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the most endangered. It aims to inspire Americans to preserve examples of cultural heritage that could be "relegated to the dustbins of history" without intervention.

At the top of the list is Ancestral and Sacred Sites of Southeast Utah.  This includes Bears Ears, Combs Ridge, and Hovenweep.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has offered almost 19 million acres of public land for oil and gas leasing—an area larger than the entire state of West Virginia.  All this is being done at the same time the administration is revising the management plans for more than 24 million acres of public land and proposing to slash conservation protections by 80%.

Help us as we strive to document and preserve cultural, sacred sites, and endangered landscape in the Southwest.  To learn how you can help visit Question of Power.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

112,000 Acres of Public Lands Leased by the BLM 

Since the beginning of 2018 the BLM has leased 112,000 acres of Public Lands in Southeast Utah. This is all part of the Greater Chaco Landscape.  In many cases as little as 2% of the recently leased land has been surveyed for cultural and sacred sites. There are 1700 known sacred sites in three recent lease sales.  The Trump administration immediately targeted this region for development by reducing the size of Bears Ears National Monument by nearly 85% and leaving that previously protected landscape open to mineral, oil and gas development.

Last week I spent time in part of the Bears Ears previously protected landscape, an area called Valley of the Gods. Standing under a brilliant blue sky surrounded by red sandstone mesas, buttes, and towers, all remnants of an ancient landscape, it was a time and place to renew my soul.  Difficult to imagine the long term effects of opening up this and the surrounding landscape for oil and gas industrialization now that protection for the areas has been removed.

Follow this link to experience the beauty of Valley of the Gods.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

BLM Fire Sale of Public Lands

Conservation and tribal groups are criticizing the Bureau of Land Management for its latest oil and gas lease sale of more than 70,000 acres of public land in Utah. The sale, which occurred this week, brought in around $1.63 million, according to the BLM, more than half of which came from 32,027 acres in San Juan County. The sale is the third since March 2018 to include land between Bears Ears and Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, much of which conservation groups say should not be leased. “This area has more archaeological sites than any other area open to oil and gas drilling in the United States,” said Josh Ewing, director of Bluff-based conservation group Friends of Cedar Mesa.

The All Pueblo Council of Governors; San Juan County Commission; the Navajo Utah Commission; the Town of Bluff and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) were among those that sent letters to the BLM and Utah Governor Herbert, asking them to stop the leases near Hovenweep National Monument from advancing.

be strong, be safe, Carlan