Former New Mexico Congresswoman and current Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland received a mixed reception at a press conference to trumpet a new rule that limits oil and gas activity around Chaco Canyon for the next 20 years.
Some from the Navajo Nation protested Haaland’s role behind the legislation saying it will cause financial and economic losses for landowners. Haaland was forced to relocate her press conference after the protesters blocked access to the sacred ground.
“The ancestors are here, and they are smiling down on us,” she said in a message of unity on Sunday, per KOB 4.
She added, “We can disagree on policy, but we must be united in the protection of our children, our culture, our shared sacred spaces. That is the most important thing.”
Janene Yazzie, a Southwest Regional Director of the Indian Collective, told KOB 4 some of the protestors believe their land will be taken from them under this new drilling ban.
“It was heartbreaking to see the fear and the uncertainty that the allotees were holding,” Yazzi said. “I really felt for them. I felt their pain. We’re talking about people who have faced forced removal before.”
Most of the speakers at the press conference said conservation efforts have been in the works for decades and should be viewed as a win for Chaco Canyon. Mark Mitchell, chairman of All Pueblo Council of Governors, said, “We’ve known the collective power and actions since 1598. We know what we are able to achieve in 1680 by the organizing of the Pueblo Revolt. We know the powerful advocacy that led to the end of the infamous Burson Bill in the 1920s."
Haaland said, “This journey in defense of the place that makes us whole has been a journey to put Indigenous voices at the decision-making table and act on those voices. This decision upholds mine and President Biden’s commitment to prioritize tribal-led conservation and it does not end here.”
The site is held sacred by many Indigenous groups in New Mexico. “It was a site of trade,” Yazzie said. “It was a site of connection that connected everyone from the north to the Pacific to South America. And the artifacts there tell that story, they share that lineage.”
