Name: Pueblo leaders protest proposal near cultural site
Uploaded: 2025-11-14T20:54:05.926Z
Duration: 2 min 30 s
Description: The Trump administration is taking steps to allow oil-and-gas drilling on a UNESCO World Heritage site in New Mexico. The Chaco Canyon is dotted with archeological ruins - held sacred by the indigenous Pueblo peoples.

The Trump administration is taking steps to allow oil-and-gas drilling on a UNESCO World Heritage site in New Mexico. The Chaco Canyon is dotted with archeological ruins - held sacred by the indigenous Pueblo peoples.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Leaders from the Pueblo communities have voiced strong opposition to proposals that would allow new oil and gas development near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. The area, protected by a 16-kilometer buffer zone established by President Joe Biden, is considered sacred and historically significant by the Pueblo people, who fear that hydraulic fracturing and drilling could damage archaeological treasures and landscapes.

The proposal to revoke the buffer zone, supported by President Trump as part of his domestic energy agenda, has created divisions among local Indigenous groups. While the Navajo Nation supports the economic benefits of drilling, the 19 pueblos remain united in opposition, emphasizing the need to preserve Chaco Canyon for future generations.

Pueblo leaders protest proposal near cultural site

Hidden within the desert of New Mexico is Chaco Canyon, where a cluster of ancient cities have stood for a thousand years. They were centers of trade, politics, and religion, and where Jerome Lucero's ancestors once walked. This is where we had originated from, and we have been trying to protect this place and this area for quite some time. Lucero, a leader of Zia Pueblo, descends from the ancestral Puebloan people who built these walls. These are the preserved remnants of four-story buildings, great roads, and urban plazas. This is one of our most significant places that we are trying to protect for our children. These sacred sites are the center of a 16-kilometer buffer zone created by President Joe Biden to protect this area from new oil and gas leases. Now President Trump is trying to revoke that buffer. Trump has made domestic energy development a priority of his second term, and beneath this land is the lucrative San Juan oil and gas basin. This area, just to the north and northeast of Chaco, is one of the main areas where they expect to see a lot of continued extraction. Drilling is already happening nearby. These are the sheep my grandma gave me. Marlene Pinto's family receives royalties from wells on their Navajo land, a vital source of income in a place with three million people. In a place with few other economic opportunities. I don't understand why they banned that oil and drill, oil and gas. But Trump reopened it, so yeah, I appreciate that, what he did. The issue has driven a wedge between the Navajo Nation that backs Trump's drilling plan and the 19 pueblos that have united in opposition. Lucero fears hydraulic fracturing, which uses high pressure to break through oil-saturated rock, is already damaging Chaco's treasures. It's the movement of the earth and it's starting to shift and it's starting to, you know, destroy the landscapes like this one behind us. He's heartbroken to find this newly fallen cliff face. This is one of the things that we're trying to protect from Chaco. When pueblo people visit, he says, they invite their ancestors' spirits to return to this place. He says he feels their presence and prays they'll help Washington see Chaco's true value. Heidi Jo Castro, Al Jazeera, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

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