The people can win over fossil fuel corporate greed.
Jeremy Nichols wrote for
WildEarth Guardians 31 January 2014,
Cultural Gem of Southwest Spared,
Dear Guardian,
For Chaco Canyon, this is a win to remember.
In early 2013, the Bureau of Land Management, buckling to the
demands of the oil and gas industry, proposed to lease more than
16,000 acres for drilling and fracking right at the doorstep of
Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico.
We pushed back however, and together with our allies mounted an
all-out defense of this cultural treasure.
The efforts culminated last September when Guardians, joined by
archaeological groups, the Chaco Alliance, and the San Juan Citizens
Alliance, petitioned the Bureau of Land Management to protect 1.1
million acres as the “Greater Chaco Landscape Area of Critical
Environmental Concern.”
Today, it’s official: we won.
In response to our efforts, the Bureau of Land Management officially
decided to take “No Action.”
In other words, no oil and gas leases will be sold around Chaco
Canyon, giving this landscape new hope for more lasting protection.
This victory is a testament to our dogged persistence and commitment
not only to safeguarding the climate from fossil fuels, but also
safeguarding the West’s irreplaceable natural values.
To be sure, we still have work to do. The Greater Chaco Landscape is
still in need of full protection and the rush to frack in the
American West remains the most significant threat to the land,
wildlife, our water and our clean air.
Guardians is keeping Chaco safe from fracking, but our aim is a
frack-free West.
One victory at a time, we’re doing it.
For the Wild,
Jeremy Nichols
Climate and Energy Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
jnichols@wildearthguardians.org
U.S. President Barack Obama told the European Union on Wednesday it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
