Posted on 09/23/2022 3:31:16 PM PDT by CedarDave
The Biden administration is expected to soon finalize a rule banning oil and gas leasing near a Native American historical site despite heavy opposition from local Indigenous leaders, who say the administration's rule would prevent them from collecting royalties on their land.
The rule, which the Department of Interior (DOI) announced in November 2021, would implement a 20-year moratorium on federal oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile radius of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in northwest New Mexico. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the rule, which would amount to a withdrawal of 336,000 acres of public lands from mineral leasing, would protect the environment and "rich cultural legacy" of the region.
"We're not destroying anything — we are Native Americans ourselves. Nobody is destroying the park," Delora Hesuse, a Navajo Nation citizen who owns allotted land in the Greater Chaco region, told Fox News Digital in an interview. "The oil companies sure aren't destroying the park. And they have new technology."
"It just seems like they are listening more to the environmentalist people," she continued.
The Navajo Nation Council also condemned the proposal, saying it would instead support a five-mile radius, a compromise backed by industry. Council Delegate Mark Freeland said families from the allotted land areas were "ignored" by the DOI.
In addition, the board of county commissioners of San Juan County, New Mexico, passed a resolution in April stating that it "strongly opposes" the Biden administration proposal. The resolution noted the rule would make it impossible for owners of individual Indian allotments to drill for and extract minerals since pipelines must cross federal land below the surface.
Hesuse noted that the Navajo community is extremely impoverished and that oil and gas revenues are critical for sustaining many individuals.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I vaguely recall that case.
Alternate title: Biden and Environ-MENTAL-ists Keep Native Americans Drunk and Poor.
Tribes WERE heavy democrat supporters. Things can change.
There were plenty of Trump signs here on the Navajo Reservation where in the past there were never any Republican candidates. Trump won 2020.
And today in Shiprock, there was a rally for Mark Ronchetti the Republican challenger to Michelle Lujan Grisham. Plenty of supporters there. I’ve never seen that before, a Republican running for the state’s highest office stop on by.
The two power plants here will go out of operation eventually and the coal mine will be shut down.
The Tribe sits on some good Helium deposits that provide a good source of funds but we have some homegrown idiots who think the land is sacred.
It may take a few more years for the Tribe to figure put the Democrats are not our friends.
I’m one of those primitives of which you speak.
There were lots of Trump signs all around here on the reservation. He had a lot of supporters. The ballot stuffers stabbed Trump in the back. I voted for Trump.
I would not call it Navajos stabbing Trump in the back.
Hope it works out for you guys. Did you miss the /s?
I did see the /s. :)
It’ll all work out one of these days.
I recall seeing photos of the Trump signs.
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