Free Republic

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...

Navajo Nation officials and the vice president of a Houston-based energy company have signed lease agreements that would allow a 1,500-megawatt power plant to be built on tribal land in northwestern New Mexico. Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., Sithe Global Power executive vice president Dirk Straussfeld and Steven Begay, general manager for the tribe's Dine Power Authority, inked the documents during a ceremony Thursday. The coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant, when complete, would produce enough electricity to power up to 1.5 million homes. It's expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs during construction and as many as 400 permanent jobs....