SANTA FE—A group of New Mexico lawmakers have reintroduced legislation to permanently protect Chaco Canyon and its surrounding region from future oil, gas, and mineral development— a move that comes as national energy policy pivots sharply toward increased domestic extraction.
The Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, filed last week by U.S. Senators Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich and Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury, and Gabe Vasquez, would prohibit any new federal mineral leasing within a 10mile buffer of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico.
The bill seeks to enshrine into law the 20-year mineral withdrawal finalized by the Department of the Interior in 2023, which temporarily banned new leases in the area to allow for broader legislative protection. However, with the Trump administration issuing new executive orders encouraging fossil fuel and uranium development on public lands, advocates say the Chaco region is again at risk.
Local Cultural Significance
Chaco Canyon lies just 80 miles north of Grants, and for many in Cibola County and surrounding Pueblos and Tribes, the connection to the Greater Chaco landscape is both personal and ancestral. The canyon and its ancient structures are considered sacred by numerous Indigenous communities— including the Acoma, Zuni, and Navajo—many of whom trace their lineage, traditions, and spiritual practices to the land.
“Chaco Canyon and the Chaco Region are treasured and significant cultural, spiritual, and historic sites,” said Teresa Martinez, Executive Director of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC). “Protection of landscapes must extend far beyond ecological value—it must also consider the time-immemorial sacred connection of humans to these places.”
The CDTC, which manages the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail running nearly 800 miles across New Mexico, has backed the bill as essential to protecting cultural integrity along the trail. According to Martinez, safeguarding sacred sites like Chaco supports the trail’s purpose as a space for “connection and reflection.”
Rising Energy Pressures
The legislation comes just days after President Trump signed multiple executive orders to accelerate coal, oil, gas, and uranium development across the U.S.—including provisions that challenge state-level environmental laws and fasttrack leasing on public lands. Critics argue the orders may jeopardize the existing Chaco withdrawal and other protections.
“Under a second Trump administration that is blatantly calling for public lands to be sold off for corporate polluter interests… it’s urgent that we permanently protect this sacred landscape,” said Miya King-Flaherty of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter.
The Sierra Club and other environmental and tribal organizations are warning that Chaco Canyon could become a testing ground for future development projects if the withdrawal is overturned or ignored. Several provisions of the president’s orders—including language from the “Project 2025” policy blueprint—open the door to reevaluating protections deemed “ideologically motivated.”
A Broader Battle Over Sacred Lands
For many in northwestern and west-central New Mexico, the fight to protect Chaco echoes broader concerns over energy development near sacred sites—particularly as uranium mining resurfaces in areas like Mount Taylor and Seboyeta.
While some local leaders welcome new economic opportunity, others caution that renewed extraction may repeat the harms of the past: contamination, community division, and the erasure of Indigenous sovereignty.
Lawmakers backing the Chaco bill say it represents a necessary defense of cultural heritage in a time of rising pressure.
“This is not just about a national park,” said Rep. Leger Fernández. “It’s about the people who have called this land home for centuries— and their right to protect it from exploitation.”
The Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act has been introduced in previous sessions of Congress but has yet to reach the president’s desk. Supporters hope the reintroduction, coupled with growing public awareness, will give the legislation new momentum in 2025.