`[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]






            H.R. 4374, ``ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL ACT''

=======================================================================

                          LEGISLATIVE HEARING

                               before the

                       SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND
                           MINERAL RESOURCES

                                 of the

                     COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                        Thursday, July 13, 2023

                               __________

                           Serial No. 118-47

                               __________

       Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources






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        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
                                  or
          Committee address: http://naturalresources.house.gov

                               ______
                                 

                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

52-952 PDF                WASHINGTON : 2024







      

                     COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

                     BRUCE WESTERMAN, AR, Chairman
                    DOUG LAMBORN, CO, Vice Chairman
                  RAUL M. GRIJALVA, AZ, Ranking Member

Doug Lamborn, CO		     Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Robert J. Wittman, VA		     Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, 
Tom McClintock, CA		         CNMI
Paul Gosar, AZ			     Jared Huffman, CA
Garret Graves, LA		     Ruben Gallego, AZ
Aumua Amata C. Radewagen, AS	     Joe Neguse, CO
Doug LaMalfa, CA		     Mike Levin, CA
Daniel Webster, FL		     Katie Porter, CA
Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, PR	     Teresa Leger Fernandez, NM
Russ Fulcher, ID		     Melanie A. Stansbury, NM
Pete Stauber, MN		     Mary Sattler Peltola, AK
John R. Curtis, UT		     Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NY
Tom Tiffany, WI			     Kevin Mullin, CA
Jerry Carl, AL			     Val T. Hoyle, OR
Matt Rosendale, MT		     Sydney Kamlager-Dove, CA
Lauren Boebert, CO		     Seth Magaziner, RI
Cliff Bentz, OR			     Nydia M. Velazquez, NY
Jen Kiggans, VA			     Ed Case, HI
Jim Moylan, GU			     Debbie Dingell, MI
Wesley P. Hunt, TX		     Susie Lee, NV
Mike Collins, GA
Anna Paulina Luna, FL
John Duarte, CA
Harriet M. Hageman, WY

                    Vivian Moeglein, Staff Director
                      Tom Connally, Chief Counsel
                 Lora Snyder, Democratic Staff Director
                   http://naturalresources.house.gov

                                 ------                                

              SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

                       PETE STAUBER, MN, Chairman
                     WESLEY P. HUNT, TX, Vice Chair
              ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, NY, Ranking Member

Doug Lamborn, CO                     Jared Huffman, CA
Robert J. Wittman, VA                Kevin Mullin, CA
Paul Gosar, AZ                       Sydney Kamlager-Dove, CA
Garret Graves, LA                    Seth Magaziner, RI
Daniel Webster, FL                   Nydia M. Velazquez, NY
Russ Fulcher, ID                     Debbie Dingell, MI
John R. Curtis, UT                   Raul M. Grijalva, AZ
Tom Tiffany, WI                      Grace F. Napolitano, CA
Matt Rosendale, MT                   Susie Lee, NV
Lauren Boebert, CO                   Vacancy
Wesley P. Hunt, TX                   Vacancy
Mike Collins, GA
John Duarte, CA
Bruce Westerman, AR, ex officio

                                 ------                                







                               CONTENTS

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on Thursday, July 13, 2023..........................     1

Statement of Members:

    Westerman, Hon. Bruce, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Arkansas..........................................     1
    Ocasio-Cortez, Hon. Alexandria, a Representative in Congress 
      from the State of New York.................................     3
    Stauber, Hon. Pete, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Minnesota.........................................     4

    Panel I:

    Crane, Hon. Elijah, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Arizona...........................................     6

Statement of Witnesses:

    Panel II:

    Culver, Nada Wolff, Principal Deputy Director, Bureau of Land 
      Management, Washington, DC.................................     7
        Prepared statement of....................................     8
        Questions submitted for the record.......................    11
    Nygren, Hon. Buu Van, President, Navajo Nation, Window Rock, 
      Arizona....................................................    12
        Prepared statement of....................................    13
        Questions submitted for the record.......................    18
    Ashland, Anita, Senior Land Consultant, Enduring Resources, 
      Centennial, Colorado.......................................    18
        Prepared statement of....................................    20
        Questions submitted for the record.......................    25
    Atencio, Mario, Vice President, Torreon/Star Lake Chapter, 
      Navajo Allottee Spokesperson, Cuba, New Mexico.............    30
        Prepared statement of....................................    32
        Questions submitted for the record.......................    47
    Hesuse, Delora, Navajo Tribal Member and Allottee, Nageezi 
      Chapter, New Mexico........................................    48
        Prepared statement of....................................    50
        Questions submitted for the record.......................    52

Additional Materials Submitted for the Record:

    Submissions for the Record by Representative Westerman

        NABIAP Resolution-11-23..................................    70
        Navajo Nation, Letter to Secretary Haaland, dated May 3, 
          2023...................................................    72
        EPA e-mail, dated June 15, 2023..........................    73
        Eastern Navajo Land Commission, Letter dated July 6, 2023    74
        COLT Resolution: 06-02-2023-Resolution #02-2022 (WR-Las 
          Vegas).................................................    78
        Eastern Navajo Land Commission, Letter to Chair Stauber, 
          dated July 24, 2023....................................    80
        Eastern Navajo Agency Council, Letter to Chair Stauber, 
          dated July 24, 2023....................................    83

    Submissions for the Record by Representative Grijalva

        To Nizhoni Ani, Letter to Committee, dated July 12, 2023.    87
        Coalition, Letter dated May 6, 2022, in Support of the 
          Proposed Mineral Withdrawal............................    88
        Environment America, Letter to the Committee, dated July 
          12, 2023...............................................   108
        E-mail Messages from 956 Constituents....................   108
        Letter to Committee from 6 Organizations, dated July 12, 
          2023...................................................   109

    Submissions for the Record by Representative Leger Fernandez

        Pueblo of Acoma, Governor Brian Vallo, Statement for the 
          Record.................................................   112
        Greater Chaco Coalition Members & Supporting 
          Organizations, Letter to Sec. Haaland, dated July 13, 
          2023...................................................   117
        Letter to Committee from 29 Navajo Nation citizens, dated 
          July 11, 2023..........................................   123
        David Tsosie, Navajo Nation Nahata Dziil Chapter, 
          Statement for the Record...............................   127
        Cheyenne Antonio, Greater Chaco Coalition, Statement for 
          the Record.............................................   130
        23rd Navajo Nation Council, Hon. Lorenzo C. Bates, 
          Memorandum dated October 13, 2016......................   132
        Resolution of Counselor Chapter--#COUN-2015-03...........   133
        Daniel Tso, Chair of the Counselor Health Impact 
          Assessment, Statement for the Record...................   135
        Dine Medicine Men's Association--Resolution..............   138
        State of New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands, 
          Executive Order No. 2019-002...........................   141
        Gadii'ahi-To'koi, Navajo Nation, Letter to Committee, 
          dated July 11, 2023....................................   145
        Kendra Pinto, Navajo Nation Counselor Chapter, Statement 
          for the Record.........................................   146
        Myron Lizer, Navajo Nation Vice President, Statement for 
          the Record.............................................   147
        Ojo Encino Chapter--Resolution OJOE-03-09-15/002.........   149
        Navajo Nation, Letter to Senate from President Begaye, 
          dated August 22, 2018..................................   151
        Navajo Nation Dilkon Chapter--Resolution DIL-07-075-15...   152
        Sam Sage, Navajo Nation Enrolled Citizen, Statement for 
          the Record.............................................   154
        National Congress of American Indians--Resolution MKE-17-
          008....................................................   157
        Torreon/Star Lake Chapter--Resolution 2015...............   159
        Torreon/Star Lake Chapter--Resolution TSL 04/2016-027....   161
        Wendy Atcitty, Navajo Nation Enrolled Citizen, Statement 
          for the Record.........................................   164
                                     









 
  LEGISLATIVE HEARING ON H.R. 4374, TO NULLIFY PUBLIC LAND ORDER NO. 
  7923, WITHDRAWING CERTAIN LAND IN SAN JUAN COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, FROM 
          MINERAL ENTRY, ``ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL ACT''

                              ----------                              


                        Thursday, July 13, 2023

                     U.S. House of Representatives

              Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources

                     Committee on Natural Resources

                             Washington, DC

                              ----------                              

    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:28 p.m. in 
Room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Pete Stauber 
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Stauber, Gosar, Fulcher, Collins, 
Westerman; Ocasio-Cortez, and Grijalva.
    Also present: Representatives Crane; Leger Fernandez, and 
Stansbury.

    Mr. Westerman [presiding]. The Subcommittee on Energy and 
Mineral Resources will come to order.
    Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a 
recess of the Subcommittee at any time.
    Under Committee Rule 4(f), any oral opening statements at 
hearings are limited to the Chairmen of the Subcommittee and 
the Full Committee, and the Ranking Minority Member.
    I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Arizona, 
Mr. Crane, be allowed to participate in today's hearing.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    I will be filling in for Mr. Stauber until he gets here, 
but I now recognize myself for opening remarks.

  STATEMENT OF THE HON. BRUCE WESTERMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
              CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARKANSAS

    Mr. Westerman. I would like to start by thanking our 
witnesses for taking the time to be here today, and would also 
like to thank Representative Crane for introducing this 
important piece of legislation.
    In his first 2 years of office, President Biden broke a 
record for leasing the fewest acres for oil and gas drilling 
offshore and onshore than any other administration dating back 
to the end of World War II.
    Additionally, in his first year in office, oil production 
on tribal lands experienced its first decrease in several 
years, dropping from 11 percent, from 101.8 million barrels in 
2020 to 90.8 million barrels, and down again in 2022 to 80.8 
million barrels. This war on American energy has sent prices at 
the pump and utility bills unnecessarily soaring. Since 
President Biden took office, energy prices have gone up 37.2 
percent, which is the larger increase than any of the last 
seven presidents.
    Last year, nearly 34 percent of American households reduced 
or skipped basic expenses to pay energy bills. And not only is 
this attack on American energy costly, it is also misguided. 
Global energy consumption is on track to grow by nearly 50 
percent by 2050. And conventional energy sources like petroleum 
will remain the largest energy source over that time. Natural 
gas and oil are projected to provide nearly 50 percent of the 
world's energy by 2050, with petroleum usage growing through 
2050.
    Since 1995, total world energy use rose by 50 percent as 
the world's population grew by just over 2 billion. The world 
is expected to add 2 billion more people by 2050, which will 
result in a similar increase in energy use, the point being 
that we need to produce more energy, not less.
    We also need to be doing it here, not overseas, as it is 
safer and cleaner and produced more efficiently here in 
America. For example, Russian natural gas to Europe has an 
emission profile that is 41 percent greater than U.S. LNG 
exported to Europe. And minerals mined overseas by China 
involve forced labor and even child slave labor.
    We have heard claims in this Committee by those opposed to 
oil and natural gas that companies have too many leases, and 
are operating on too much land. But just the opposite is true. 
Leased acreage is at an all-time historic low. Only 23.8 
million acres of leases are currently leased, down 80 percent 
of the high of 120.7 million acres in 1995. In fact, the 
onshore acres under lease has almost dropped in half over the 
past decade, while production has greatly increased.
    Actions by this Administration to lock up Federal lands for 
mineral development like the one we are discussing today and 
like the one in Chairman Stauber's district are moving our 
country in the wrong direction. What is worse is that these 
actions will have significant negative impacts on local 
communities. Navajo Nation allottees stand to lose roughly $194 
million in revenue due to this withdrawal, and the 
Administration appears to not care about that.
    Last month, we had a hearing on the BLM's recently released 
Public Lands Rule. In that hearing, we heard the same thing we 
are hearing today. The Department of the Interior refused to 
listen to the people on the ground, and instead decided to 
steamroll those who don't agree with them in the name of 
climate change. I am in strong opposition to these actions and 
will do all I can to stop them.
    With that, I look forward to hearing our witnesses and to 
discuss these important issues.
    I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, Ms. 
Ocasio-Cortez, for her opening statement.

       STATEMENT OF THE HON. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, A 
     REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you to 
our witnesses here today, particularly those traveling great 
distances to be here with us.
    President Nygren, it is also good to see you. Thank you for 
coming from New Mexico.
    Today, the Subcommittee is holding a hearing on legislation 
to nullify the Chaco Canyon withdrawal, which was put in place 
by the Biden administration to protect the integrity of sacred 
sites in and around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. 
The withdrawal prohibits new oil and gas leasing on Federal 
land within a 10-mile radius of the park for 20 years. H.R. 
4374 would undo that progress.
    I strongly oppose this legislation, and I am grateful for 
the opportunity to weigh in. I know many of my colleagues have 
been working to protect Chaco Canyon from further fossil fuel 
development for many years. So, let's start by taking a step 
back.
    Long before our modern extractive industries came to be, 
the Greater Chaco Region in what is now New Mexico was the 
heart of Chacoan culture. Today, the sovereign Pueblo nations 
of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation have intimate connections 
with the Greater Chaco Region, recognizing the area as a 
spiritual place to be honored and respected.
    Chaco Canyon also sits nearly at the center of the San Juan 
Basin in northwest New Mexico, a hotspot for oil and gas 
development. Over the last decade, U.S. oil production has more 
than doubled, due in large part to operations in New Mexico and 
the San Juan Basin in particular. And we are now producing more 
oil and natural gas than ever before.
    While oil and gas development has created jobs and 
supported economies, it has also had the impact of 
significantly harming local air and water quality, health, wild 
natural places, and sacred sites. On top of that, it is 
contributing to our climate crisis.
    In the San Juan Basin, the relationship with oil and gas 
development is particularly complex. Local governments, 
including tribal governments and citizens, receive royalties 
from extraction, which helps support government services and 
boost the economy. But the story of oil production also has a 
grim underbelly.
    First, oil and gas is a volatile industry, and that 
prosperity does not always last: a pattern that has repeated 
itself many times in different regions over the past several 
decades.
    Second, there were also at least 1,400 oil spills in New 
Mexico last year alone, a record since 2018, and the San Juan 
Basin also has the unfortunate distinction of having some of 
the highest concentrations of methane pollution in the United 
States. Methane pollution is linked to airway damage, 
aggravates lung diseases, causes asthma attacks, increases 
rates of pre-term births, and much more.
    Oil spills can pollute clean water sources already in short 
supply for our communities. With nearly 140,000 people living 
and 30,000 children attending school within half a mile of an 
active well or other oil and gas facilities in New Mexico, this 
pollution significantly affects public health.
    The Federal Government has a significant role to play here. 
Oil and gas development in New Mexico disproportionately takes 
place on Federal land, and for far too long the Bureau of Land 
Management failed to consider the impacts of such development 
on nearby communities, especially tribal communities. More than 
90 percent of the Federal land in northwest New Mexico has 
already been leased. Communities are suffering unknown 
consequences because we have thus far failed to adequately 
understand the cumulative impacts of so much development on 
public health, cultural resources, and the environment.
    The Administration's actions to end further leasing near 
Chaco Canyon is a meaningful step in the right direction. It is 
the result of decades of efforts from tribes, elected 
officials, and the public.
    Some places are too special to drill. Even the Trump 
administration recognized this, proposing to sell oil and gas 
leases near Chaco Canyon three times over the 4-year term, but 
canceling the sales in each instance due to opposition, instead 
committing to further cultural consultation. In fact, no 
leasing has taken place within the 10-mile boundary of this 
withdrawal in at least 10 years.
    I do understand that BLM has found that there would be 47 
fewer oil and gas wells drilled in the region over the 20-year 
life of the withdrawal, and 4 percent of allotments could 
experience high to moderate impacts on the future ability to 
lease oil and gas. I do not want to downplay these very real 
impacts on the local economy, but with these impacts also come 
improvements to health and safety.
    As we look to the future, we must make sure that frontline 
communities, such as those testifying today, and energy 
communities see new forms of investment and diversified 
economies. We must strike a balance for all needs of our 
Federal lands, and make sure we are making decisions informed 
by science, consultation, and community input, as the 
Administration has with the Chaco Canyon withdrawal.
    Make no mistake, I am committed to continuing to working 
with the Navajo Nation, allottees, and other impacted 
individuals on the economic challenges of this proposition.
    Again, I am opposed to this legislation, and firmly support 
the Administration's actions to protect this landscape.
    To close, I would like to submit for the record written 
testimony from the All Pueblo Council of Governors, a Puebloan 
leadership organization and political entity, and the Hopi 
Tribe in opposition to this legislation.
    Mr. Stauber [presiding]. Without objection.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. I yield back. Thank you.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you, Representative Ocasio-Cortez.

    STATEMENT OF THE HON. PETE STAUBER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
              CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA

    Mr. Stauber. Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral 
Resources will discuss H.R. 4374, sponsored by Representative 
Crane, which would nullify the Bureau of Land Management's 
Public Land Order 7923.
    This decision removed nearly 336,000 acres for mineral 
development in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico, which will 
prevent Navajo Nation allottees in the area from accessing oil 
and gas reserves underneath their lands that they rely on for 
their livelihoods. We will hear from the Navajo allottee today 
about how this withdrawal will severely restrict development in 
the area, and how the lack of development will affect the 
livelihoods of local allottees.
    The Navajo Nation clearly expressed their opposition to 
this withdrawal throughout the public comment process. Earlier 
this year, the Navajo Nation Council passed a resolution 
opposing any buffer zone around the Chaco Culture National 
Historical Park. The resolution states, ``The 25th Navajo 
Nation Council is concerned that any buffer zone, in addition 
to the withdrawal of public land, will have a detrimental 
impact to the Navajo Nation allottees by preventing the 
development of new oil and gas resources on allotments as a 
result of the allotments being landlocked.''
    I would like to submit this resolution to the record.
    The resolution was followed by a letter from Navajo Nation 
President Buu Van Nygren, who is testifying with us today, and 
Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council, Crystalyne Curley. The 
letter details their opposition to the withdrawal, as it would 
have a significant negative impact on, ``elderly culture 
bearers who rely on income from oil and gas royalties to meet 
their basic needs.''
    I would like to submit this letter for the record, as well.
    Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, these concerns were 
ignored by the Department of the Interior under this 
Administration. And I know very well the frustration and 
concerns of those affected by unilateral mineral withdrawals, 
as this same Administration and Secretary of the Interior took 
over 225,400 acres of copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinum-rich 
lands off the table in my home state of Minnesota, the biggest 
copper-nickel find in the world.
    What is worse is that Secretary Haaland didn't even know 
what minerals were there before she took this action. She had 
no idea there were valuable critical minerals in that find. In 
an appropriation hearing earlier this year, when asked if she 
banned critical minerals mining in northeastern Minnesota, the 
Secretary said, and I will repeat it, ``I don't know what kind 
of minerals were there. I don't think they were critical 
minerals.''
    These withdrawals demonstrate a clear fact, that the 
Department and this Administration do not care for local voices 
and will stop at nothing to push their agenda to appease their 
radical and extreme anti-mining and anti-fossil fuel special 
interest groups.
    Even more concerning is that these actions will leave the 
United States more dependent on China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, 
and other countries who perpetuate forced and child slave 
labor.
    Yet, again, the Biden administration's motto holds up: 
Anywhere but America; any worker but American.
    Public lands play an important role in rural economies in 
the West and across the country. We must ensure that we fully 
understand the impacts of these decisions before they are 
taken.
    With that, I look forward to the discussion today, and I 
thank the witnesses for taking the time to be here, including 
Representative Crane, in order to discuss this important piece 
of legislation.
    Now, I will begin our Member panel, and I would like to 
recognize Mr. Eli Crane from the 2nd District of Arizona for 
his testimony.
    Representative Crane.

    STATEMENT OF THE HON. ELIJAH CRANE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 
               CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA

    Mr. Crane. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to be 
here today.
    Thank you, President Nygren. I appreciate it.
    I want to take a minute to welcome the entire panel, and, 
again, President Nygren, to the Committee today. For those of 
you that don't know, I am proud to represent over half the 
tribes in Arizona, including Navajo Nation. They are great 
partners in preserving American history and culture, and I have 
had many conversations with them on the importance of tribal 
self-sufficiency.
    In June, the Biden administration issued a Public Land 
Order banning hundreds of thousands of acres of Federal mineral 
estate surrounding the Chaco Culture National Historical Park 
for 20 years. This effectively prevents all private landowners 
and Navajo allottees from the mineral leasing land in this 
area. The ban will have significant negative economic impacts 
on both Navajo Nation and the American taxpayer, severely 
limiting tribal revenue, economic development, self-
sufficiency, and American energy production.
    I understand Chaco Canyon carries both cultural and 
historical significance for communities in the region, but the 
development of this land should be determined by those with 
lawful sovereignty and the 20,000 Navajo allottees who would be 
affected by this policy.
    I introduced the Energy Opportunities for All Act because 
the Biden administration did not properly seek out tribal input 
and have effectively implemented a destructive choke hold on 
tribal revenue and economic prosperity. I am happy that 
President Nygren is testifying on how this Public Land Order 
affects Navajo Nation, and I encourage you all to listen to his 
counsel and co-sponsor my legislation.
    Thank you. I yield back.
    Mr. Stauber. I thank you for your testimony, Representative 
Crane.
    The Subcommittee will now move into our second panel of 
witnesses to speak on the legislation before us today. I will 
now introduce our panel.
    The Honorable Nada Wolff Culver is Principal Deputy 
Director for the Bureau of Land Management; the Honorable Buu 
Van Nygren is the 10th President of the Navajo Nation, and was 
elected last November; Ms. Anita Ashland is Senior Land 
Consultant with Enduring Resources in Centennial, Colorado; Mr. 
Mario Atencio is a Navajo Nation allottee, and is Vice 
President of the Torreon/Star Lake Chapter in Cuba, New Mexico; 
and Ms. Delora Hesuse is a Navajo Nation tribal member and 
allottee in the Nageezi Chapter in New Mexico.
    I now recognize the Honorable Wolff Culver for 5 minutes.

  STATEMENT OF NADA WOLFF CULVER, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR, 
           BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, WASHINGTON, DC

    Ms. Culver. Good afternoon, Chair Stauber, Ranking Member 
Ocasio-Cortez, and members of the Subcommittee. I am Nada Wolff 
Culver, the BLM's Principal Deputy Director. I appreciate the 
opportunity to provide testimony on the Department of the 
Interior's 20-year withdrawal of public lands around Chaco 
Culture National Historical Park from mineral development.
    Public Land Order 7923, signed by Secretary Haaland on June 
2, 2023, responds to decades of efforts from Tribal Nations, 
elected officials, and the public to better protect sacred and 
historic sites, as well as the health and welfare of local 
tribal communities in northwest New Mexico. The order protects 
more than 4,700 documented sites outside the national park from 
the impacts of oil and gas and solid mineral development.
    Engagement with the Department of the Interior has shown a 
widespread, deep concern regarding the impacts of oil and gas 
development on tribal cultural resources within the area around 
the national park, culminating in direct advocacy that includes 
a 2014 resolution from the All Pueblo Council of Governors and 
a 2017 resolution from the National Congress of American 
Indians seeking protection for the Greater Chaco landscape.
    Members of the New Mexico delegation have introduced 
legislation protecting the area encompassed by the recent order 
since 2018. Congress has included language in multiple annual 
appropriation bills prohibiting the BLM from oil and gas 
leasing. Across the last three administrations, the BLM has not 
issued an oil and gas lease within the 10-mile buffer for about 
10 years. The state of New Mexico halted leasing of state lands 
in the same area in 2019.
    The development of PLO 7923 continues the long-standing 
history of engagement with those seeking enhanced protections 
for the Greater Chaco Region, and those seeking clarity on what 
protections would mean on the ground. This Administration's 
discussion with tribes commenced in 2021, including visits to 
the region and meetings with the Navajo Nation and allottees.
    The Bureau of Land Management published a notice of 
proposed withdrawal in June 2022, opening a 120-day public 
comment period that included six public meetings with meetings 
in Farmington, Nageezi, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. More than 
110,000 verbal and written comments were received during the 
initial public outreach and review period.
    The BLM then provided a comment period and public meetings 
for a draft environmental assessment. The BLM invited 24 Tribal 
Nations to conduct government-to-government consultations on 
the proposal. Department leadership and the BLM met with Navajo 
allotment holders several times in 2022 and 2023. Secretary 
Haaland also engaged directly with tribal leaders and Navajo 
allottees.
    In evaluating the effects of the withdrawal, the BLM 
responded to historic concerns and more recent questions. The 
withdrawal will significantly increase protections for cultural 
sites. Within the Chaco Culture National Historical Park there 
are 2,800 documented archeological sites. There are an 
additional 4,730 documented sites within the 10-mile withdrawal 
radius around the park.
    In its environmental review, the BLM considered several 
alternatives, including no withdrawal, a 5-mile withdrawal 
radius, and the 10-mile withdrawal radius. The BLM found that a 
5-mile withdrawal would protect approximately 1,900 documented 
sites, significantly less than the 10-mile withdrawal.
    The withdrawal applies to oil and gas and certain mining 
activities on Federal minerals. All other uses of these lands 
continue, as well as valid existing rights such as oil and gas 
leases. The BLM estimates 47 new Federal wells in the context 
of the 3,200 projected in the area could be forgone in the 20 
years of the withdrawal.
    The BLM also estimated potential impacts on allotment 
lands. While the legal rights of allotment owners are not 
changed by the withdrawal, BLM responded to concerns by 
estimating the indirect effects of the withdrawal of Federal 
minerals. The BLM's evaluation found that the lease ability of 
the vast majority, over 90 percent, of unleased allotments 
would be unaffected by the withdrawal, and that seven new wells 
would be forgone.
    While the BLM has not leased Federal lands within 10 miles 
of the park over the last decade, the Department has continued 
to issue drilling permits and hold lease sales on nominated 
allotment parcels, including a sale held in January 2022. The 
protections provided by the Public Land Order, the result of 
years of ongoing engagement with Tribal Nations, elected 
officials, and regional and local communities offer meaningful 
benefits for cultural protection, air quality improvements, and 
reduced disturbance from oil and gas development.
    H.R. 4374 would undermine these bipartisan efforts and the 
crucial safeguards provided by the withdrawal. The 
Administration strongly opposes H.R. 4374.
    Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I am 
happy to answer any questions.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Culver follows:]
  Prepared Statement of Nada Wolff Culver, Principal Deputy Director, 
       Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
    Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on H.R. 4374, 
the Energy Opportunities for All Act, which would nullify the force and 
effect of Public Land Order (PLO or Order) No. 7923, a withdrawal of 
certain public lands in northwest New Mexico to protect important 
Puebloan and Tribal cultural sites in the Greater Chaco Region.
    Pursuant to Section 204 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act (FLPMA), Secretary Haaland signed PLO 7923 into effect on June 2, 
2023, withdrawing the public lands within a roughly 10-mile buffer 
around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park (the Park) from 
location and entry under the U.S. mining laws and from leasing under 
the mineral leasing laws for 20 years, subject to valid existing 
rights. The Order, which responds to decades of efforts from Tribal 
Nations, elected officials, and the public to better protect the sacred 
and historic sites and Tribal communities currently living in northwest 
New Mexico, would protect more than 4,700 documented sites within the 
withdrawal area from the impacts of new oil and gas leasing and solid 
mineral development. These protections are essential to ensure the 
integrity of irreplaceable cultural sites, which are of continual 
cultural and religious significance to regional Tribal communities.
    H.R. 4374 would undermine these crucial protections within the 
Greater Chaco region, leaving sites, objects, and landscapes vulnerable 
to impacts from oil and gas and solid mineral extraction. The 
Administration strongly opposes H.R. 4374.
Overview

    The tremendous cultural and religious importance of the Greater 
Chaco landscape has long been recognized nationally and 
internationally. President Theodore Roosevelt first protected the lands 
now known as the Chaco Culture National Historical Park in 1907, and 
the park and six other nearby sites were designated as a United Nations 
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World 
Heritage Site in 1987. The broader landscape of the Greater Chaco 
Region contains important cultural resources, sites sacred to many 
Native people, and is of high value to local and regional communities.
    Between approximately AD 850 and 1150, the Chacoan peoples 
flourished, with Chaco Canyon serving as a social, cultural, and 
religious center. The Chacoan peoples erected great houses, 
astronomical sites, and ceremonial kivas, set in a landscape of sacred 
mountains, mesas, and shrines that continue to have deep spiritual 
meaning to this day.
    However, this important cultural landscape is at significant risk 
from impacts associated with oil and gas development and solid mineral 
development. The Greater Chaco Region sits within the San Juan Basin, 
which contains several heavily developed oil and gas bearing 
formations, and the potential for expanded exploration and development 
poses risks to the region and its important cultural landscapes.
Greater Chaco Landscape Cultural Resources

    The richness of the Chacoan culture is clearly visible in the grand 
scale of the architecture set in a landscape of mountains, mesas, and 
shrines that are sacred to and have deep spiritual meaning for many 
people to this day. UNESCO has recognized increased threats to Chaco 
Canyon's ``integrity from adjacent development (including associated 
utilities and roads), energy exploration, extraction, as well as 
transportation projects and proposals.''
    There are 2,800 documented archaeological sites in the Park and an 
additional 4,730 documented sites within the 10-mile withdrawal radius 
outside the Park. In conducting its environmental review, the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) considered several alternatives, including no 
withdrawal, a 5-mile withdrawal, and a 10-mile withdrawal. The BLM 
found that a 5-mile withdrawal would protect approximately 1,900 
documented sites. The 10-mile withdrawal affords substantially greater 
protections, protecting approximately 2,830 more documented 
archaeological sites than the 5-mile withdrawal. In addition, the 10-
mile withdrawal would afford greater protection to Chacoan outliers, 
which are archaeological sites, such as roads and structures like those 
in Chaco Canyon that were constructed in and around the San Juan Basin.
    The 4,730 documented sites protected by the 10-mile withdrawal area 
around the Park would otherwise be potentially impacted by additional 
mineral development. Fluid mineral development activities that cause 
ground disturbance, such as the construction of roads, pipelines, 
processing facilities, and earthworks have the potential to physically 
alter these cultural and historic sites. Where avoidance measures are 
not possible, these ground disturbing activities could destroy, 
displace, or otherwise physically alter aspects of integrity that 
qualify these sites for listing on the National Register of Historic 
Places. It can be especially challenging arid landscape. While the BLM 
seeks to minimize the impacts of mineral development on cultural sites, 
depending on where future mineral development occurred, it may not be 
possible for BLM stipulations to mitigate all adverse impacts to 
cultural resources.
Regional Oil & Gas Development

    As noted previously, the Greater Chaco Region sits within the San 
Juan Basin, an area of significant oil and gas development. Currently, 
there are 79 existing oil and gas leases encompassing approximately 
94,010 acres of Federal mineral estate within or partially within the 
proposed withdrawal area; approximately 71,260 of the leased acres lie 
within the proposed withdrawal area. As of April 1, 2023, 78 of the 79 
leases are held by production (meaning there is one or more 
economically producing well on the lease, so the lease can continue to 
produce and remains valid beyond its primary term).
    Given the long-standing interest in protecting the cultural sites 
of the Greater Chaco landscape, the BLM, under several administrations, 
has not issued an oil and gas lease within the 10-mile buffer for 
approximately 10 years. This approach has been reaffirmed by Congress 
over the past several years with the inclusion of language in annual 
appropriation bills prohibiting the Bureau from oil and gas leasing in 
same area. A moratorium on new mining claims has been in place since 
January 2022 while the BLM undertook the assessment of the proposed 
withdrawal.
    This withdrawal does not affect existing leases, nor does it apply 
to minerals owned by private, State, or Tribal entities. During the 
term of the withdrawal, production from existing wells could continue, 
and additional wells could and would likely be drilled on existing 
leases and non-Federal land.
    Significantly, much of the acreage in the withdrawal area 
identified as high or medium potential for oil and gas development is 
already under lease, and therefore not subject to the withdrawal. The 
BLM estimates that the larger region of the Mancos Gallup geologic 
formation in New Mexico is expected to have more than 3,200 new oil and 
gas wells drilled over the next 20 years, in addition to the 37,300 
past and present wells. As a result of the withdrawal, operators might 
be expected to forgo the development of 47 new oil and gas wells on 
Federal minerals and 7 wells on allotments. The BLM conservatively 
estimates that the withdrawal would result in a roughly 2.5 percent 
decrease of oil production in the San Juan Basin, and an even smaller 
decrease in production of natural gas. At the same time, the BLM's 
analysis found a benefit to the health and quality of life of local 
communities from the reduction of development of Federal minerals in 
this area.
Navajo Allotee Mineral Development

    The BLM recognizes the particular concern regarding the 
withdrawal's potential impacts on Navajo Allotee Mineral Owners, and 
takes those concerns seriously; however, the Bureau's analysis 
demonstrates the withdrawal under PLO 7923 will have a relatively small 
and indirect impact on Navajo Allotees and other non-Federal mineral 
owners.
    The withdrawal under PLO 7923 only applies to Federal lands and 
minerals and would have no significant impact on the rights associated 
with lands and minerals owned by the State of New Mexico, Tribal 
Nations, private landowners, or individual allotment holders.
    The BLM's environmental analysis of the withdrawal considered the 
potential impact of limiting development of Federal lands and minerals. 
The BLM analyzed 1,233 base allotments within or intersecting the 
proposed withdrawal area boundary as well as 35 base allotments 
adjacent to, but outside of, the withdrawal area. These 1,268 base 
allotments consist of 1,358 simple, geographic, and resource 
fractionated allotments. Overall, 98, or just over 8 percent, of the 
unleased 1,186 allotments analyzed may see a high or moderate impact on 
future leaseability. The proposed withdrawal would likely not adversely 
affect the leaseability of the vast majority (over 92 percent) of these 
allotments within or adjacent to the withdrawal area. The Department of 
the Interior (Department) has continued to hold lease sales for 
allottee minerals in the area, including most recently on January 13, 
2022. Of the 40 tracts up for lease, a single tract received a market 
value lease. Six other leases were issued after negotiations for below 
market value.
Consultation, Outreach & Engagement

    The withdrawal under PLO 7923 is the result of nearly a decade of 
continual BLM and Department engagement with Tribal Nations, regional 
communities, and elected officials, many of them seeking elevated 
protections for the important cultural sites and landscapes of the 
Greater Chaco Region. Since at least 2014, resource management planning 
efforts have demonstrated a deep concern regarding the impacts of oil 
and gas development on Tribal cultural resources within the region, 
culminating in direct advocacy, including a 2014 resolution from the 
All Pueblo Council of Governors seeking protections for the landscape, 
a 2017 request from the Navajo Nation seeking a moratorium on leasing 
and activities related to hydraulic fracturing in the Greater Chaco 
area, and a 2017 resolution from the National Congress of American 
Indians seeking explicit protections from oil and gas development 
within the withdrawal area.
    The development of PLO 7923 reflects and continues this long 
history of engagement with those seeking enhanced protections for the 
Greater Chaco Region and those seeking clarity on what protections 
would mean on the ground. In July 2021, political leadership from the 
Department visited the Greater Chaco Region to tour the Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, meet with Pueblo leadership, and meet with 
Navajo Nation leadership and allottees. After concluding these 
meetings, BLM published a notice of proposed withdrawal in the Federal 
Register in January 2022, opening a 120-day public comment period that 
included 6 public meetings, including meetings in Farmington, Nageezi, 
and Albuquerque, New Mexico. More than 110,000 verbal and written 
comments were received during the public outreach and review period. 
The BLM continued that engagement, including two in-person public 
meetings during a 30-day review period of the environmental assessment. 
The BLM also invited 24 Tribal Nations to conduct government-to-
government consultations on the proposal. Department leadership and the 
BLM also met with Navajo allotment holders several times in 2022 and 
2023, and Secretary Haaland engaged directly with Tribal leaders, 
including President Nygren of the Navajo Nation.
    The All Pueblo Council of Governors, representing the 19 Pueblos in 
New Mexico, has consistently called for the withdrawal of Federal lands 
in the Greater Chaco region that hold immense cultural significance to 
them. Since 2018, the New Mexico Congressional delegation has 
introduced legislation to permanently protect Federal lands around 
Chaco Canyon with a 10-mile buffer. The State of New Mexico halted 
leasing of their minerals around Chaco Canyon through a state-level 
moratorium in 2019.
    In addition to the 20 year withdrawal under PLO 7923, the 
Department is undertaking a broader assessment of the Greater Chaco 
cultural landscape to ensure that public land management better 
reflects the importance of sacred sites, stories, and cultural 
resources in the region. The BLM and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are 
co-leading discussions with Tribes, communities, elected officials, and 
interested parties to explore ways the Department can manage existing 
energy development, honor sensitive areas important to Tribes, and 
build collaborative management frameworks toward a sustainable economic 
future for the region. The first phase of this larger effort, known as 
the Honoring Chaco Initiative, included a set of 45 broader interviews, 
as well as planning sessions that culminated in 2.5 days of meetings 
with approximately 30 participants comprised of Tribal Historic 
Preservation Officers, Tribal organizations, Tribally-led non-
governmental organizations, and representatives of the State of New 
Mexico to discuss the future of management in the Greater Chaco region.
Conclusion

    The Greater Chaco region protects sites and landscapes of unique 
cultural and religious significance for Tribal Nations. The area 
remains an ancestral homeland and a place of continued spiritual 
practice and connection for many. However, thousands of sites within 
this region remain at risk from the impacts of oil and gas development. 
PLO 7923 would provide this landscape with 20 years of protection, 
responding to community calls for protection for the cultural 
landscape, as well as health and safety, while providing space to 
consider the appropriate and ongoing management of this unique region. 
These protections, the result of nearly a decade of ongoing engagement 
with Tribal Nations, elected officials, and regional and local 
communities, offer meaningful benefits for cultural protection, air 
quality improvements, and reduced disturbance from oil and gas 
development.
    H.R. 4374 would inappropriately undermine these important 
protections, putting this irreplaceable landscape at risk once again. 
For these reasons, the Department strongly opposes H.R. 4374. Thank you 
again for the opportunity to present this testimony, and I look forward 
to your questions.

                                 ______
                                 

  Questions Submitted for the Record to Nada Culver, Principal Deputy 
                  Director, Bureau of Land Management

Ms. Culver did not submit responses to the Committee by the appropriate 
deadline for inclusion in the printed record.

            Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman
    Question 1. Before Secretary Haaland issued Public Land Order 7923 
withdrawing thousands of acres of land around Chaco Park from mineral 
development, did she meet and consult with the Navajo allottees whose 
lands will be negatively affected by the Order?

    1a) Can you tell us when those meetings or consultations took 
place?

    1b) Can you state when, where and who was hired as Navajo language 
interpreter when DOI, or its departments met with Navajo individuals? 
Please provide the record.

    1c) Was Chaco Buffer Zone discussed in any meetings by Secretary 
Haaland's family members, individually or in their capacities as 
consultants? Please provide the record.

    Question 2. President Biden and Sec. Haaland have repeatedly 
stressed the importance of the Federal Trust Responsibility to Indian 
tribes.

    2a) Is it the Administration's position that Public Land Order 7923 
is consistent with the Trust Responsibility when it comes to the Navajo 
Nation and its tribal members?

             Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva

    Question 1. Ms. Culver, can you expand on the Bureau of Land 
Management's outreach to the Navajo Nation and Navajo Allottees prior 
to issuing Public Land Order No. 7923?

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you for your testimony.
    I will now recognize President Buu Van Nygren for 5 
minutes.

STATEMENT OF THE HON. BUU VAN NYGREN, PRESIDENT, NAVAJO NATION, 
                      WINDOW ROCK, ARIZONA

    Mr. Nygren. [Speaking Native language] Chairman Stauber, 
Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez, and members of the Subcommittee. 
My name is Buu Nygren, President of the Navajo Nation.
    [Speaking Native language.]
    This past November, I was honored to be elected as the 
youngest president ever of the Navajo Nation. Today, the Navajo 
Nation provides governmental services to more than 400,000 
members. Our on-reservation population is about 200,000, and 
makes up one-third of all Natives living in Indian Country. Our 
reservation is more than 17.5 million acres. Our 110 chapters 
span portions of 11 counties across states of Arizona, New 
Mexico, and Utah.
    Joining me today is Navajo Nation Council Delegate Danny 
Simpson, who represents the eight chapters and the withdrawal 
areas.
    Thank you for the opportunity for me to testify today on 
H.R. 4374, the Energy Opportunity for All Act. This Act 
addresses the Public Land Order creating a 10-mile buffer zone 
around Chaco Canyon.
    Chaco Canyon and the Chaco Wash Region has been home to the 
Navajo people since time immemorial. We, the Navajo people and 
the Navajo Nation Government, take our role as stewards of 
Chaco Canyon very seriously. We have preserved and protected 
Chaco Canyon since our ancestors' time, well before the park 
was created. We will continue to do so forever.
    I boiled down my testimony today in two major points: (1) 
respect for sovereignty and (2) the impact of the allottees.
    The Navajo Nation Government is in the best position to 
know what is best for the Navajo people. We have proven over 
hundreds of years that our Nation and our Navajo people are 
good stewards of land and cultural resources, including Chaco 
Canyon. The legislative body of the Navajo Nation Council and I 
are unified in our opposition to the 10-mile buffer.
    The withdrawal was done without meaningful consultation, 
and fails to honor the Navajo Nation's sovereignty. Respect for 
tribal sovereignty must be consistent, even when it is not 
convenient.
    The Nation offered compromise that honored Navajo 
sovereignty and the rights of our allottees, but that was 
rejected with inadequate explanation from the Administration. 
The lack of meaningful consultation is deeply concerning. The 
Navajo concept of [Speaking Native language], which is 
translated as ``respect,'' means listening to each other, 
compromising, and working together.
    The withdrawal elevates outside special interest groups, 
and disregards the sovereign interests of the Navajo Nation and 
the livelihoods of our allottees. I heard directly from the 
Navajo people who feel that they were not being heard, and 
their fears for their livelihoods were not being addressed.
    The 10-mile buffer zone includes numerous allotments, and 
negatively affects the interests of over 20,000 allottees. 
Navajo allottees rely heavily on the royalty payments and the 
infrastructure development from oil and gas activities. Many 
derive their income from mineral development. Impacted 
allottees say that they receive royalties averaging around 
$20,000 a year. The disadvantaged communities in this region 
have a median income below $27,000, which is below the Federal 
poverty guidelines.
    Having grown up with very little, I seek to maximize 
economic opportunities and be a voice for our most vulnerable. 
These tribal members have been able to get by due to their 
royalties received and ancillary benefits derived from resource 
development. We are concerned about the future livelihoods of 
the allottees.
    The Secretary provided no meaningful response to our 
repeated concerns that the withdrawal will have negative 
impacts on the allottees who rely on the oil and gas revenues. 
Nonetheless, we remain ready to work with the Secretary to re-
evaluate the withdrawal and ensure a balanced approach.
    In conclusion, the Nation supports the protection of both 
Chaco Canyon and the ability of Navajo allottees to make a 
living for their rightful mineral interests. The Navajo Nation 
therefore supports this bill, and urges its passage.
    [Speaking Native language.]

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Nygren follows:]
Prepared Statement of the Honorable Dr. Buu V. Nygren, President of the 
                             Navajo Nation
    Ya'at'eeh, Chairman Stauber, Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez and 
Members of the Subcommittee. My name is Dr. Buu Nygren, President of 
the Navajo Nation (``Nation''). I represent over 400,000 enrolled 
tribal members, almost half of whom live on the Navajo Nation and 
collectively represent about one-third of all Native people living on 
Indian reservation lands in the United States. The territorial reach of 
the Nation extends more than 27,000 square miles and spans portions of 
11 counties across the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The 
Nation makes up almost a third of all tribal trust lands in the United 
States. We are the largest Indian Nation in the country by both 
constituency and sovereign territory.
    Thank you for convening this hearing to discuss the Energy 
Opportunities for All Act, an important bill to the Nation and its 
members. And thank you for inviting me to testify about this bill, 
tribal sovereignty, and the United States' trust responsibility to 
tribes and allottees. The Nation urges the Subcommittee and the broader 
Congress to pass the Energy Opportunities for All Act to honor and 
respect the Navajo Nation's sovereignty and ensure that Navajo 
allottees are able to receive the value of the resources they were 
allotted by the United States in exchange for lands throughout the 
Southwest.
Chaco History is Navajo History

    Chaco Canyon and the Chaco Wash region have been home to the Navajo 
people since time immemorial. The Chaco Culture National Historical 
Park (``CHCU'' or ``Park'') is located between Albuquerque and 
Farmington, New Mexico in a canyon cut by the Chaco Wash, spanning 
30,000 acres. Although it has not been used as a societal center for 
Chacoan people for nearly 800 years, Chaco Canyon has served as an 
important area to the Navajo people continuously since that time. 
Indeed, a number of modern Navajo clans trace their ancestry to the 
Chacoan people and many Navajo families were forcibly relocated off 
Park lands, even as recently as 1947.
    The National Park Service's website for Chaco Canyon recognizes 
that ``[Chacoan] descendants are the modern Southwest Indians. Many 
Southwest Indian people look upon Chaco as an important stop along 
their clans' sacred migration paths--a spiritual place to be honored 
and respected.'' Chaco Canyon features prominently in Navajo creation 
as the place where many of our people were enslaved by Naahwiilbiihi, 
the gambler, until they were freed through divine intervention. Many 
present-day Navajo Holy Way ceremonies trace part of their origins to 
Chaco Canyon or Chacoan Outliers. Today, the Navajo families that 
remain living close to CHCU continue to access the Park to make 
offerings, pray, and conduct ceremonies. Our people also continue to 
gather firewood, plants, and pinyon nuts from the Park, and conduct 
educational and ceremonial camps there.
    We, the Navajo people and the Navajo Nation government, take our 
role as stewards of Chaco Canyon very seriously and have continuously 
preserved and protected Chaco Canyon since our ancestors' time, well 
before the United States created a Historical Park, and we will 
continue doing so indefinitely. Hence the continued strong preservation 
of structures and artifacts in the region.
    CHCU was designated by President Theodore Roosevelt as a National 
Monument in 1907 and became a U.S. National Historical Park in 1980. 
The CHCU is protected from development and interference by Federal law. 
The lands and cultural resources surrounding CHCU that fall within the 
jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation are protected by an extensive network 
of Federal and Navajo statutes and regulations, including the Navajo 
Cultural Resources Protection Act, the National Historic Preservation 
Act, and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act among others.
    Recent efforts by the Nation to preserve Chaco Canyon and related 
resources include the National Park Service-funded Chaco Sites 
Protection Program administered by the Navajo Nation Historic 
Preservation Department through a cooperative agreement with the 
National Park Service between 1992 and 2014. Through this agreement, 
the Nation and the Park Service worked collaboratively to ``coordinate 
and mutually assist in protection and resource management actions'' 
both within the Chaco Canyon Park Service Unit and on Navajo lands 
outside the Park. The resources at issue included 39 Chaco ``great 
houses,'' over half of which are located on Navajo lands. The National 
Park Service stopped funding the Program in 2014. Since then the Navajo 
Nation Historic Preservation Department has used the information from 
the Program to continue protecting Chacoan sites on Navajo land and 
have made multiple requests to the National Park Service to reinstate 
the Program.
    Underlying the CHCU and the San Juan Basin, the Mancos Shale 
formation is a highly productive source of natural gas, with nearly 
40,000 oil and gas wells drilled in the last sixty years--23,000 of 
which remain active.
Public Lands Order 7923 Disregards the Voice of the Navajo Nation and 
        Fails to Honor Navajo Sovereignty

    This brings me to the Secretary of the Interior's withdrawal of a 
10-mile ``buffer'' area around CHCU that will be prohibited from future 
mineral development through issuance of Public Lands Order 7923. This 
Order was issued over the objections of the Navajo Nation, the 
Indigenous sovereign most directly impacted by the Order, and with 
inadequate consultation with the Navajo Nation government.
    I think we can all agree that Chaco Canyon and related cultural and 
historical resources should be protected. Indeed, we, the Navajo Nation 
and Navajo people, have been protecting and preserving those resources 
since time immemorial. But we don't all agree on how to go about doing 
this. There is a right way, and that includes meaningful sovereign-to-
sovereign consultation with the Navajo Nation government, whose 
jurisdiction extends to Park boundaries and is interspersed throughout 
the 10-mile buffer zone imposed by the Secretary, and that has taken 
into consideration the perspective of the descendants of the Chacoan 
people who continue to live near the Park.
    Indeed, the Nation worked hard to broker a compromise with the 
administration that would honor Navajo sovereignty and the historic and 
cultural ties our people have to Chaco, and balance the rights of our 
allottees to maximize the productive value of their land and provide 
for their families in an economically challenged region. We did so by 
offering a 5-mile buffer zone that addressed some of our deepest 
concerns by carving out the most productive oil and gas development 
zone even while providing additional protections to Chacoan resources. 
Notably, this was based on the geology of the region and cognizant of 
the fact that oil and gas development any closer than six miles from 
the Park boundary is largely infeasible.
    However, this minimally disruptive and reasonable compromise was 
rejected by the administration with very little nation-to-nation 
engagement and discussion. This is an affront to Navajo sovereignty and 
is not what should have happened. Instead, there should have been 
meaningful sovereign-to-sovereign consultation to ensure that the 
Nation's sovereign status was honored and respected, and that the 
interests of Navajo tribal members directly impacted by the Park and 
the proposed buffer zone were fully considered and taken into account. 
The disregard and disrespect shown to the Navajo Nation here sets a 
deeply disturbing precedent for how this administration will engage 
with Indigenous Nations going forward on issues that matter deeply to 
us.
    The history of engagement between the Nation and the administration 
on Chaco has been challenging. The Department of the Interior met with 
the Navajo Nation on a handful of occasions to discuss its views of the 
proposed withdrawal but failed to truly consider the impacts to 
vulnerable communities when rejecting the Nation's reasonable 
alternative. The Nation offered viable compromise solutions that would 
protect Chaco Canyon beyond the boundaries of the CHCU while still 
providing viable economic development and self-determination to the 
Nation and its members. As a people who are Indigenous to this area and 
landscape, we are deeply committed to its preservation and protection, 
and believe that there are several alternative solutions that protect 
Chaco Canyon while also providing a livelihood to our tribal members.
    On November 15, 2021, without advance consultation with the Navajo 
Nation, President Biden announced a new effort by the Department of the 
Interior to protect the area around CHCU that included swaths of Navajo 
Indian Country. Navajo Nation's then-President Jonathan Nez sent a 
letter to President Biden requesting consultation on the shared 
sovereign land interests and the significant expected impacts on lands 
allotted to Navajo tribal members.
    Over the Nation's objections, on January 6, 2022, the Bureau of 
Land Management (``BLM'') formally proposed to withdraw approximately 
351,000 acres of public lands surrounding CHCU for a 20-year term. 
Following the proposed withdrawal, BLM initiated a 90-day comment 
period from January 6, 2022 to April 6, 2022, which was subsequently 
extended to May 6, 2022. BLM held two in-person public meetings in 
urban communities off the Navajo Nation and outside of the directly 
impacted Navajo communities, and one virtual meeting, which the Nation 
and allottees attended. The Navajo Nation's Resources and Development 
Committee also attended a leadership meeting with the Farmington BLM 
Field Office on March 11, 2022 to raise concerns about the proposed 
withdrawal, during which the Nation requested a meeting with Secretary 
Haaland. In March, 2022, then-President Nez met with Secretary Haaland 
requesting a reduction of the buffer zone from 10 miles to five. After 
that meeting, the Nation submitted comments opposing the proposal on 
May 6, 2022.
    As part of the regulatory review process, in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act (``NEPA''), BLM completed an 
Environmental Assessment (``EA''). The 30-day public comment period for 
the Chaco Canyon Withdrawal EA began on November 10, 2022. On December 
10, 2022, the allottees submitted comments opposing the withdrawal and 
explaining in detail how the draft EA arbitrarily refused to consider 
any alternatives that would be less impactful to vulnerable 
communities, including the five-mile compromise buffer zone proposed by 
the Nation. The comments also pointed out that BLM failed to consider 
economic impacts to the region and Navajo tribal members and allottees, 
ignored the actual geography of the region, and was completed without 
any meaningful effort to consult with the Navajo Nation. Although 
Navajo allottees and the Nation raised their concerns and offered 
compromise solutions throughout the notice and comment process, the 
draft Withdrawal EA neglected to address a viable alternative that 
would not destroy tribal members' mineral interests and, for many, a 
primary means of income.
    On April 25, 2023, Speaker Crystalyne Curley and Members of the 
25th Navajo Nation Council met virtually with the Secretary to voice 
the Nation's concerns about a 10-mile buffer, explaining that the 
affected allottees and surrounding Navajo communities did not support 
any buffer zone at all, and conveying that the Nation's position had 
changed from supporting a five-mile buffer to withdrawing support for 
any buffer zone.
    On June 2, 2023--with no advance notice and over numerous and 
consistent Navajo objections--the Department of the Interior issued 
Public Lands Order 7923 withdrawing 336,404.42 acres of public lands 
surrounding CHCU from location and entry under the mining laws and from 
leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act for a 20-year term ``in order to 
protect these public lands . . . from the potential impacts associated 
with oil and gas development activities and from adverse effects of 
locatable mineral exploration and mining, subject to valid existing 
rights.'' The final EA resulted in a Finding of No Significant Impact 
that contained sparse analysis of the economic impacts to Navajo 
allottees and the Navajo Nation, and estimated the withdrawal would 
cause just $588,831 in foregone royalties over the 20-year withdrawal 
period.
    The withdrawal disregards and fails to honor the Navajo Nation's 
sovereignty. Our requests and eminently reasonable solutions were not 
responded to in a meaningful way. It also ignores that Navajo people 
have protected Chaco Canyon for many hundreds of years, since before 
the Department of the Interior existed. For the Navajo Nation, this is 
an issue of great significance because it elevates outside special 
interest groups' agendas over the sovereign interests of the Navajo 
Nation and the economic interests of our directly impacted allottees 
and local community members. Navajo leaders are in the best position to 
know what is best for our people, and we have proven over several 
hundred years that our Nation and our people are good stewards of land 
and cultural resources, including Chaco Canyon.
    The withdrawal is not in line with President Biden's stated 
commitment to honor the nation-to-nation relationship with Indian 
tribes and respect that tribes are in the best position to determine 
for themselves what is in their own best interest. The manner by which 
the Order was issued over the objections of the Nation, with little 
meaningful consultation, and with no effort to find a mutually 
agreeable compromise solution suggests that the Department of the 
Interior was intent on creating the 10-mile buffer, regardless of any 
impacts to the Nation or its members, and regardless of whether the 10-
mile buffer would be the least disruptive way to protect Chaco Canyon. 
The Department still has not demonstrated that the solutions presented 
by the Navajo Nation were less effective at protecting Chaco Canyon 
than the 10-mile buffer. Indeed, prior to the withdrawal, BLM and all 
tribes with an interest in Chaco Canyon spent many years developing a 
new Resources Management Plan, EIS, and Programmatic Agreement 
addressing development of natural resources and protection of our lands 
and cultural resources. The withdrawal does not address the Management 
Plan, EIS, or Programmatic Agreement, which involved several tribes. 
Significant time, effort, and tax dollars were spent on preservation 
plans and agreements that now seem to be moot, with no guidance or 
explanation.
    This is not the meaningful consultation or respect for tribal 
sovereignty and self-determination tribes are due. And it completely 
ignores the impact the withdrawal will have on Navajo allottees, people 
the Department has an obligation to protect. Under meaningful 
consultation, an effort to mitigate adverse impacts to the Nation's 
allottee members would have been pursued. Additionally, when soliciting 
public comments from Navajo allottees, those meetings should have been 
held on the Nation in the directly impacted Chapters, technical 
resources should have been on hand to answer questions, and Navajo 
translation should have been provided. Going forward, the Nation is 
willing to work with Interior on a way to provide for meaningful 
consultation with the Nation and the Navajo people.
Navajo Allottees Will Bear Disproportionate and Significant Adverse 
        Impacts

    The 10-mile withdrawal area includes numerous allotments and 
negatively affects the mineral interests of over 20,000 allottees. In 
addition, the withdrawal area overlaps with Navajo trust land and 
includes four Navajo Chapters (local units of Navajo government similar 
to counties). It is immediately adjacent to an additional five Navajo 
Chapters. Six of these Chapters as well as the Eastern Navajo Agency 
(which includes 33 Chapters in the area immediately adjacent to CHCU) 
supported by formal resolution and vote a five-mile buffer zone when 
they thought a compromise with the Department was possible. The five-
mile buffer would have only impacted an estimated 2,111 allottees. When 
it became clear in 2023 that a compromise was not likely to be broached 
by the Department, four of the local Chapters withdrew their support of 
any buffer and opposed imposition of any buffer through new 
resolutions.
    The voice of the local Navajo governments and residents to the 
region directly impacted by the withdrawal is of utmost import to the 
Nation. Eastern Navajo Agency lies within a portion of New Mexico that 
remains one of the least economically developed places in the United 
States. Navajo allottees living in this rural region rely heavily on 
the royalty payments and infrastructure development from oil and gas 
activities for their livelihoods--with many deriving the lion's share 
of their income from mineral development. According to impacted 
allottees, they receive royalties averaging around $20,000 per year. 
This is in a region with a median income below $27,000. For many in 
this country, it is difficult to imagine existing on $27,000 per year, 
or even less. These tribal members have been able to get by due to 
royalties received from their mineral interests and the ancillary 
benefits derived from resource development in the region.
    It is deeply disheartening to read the Department's EA estimating 
that royalty losses for Navajo allottees will be only $588,831. This is 
a gross underestimation of the losses that will be sustained by Navajo 
allottees, and completely discounts the impact the withdrawal is 
already having on them. Enduring Resources, one of the active resource 
developers in the region, estimates that Navajo allottees actually 
stand to lose nearly $200 million in royalties over the next 20 years 
due to the withdrawal, which was not addressed in the EA. It is as if 
the United States hit allottees with a bus and is saying ``actually, it 
was a Matchbox car.''
    As we stated in our May 6, 2022 comments, allottees' interests will 
be completely nullified in areas where allotted lands are not 
contiguously aligned or grouped in such a way that allows a company to 
extract minerals through horizontal drilling. This will result in 
minerals remaining stranded, stagnating future development. The EA 
barely addressed this necessary consequence of the withdrawal, or the 
devastating economic impacts on allottees. In addition to the pure 
financial impacts, we also indicated in our comments that much of the 
infrastructure--such as roads and electric and water lines--in the area 
has been put in place by mineral development companies, not the United 
States or the State of New Mexico. Without these companies, the 
infrastructure in the region will deteriorate, potentially cutting off 
residents from access to critical services. The EA paid little 
attention to these significant impacts to Navajo allottees. This 
failure is incredibly disappointing considering the level of poverty in 
that region and the United States' trust obligations to tribes and 
Indian allottees for whom it manages mineral interests. These 
deficiencies cannot be ignored, and the Navajo people living on and 
around these lands cannot be erased.
Conclusion

    Given the extensive federal and tribal statutory and regulatory 
framework that already protects Chaco Canyon and related resources, 
Public Lands Order 7923 is unnecessary. Furthermore, the manner by 
which it was issued--with no advance notice to the Nation and a mere 
handful of government-to-government meetings over the strong objections 
of the Nation and an offer of a compromise that would have met all 
interested parties' goals--fails to honor Navajo and tribal 
sovereignty. For this to happen to the largest Indigenous Nation in the 
country in its own backyard is deeply disturbing. Tribal sovereignty 
must be respected even when it is not politically expedient. We expect 
more of our trustee and this administration. Nonetheless, despite these 
disappointing actions, we have been and remain ready to work with the 
Secretary should she choose to reevaluate the withdrawal and work with 
the Nation to ensure a balanced approach that protects both cultural 
heritage as well as Navajo allottees' ability to make a living from 
their rightful mineral interests. The Nation supports the protection of 
Chaco Canyon, and in protecting Chaco those human beings who have 
continued to live in the area cannot be left behind. Indigenous Nations 
are not relics; our people remain living and breathing and have complex 
human needs. Elected tribal leaders are best positioned to strike the 
balance between cultural continuity, adaption into modernity, and 
preservation of economic opportunity for our constituents. As 
Indigenous sovereigns, our perspective should matter greatly, and guide 
our trustee in its actions that bear directly upon us and our people. 
That was not done here. Absent a change of heart by the Secretary and 
Department, we believe that enacting the Energy Opportunities for All 
Act is critical to ensure that tribal sovereignty is respected, and 
that tribal members do not suffer crippling economic losses due to the 
withdrawal. The Nation supports this bill and urges its passage.

                                 ______
                                 
    Questions Submitted for the Record to the Hon. Buu Van Nygren, 
                        President, Navajo Nation

The Honorable Buu Van Nygren did not submit responses to the Committee 
by the appropriate deadline for inclusion in the printed record.

            Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman

    Question 1. In your testimony you mention how the Nation worked 
hard to broker a compromise with the administration that protects the 
historic and cultural ties to Chaco while also allowing allottees to 
maximize the productive value of their land and provide for their 
families.

    1a) The Administration was clearly not open to this compromise, did 
they provide you with their rationale?

    Question 2. We have heard how the withdrawal will prevent Navajo 
Allottees from obtaining significant revenues from energy production, 
but you also mentioned in your testimony that the withdrawal will also 
have a significant impact on the local infrastructure.

    2a) Will this withdrawal cut residents off from access to critical 
services?

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much for your testimony.
    We will now recognize Ms. Ashland for 5 minutes.

 STATEMENT OF ANITA ASHLAND, SENIOR LAND CONSULTANT, ENDURING 
                RESOURCES, CENTENNIAL, COLORADO

    Ms. Ashland. Chairman Westerman, Ranking Member Grijalva, 
Chairman Stauber, and Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez, thank you 
for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Enduring Resources 
today, and the oil and gas industry operating in the San Juan 
Basin of northwestern New Mexico.
    Enduring Resources is in a uniquely qualified position to 
offer its expertise on this topic because we operate 247 Mancos 
oil wells right in this Lybrook area outside of Chaco Canyon 
and outside of the withdrawal area. We appreciate the 
opportunity to call your attention to some little known facts 
about the oil and gas development in this area.
    Fact No. 1, we would like to concur with President Nygren 
that the allottees are neither confused nor misinformed about 
the impact of the Chaco buffer withdrawal on their unleased 
minerals. There are 418 unleased allotments that affect over 
16,000 allottees with mineral resources that will never be 
developed because of the Federal minerals that surround them.
    [Slide.]
    Ms. Ashland. I would like to show you Exhibit No. 1, which 
is a map of the San Juan Basin, and it shows in purple the 
allottee tracks. It also shows, from the number of black dots, 
that the San Juan Basin, as a result of drilling since the 
1950s, has been largely developed, except in the southwestern 
portion where the allottee lands are located, and where the 
Chaco buffer withdrawal is located.
    The currently producing and proposed Federal units are 
shown on the map, and the area highlighted in yellow is the 
area that is prospective in Enduring's analysis for 
development.
    The green fruitland outcrop that you can see on the map 
marks the extent of the Mancos formation reservoir. And how 
this resource is developed is with large Federal units of 
consolidated minerals with long laterals. The Mancos oil wells 
are about a mile deep, and we now have the ability to drill 2- 
to 3-mile laterals, four to eight laterals per pad, and each 
pad takes up only about 3 acres of surface disturbance.
    The withdrawal will prevent the development of a 
significant amount of an allottee fee mineral oil and gas. And 
although there are no operations near Chaco, nor any geologic 
potential for future development within a 6-mile radius of 
Chaco Park, significant oil reserves will be lost as a result 
of the withdrawal.
    [Slide.]
    Ms. Ashland. The map marked Exhibit 2 is a zoom-in of the 
previous map, and it illustrates the potential future 
development that will be lost as a result of the withdrawal. 
And you will note from the map that there is no oil and gas 
development anywhere within a 6-mile radius of the park 
because, geologically, the area does not contain developable 
oil and gas reserves.
    Enduring used an industry-accepted tool to predict oil in 
place in two separate reservoirs of the Mancos formation, the 
Gallup and the silt. And this map illustrates how the outermost 
area of the Chaco buffer withdrawal could be developed if 
Federal minerals were available to be leased. The green 
horizontal sticks depicted on the map illustrate the long 
lateral wells that would reach out from the large well pads 
into the Gallup and silt formation.
    Enduring disagrees with the BLM's environmental assessment 
stating that only 47 wells would be prevented from development. 
This map shows otherwise. Over 233 wells could be developed in 
that area, translating into over 86 million barrels of oil, and 
25.85 billion cubic feet of natural gas lost as a result of the 
buffer withdrawal.
    Enduring estimates that approximately 56,320 acres outside 
of the currently existing Mancos Gallup's Federal units could 
be economically developed if the buffer withdrawal had not 
occurred. Of that, 10,720 acres, or 19 percent, are Navajo 
allotments. Therefore, the impact of the withdrawal falls 
largely on the allottees. Without the Federal leases, we are 
unable to create Federal units and drill long laterals, and 
their minerals will not be developed.
    [Slide.]
    Ms. Ashland. Fact No. 3 is that the Chaco buffer withdrawal 
is well protected by current statutes and BLM policies. The 
issuance of the withdrawal failed to consider the role of the 
other Federal environmental laws that are protecting culturally 
important sites such as Chaco. The Mineral Leasing Act, the 
Federal Land Protection and Environmental Protection Policy 
Act, Historical Preservation Act, they all direct the BLM to 
consider the environment and historic and cultural resources 
before approving any drilling locations. This is an area that 
is heavily regulated now, has many checks and balances built 
into it, and many protections for sensitive sites.
    Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Ashland follows:]
 Prepared Statement of Anita Ashland, Senior Land Consultant, Enduring 
                             Resources, LLC

Introduction
    I am here today on behalf of Enduring Resources, LLC ( Enduring). 
We are part of the oil and gas industry operating in the San Juan 
Basin, located in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. We 
want to testify to some of the little-known facts regarding the 
issuance of Public Land Order No. 7923 (``Chaco Buffer Withdrawal''), 
withdrawing over 336,000 acres of federal minerals from development in 
a greater than ten-mile buffer surrounding the Chaco Culture Historical 
National Park (``CCHNP''). As we will explain, the impact of the 
withdrawal falls most heavily on the adjacent Navajo allottee mineral 
owners, making unleased allottee minerals worthless from the standpoint 
of energy development.
    Since 2018, Enduring has been operating in the San Juan Basin 
producing oil and natural gas from a leasehold consisting of federal 
minerals (59%), Navajo allottee fee minerals (24%) and state and fee 
minerals (17%). Of the allottee leasehold, 91% of the leases have been 
drilled and are currently being produced. The remaining undeveloped 
allottee leases lie within the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal, where Enduring 
holds approximately 18,000 net acres of federal and allottee leasehold. 
Existing undeveloped federal and allottee leases will expire due to the 
inability to develop allottee minerals without leased federal minerals. 
No new federal leases mean no future lease bonus payments, rentals or 
royalties will be paid to allottees because without federal leases, it 
is uneconomic and infeasible to lease or to develop only allottee 
leases.
    Enduring produces in the Mancos shale formation using horizontal 
drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing completions. The Mancos 
formation is developed by drilling wells approximately one mile below 
the surface, with laterals up to three miles in length. Drilling long 
laterals requires large blocks of minerals. Four to eight laterals can 
be drilled from one 3-acre well pad. Each lateral costs an average of 
$6.5 MM and on average returns $6 million in revenue per year, with a 
projected 20-year life cycle.
    Enduring has invested over $25.5 million in a water handling system 
to eliminate the need to vent or flare methane. Most significantly, 
this system allows Enduring to eliminate the use of scarce fresh water 
in completions and instead to use recycled water. This water system not 
only reduced the operational need for fresh water, but also reduced the 
air emissions and safety concerns resulting from water truck traffic.
    Enduring works closely with its allottee lessors and understands 
the significant economic and quality of life challenges faced by the 
allottees. The conditions of poverty that exist on the Navajo 
Reservation and, particularly in the Eastern Agency Chapters, are 
shocking. Revenues from oil and gas production constitute the principal 
economic activity that sustains the Navajo allottees, whose family 
members and elders continue to reside without electricity or running 
water in prefabricated homes or in ho'gans (traditional round or 
hexagonal dwellings with a wood- or coal-burning stove) in the Navajo 
Nation's Nageezi, Huerfano, and Counselor Chapters. Oil and gas royalty 
income can double modest incomes. Allottees in the Eastern Navajo 
Agency whose mineral rights have been so developed typically receive 
royalty payments totaling about $20,000 per year, in a region where the 
median annual income is below $27,000.

        Current total revenue earned by 20,000 allottees in the San 
        Juan Basin from Enduring:

             2020: $13,225,686.08

             2021: $22,009,596.50

             2022: $39,908,770.64

             2023 first quarter: $4,930,600.61

        Total for less than 3.5 years : $80,085,795.83 paid to 20,000 
        allottees.

    Shortly after I joined Enduring in January 2020, Enduring was 
forced to shut in its oil wells as result of the COVID-19 pandemic and 
the precipitous drop in oil prices to a negative value. I was 
responsible for sending a letter to all of its allottee lessors telling 
them that the wells were being shut in and that their royalty payments 
would be suspended until production could be restored. After the letter 
went out, many allottees called Enduring in great distress. I 
personally talked to dozens of allottees who were desperate to know 
when the company might be able to resume production. I heard first-hand 
heart-wrenching descriptions of the widespread illness and loss of 
family members to COVID, that they didn't know how they would pay rent, 
buy food or make their car payments without their oil money, and how 
much they depended on their checks. Fortunately, Enduring was able to 
begin turning wells back on after about 60 days, but the low oil prices 
kept their royalties low for the rest of that year, creating extreme 
hardship.

I. Fact #1: Allottees are neither confused nor misinformed about the 
        impact of Public Land Order No. 7923 on their unleased 
        minerals--there are 418 unleased allotments, affecting 16,615 
        allottees, with mineral resources that will never be developed 
        because of the federal minerals surrounding them.

    Navajo allotments were created when Congress passed the General 
Allotment Act in 1887. The act stated that the head of each family 
would receive 160 acres of tribal land and each single person would 
receive 80 acres. Title to the land would be held in trust by the 
government for 25 years. After 25 years each individual would receive 
United States citizenship and fee simple title to their land and 
minerals. Tribal lands not allotted to Native Americans on the 
reservation were to be sold to the United States and the land would be 
opened for homesteading. As a result, the allotments are located today 
in a checkerboard pattern with federal minerals.
    This mixed ownership is shown on Exhibit ``1'', which is a map 
illustrating mineral and surface ownership and showing the extent of 
the impact of the ten-mile Chaco Buffer Withdrawal on allottee lands 
and minerals (shown in purple). The map also shows that the San Juan 
Basin, as a result of drilling since the 1950s (black dots are wells), 
has largely been developed except in the southwestern portion where the 
allottee lands are located and where the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal is 
located. There are 53 leased allotments within the Chaco Buffer 
Withdrawal, each generating roughly $6.2 MM per year in royalties for 
an average of 5,462 individuals.
    The area highlighted in yellow is the area prospective for the 
development of Mancos formation oil, and the green Fruitland Outcrop 
marks the extent of the Mancos formation reservoir. To develop oil and 
gas in this area requires long laterals and large units of consolidated 
minerals; this is the challenge in the checkerboard area. Without 
federal oil and gas right-of-way access, long (2-3 mile) lateral wells 
will not be able to pass through federal minerals to allottee minerals. 
Without federal oil and gas minerals there are insufficient allottee 
minerals to justify the expense of modern oil and gas development. It 
is impossible to access, or economically develop, Navajo allotments 
without federal minerals and rights-of-way. Without federal oil and gas 
the allottee minerals will not be developed. It is an obvious fact that 
there will be an impact on the allottees from the Chaco Buffer 
Withdrawal. The withdrawal will prevent the development of a 
significant amount of allottee fee oil and gas minerals.

II. Fact #2: Although there are no oil and gas operations near Chaco, 
        nor any geologic potential for future development within a 6-
        mile radius of Chaco, significant oil reserves will be lost as 
        a result of Public Land Order No. 7923.

    The map marked Exhibit ``2'' illustrates the potential future 
development that will be lost as a result of the Chaco Buffer 
Withdrawal, the outline of which is shown on the map. Currently 
producing and proposed federal units are shown on the map. The yellow 
illustrates currently leased minerals. Allottee lands are shown in 
purple, the Fruitland Outcrop in green marks the end of the 
unconventional Mancos formation potential. You will note that there is 
no oil and gas development, nor future potential for development, 
within a 6-mile radius of CCHNP because geologically, the area does not 
contain developable oil and gas reservoirs.
    No oil and gas company has studied the Mancos shale more 
comprehensively or has the operational experience than Enduring. Using 
an industry-accepted tool to predict oil in place in two separate 
reservoirs of the Mancos formation, the Gallup and the Silt, this map 
illustrates how the outermost area of the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal could 
be developed if federal minerals were available to be leased. The green 
horizontal ``sticks'' depicted on the map illustrate the long lateral 
wells that would reach out from large well pads into the Gallup and 
Silt formations.
    The BLM asserted in its Chaco Withdrawal Environmental Assessment 
(``EA'') that only 47 wells will be prevented from development by the 
Chaco Buffer Withdrawal (4MM bbl oil and 3.8 bcf gas, with lost royalty 
revenue of $4.8MM). We think that is a lowball estimate and we pointed 
out in our comments where, based on our research and experience, BLM 
went wrong in making this estimate.
    This map shows otherwise--in fact, over 233 wells (39 in the Silt 
and 194 in the Gallup) will not be developed. This translates into over 
86MM barrels of oil and 25.85 BCF of natural gas lost as the result of 
the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal. Enduring estimates that approximately 
56,320 acres outside of currently existing Mancos/Gallup units could be 
economically developed in the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal area if the 
Withdrawal had not occurred. Of that, 10,720 acres, or 19%, of those 
acres are Navajo allotments, and the remaining 45,600 acres (81%) are 
federal, state or privately-owned fee minerals. Therefore the impact of 
the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal falls largely on the allottees because 
without the federal leases and rights-of-way, their minerals will not 
be developed, as shown on the next exhibit.
    Based on these estimated production numbers and a royalty rate of 
16.66%, the combined (federal and allottee) royalties forgone would be 
$51,122,997 per year for a total of $1,022,459,948 for the 20-year 
withdrawal. The forgone royalties for the Navajo allottees tracts would 
be $194,267,390 over the 20-year withdrawal. Thus, the BLM's predicted 
impacts in the Chaco Withdrawal EA on revenue, jobs and environmental 
justice communities, primarily the Navajo allottees, are much greater 
than disclosed in the Withdrawal EA.
    The illustration marked Exhibit ``3'' is a cross-section that 
depicts the development of the Mancos Formation through long laterals 
drilled in large federal units consisting of federal and allottee 
minerals. The cross-section clearly shows how without the federal 
minerals and federal rights-of-way (to drill through federal minerals) 
it would not be physically possible, nor economically possible, to 
develop the allottee minerals alone.
    Our perspective as a member of the oil and gas industry operating 
on federal lands is that the development of federal oil and gas is an 
essential part of BLM's multiple use mission and supported in federal 
law. See, e.g., Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, Mining and Minerals Policy 
Act of 1970, Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, Energy 
Policy Act of 2005 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Federal oil 
and gas revenue support state budgets and the U.S. Treasury. Oil and 
gas development creates good-paying jobs in rural areas. The energy 
produced on federal lands reduces our dependence on foreign suppliers 
and enhances our national security, as well as providing significant 
revenues to both the federal government and the State of New Mexico.
    Most significant to the subject of the hearing, the U.S. Department 
of the Interior bears a legal responsibility to act as a fiduciary to 
Indian Tribes and allottees; a role the BLM understands requires the 
agency to ``maximize economic gain for tribes/allottees . . . .'' Yet, 
the result of the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal is to foreclose the 
allottee's ability to develop their minerals.

III. Fact #3: The Chaco Buffer Withdrawal Area is well protected by 
        current statutes and BLM policies regarding surface use.

    The issuance of the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal fails to consider the 
role of other federal environmental laws in protecting culturally 
important sites such as Chaco. The FLPMA, the Mineral Leasing Act and 
federal environmental laws contain substantive requirements to protect 
the environment--air, water, fish and wildlife resources, endangered 
species, birds and raptors, historic and cultural resources. Procedural 
statutes like National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic 
Preservation Act direct BLM to consider the environment and historic 
and cultural resources before approving any drilling locations. BLM 
routinely uses these federal laws to manage the environmental impacts 
of authorized actions, like oil and gas, on BLM public land resources. 
The oil and gas industry fully accepts it shared responsibility to 
protect the landscape, air and water resources and the public health.
    The oil and gas industry has not leased or developed oil and gas 
resources within a 6 mile-radius of CCHNP and has no reason to do so in 
the future. The industry recognizes that the Puebloan and Navajo 
peoples have strong cultural and spiritual ties to the CCNHNP and 
respects the importance of preserving it for future generations. If an 
archeological survey identifies any cultural resource in the outer 4-
mile radius around the CCHNP, current law will protect that site by 
requiring the potential drilling location to be moved to avoid the 
resource. Existing federal substantive and procedural laws and the 
regulations administered by the BLM minimize adverse impact from oil 
and gas operations to the surface.
Summary
    To summarize my testimony today, there are no present nor future 
oil and gas operations that will disturb the CCHNP or affect the 40,000 
citizens who visit this great cultural legacy each year. Current law 
and geological facts on the ground will continue to protect the CCHNP. 
The Chaco Buffer Withdrawal is not necessary to protect that national 
resource.
    Unfortunately, the impact of the withdrawal will fall on the least 
able to withstand it--Navajo allottees who rely on oil and gas revenues 
for basic needs. With the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal of federal minerals, 
Navajo allottees are being denied the right to develop their minerals 
in the outer 4-miles of the 10-mile Chaco Buffer Withdrawal. As we 
explained, that is because of the checkerboard ownership of the 
minerals and the necessity of creating large federal units for the 
drilling of 2-3-mile-long horizontal wells.
    Any culturally important archaeological sites located on the 
surface of unleased public lands in the remaining undeveloped portion 
of the Mancos formation are fully protected by existing federal laws 
and regulations as well as BLM policies and lease stipulations. The 
only actual impact of the Chaco Buffer Withdrawal is to deny Navajo 
allottees and the nation the potential to develop remaining Mancos oil 
reserves that could potentially provide much needed income to the 
allottees and contribute to our nation's energy independence and 
national security.

                                 *****

                               EXHIBIT 1

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                 
   Questions Submitted for the Record to Anita Ashland, Senior Land 
                     Consultant, Enduring Resources
            Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman
    Question 1. In Deputy Director Culver's testimony, she says that 
getting rid of the withdrawal will leave cultural sites, objects, and 
landscapes vulnerable to impacts from oil and gas and solid mineral 
extraction.

    1a) Is this true--do companies like yours destroy cultural sites 
when producing energy?

    Answer. No, Enduring Resources operates in full compliance with the 
National Historic Preservation Act (``NHPA''), which through Section 
106, directs the Bureau of Land Management to require applicants to 
survey potential areas of disturbance. Enduring Resources retains 
qualified consultants who adhere to NHPA's Archeology Guidance. Before 
any surface is disturbed for a well pad, road or a pipeline, Enduring 
Resources is required to retain a cultural resource expert to conduct a 
pedestrian survey of the entire footprint of the proposed surface 
installation, plus a buffer zone in a radius around the site, in order 
to identify any cultural resources or archeological sites that would be 
impacted by the proposed surface facility. This consultant is required 
to hold a permit for archeological surveys. If any cultural resource or 
archeological site has been identified, the consultant will make a 
recommendation as to whether or not the site is eligible for listing on 
the National Register, and should be avoided, or if that is not 
possible, how any impact may be mitigated. The consultant's survey and 
recommendations are then reviewed by the BLM, which may agree or 
disagree with the recommendation.

    1b) Can you walk us through the process that Enduring and other 
companies go through with the BLM if a cultural resource is identified 
at a location where you have drilling plans?

    Answer. Any surface occupancy on federal or tribal lands is heavily 
regulated, with many checks and balances in place to protect cultural 
resources or archeological sites. See e.g. Antiquities Act of 1906 
(protecting historic, prehistoric artifacts on federal lands); Historic 
Sites Act of 1935 (protecting historic sites, buildings and objects on 
federal land); Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974 
(protects scientific, historic and archeological material and data that 
might be damaged by federal projects); Archeological Resources 
Protection Act of 1979 (preservation and custody of excavated 
materials, records and data on federal lands); Native American Graves 
and Protection and Repatriation Act (1979) (protects human remains, and 
sacred objects of cultural patrimony); BLM, ``Handbook of Guidelines 
and Procedures for Inventory, Evaluation, and Mitigation of Cultural 
Resources'' (rev. 2021) and several related manuals (MS-8100, 8110, 
8120, 8130, 8140, 8150) and other guidance. The NHPA requires the BLM 
to consult at every step in the process with the State Historical 
Preservation Office and in the case of allotted lands, with the Navajo 
Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Department. If an 
archeological site is eligible for listing on the National Register, 
the proposed surface disturbance may be moved, rerouted, or, as a last 
resort, any impact must be mitigated. The appropriate type of 
mitigation must be approved by all agencies involved in the review 
process. Even if the site or object is not eligible for listing on the 
National Register, the operator and the agencies involved must agree on 
appropriate protective measures or modifications to the planned surface 
disturbance.
    Enduring Resources recently had this situation arise in its Haynes 
Canyon Unit, a federal unit located in Rio Arriba County, NM. The 
archeological survey identified a cultural or archeological resource in 
an area that had been surveyed for a well pad. As a result of 
discussions with the BLM about potential accommodations, Enduring 
decided to relocate the well pad in order to avoid any surface 
disturbance.

    Question 2. In your testimony you say that undeveloped federal and 
allottee leases will expire due to the withdrawal, could you explain 
why?

    Answer. Issued, but undeveloped, federal and allottee leases in the 
withdrawal area that are not currently included in an approved federal 
unit will expire because it has been, and with the withdrawal will 
continue to be, impossible to acquire needed, additional federal leases 
on adjoining unleased federal tracts. As explained below, large federal 
units that combine checker-boarded federal and allottee leases are 
necessary for development.
    For example, the last lease sale for this area was held in 2019. 
BLM still has not issued the three leases awarded to Enduring 
regardless of the fact that Enduring paid significant bonus dollars and 
first year rental payments in March 2019 that BLM retains. Without 
those unissued federal leases, the federal unit cannot be formed, 
development cannot proceed and the issued federal and allottee leases 
that were planned for that unit will expire at the end of their lease 
terms due to lack of development.
    Enduring produces in the Mancos shale formation using horizontal 
drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing completions. The Mancos 
formation is developed by drilling wells approximately one mile below 
the surface, with laterals up to three miles in length. Drilling long 
laterals requires large blocks of minerals. Four to eight laterals can 
be drilled from one 3-acre well pad.
    In order to drill across tracts with mixed ownership, it is 
necessary to form large federal units in order to pool the interests in 
the drilling block being drained by multiple well pads. No new federal 
leases in the withdrawal area means no future lease bonus payments, 
rentals or royalties will be paid to allottees because without federal 
leases on the federally owned tracts contiguous with the allotted 
tracts, it is uneconomic and infeasible to lease or to develop only 
allottee leases.

    Question 3. How much money did Enduring pay to Navajo Nation 
allottees in 2022?

    Answer. In 2022, Enduring paid $39,908,770.64 in royalties to 
Navajo Nation allottees.

    Question 4. What percentage of Enduring's workforce are members of 
the Navajo Nation?

    Answer. Members of the Navajo Nation represent 15% of Enduring's 
workforce.

    Question 5. Can you explain why you think that the BLM erred in 
asserting that only 47 wells will be prevented from development in its' 
analysis?

    Answer. In the ``Proposed Chaco Area Withdrawal, Environmental 
Assessment'' (November 2022) (``Withdrawal EA''), the BLM based its 
analysis on its Mineral Potential Report. Because BLM's ``low 
potential'' estimate in the Mineral Potential Report is so far off the 
mark, for the three reasons we discuss below, the BLM's analysis of 
impacts to future oil and gas development is significantly flawed.
    Based on Enduring Resources' actual experience as the operator of 
247 high-producing Mancos oil wells in the area, and its knowledge of 
the geophysical and other data the company relies on to make 
investment-backed decisions in the development of a lease, the BLM has 
grossly underestimated the fluid mineral resource potential in the 
withdrawal area. Contrary to BLM's argument that the potential is low, 
Enduring knows that the developable fluid mineral resource north of 
CCHNP is substantial. As explained in detail below, rather than 47 
wells, over 233 wells will be forgone along with significant oil and 
gas and mineral revenues to the federal government and allottees.

    In reaching its new conclusion of ``low potential,'' BLM makes 
three errors.

  1.  Reservoir analysis. The BLM does not accurately consider the oil 
            saturation and the porosity of the reservoir rocks (SoPhiH 
            calculation) to correctly estimate the fluid minerals 
            potential in this area. In understanding the potential of a 
            reservoir for development, Enduring follows standard 
            industry practice and relies on a SoPhiH measurement. This 
            is because SoPhiH is the primary measurement of reservoir 
            quality needed to calculate an oil-in-place volume. SoPhiH 
            is the Oil Saturation x Average Porosity of the oil 
            saturated reservoir rock x Thickness of saturated reservoir 
            rock. In addition to the development of the Mancos-Gallup, 
            Enduring also has successfully developed and produced from 
            the Mancos silt interval. We know that in areas where the 
            Mancos Silt and the Gallup are mapped as having a SoPhiH 
            value above 1, wells drilled and completed in these 
            intervals produce significant volumes of oil.

       North of the CCHNP, where Enduring has mapped a SoPhiH >1, the 
            oil-in-place is calculated as being greater than 4 million 
            barrels of oil per section. See Exhibit A (map illustrating 
            areas with SoPhiH >1 in the withdrawal area). Moreover, 
            based on Enduring's experience in the Kimbeto Wash and 
            Greater Lybrook Units, both partially within the withdrawal 
            area (see Exhibit A), a reasonable recovery factor for 
            Mancos Silt/Gallup horizontal wells is 10% of the oil-in-
            place. Therefore, assuming current 1200' well spacing (four 
            wells per section), four horizontal wells, with a lateral 
            length of 1-mile, drilled in a section with greater than 4 
            million barrels of oil per section can be expected to 
            produce >100,000 barrels of oil per well. Again, based on 
            actual results in the Kimbeto Wash and Greater Lybrook 
            Units, a conservative gas to oil ratio in this area is 300 
            bcf/bbl.

                               EXHIBIT A

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


           In Enduring's experience, reserves below SoPhiH >1 would be 
            doubtful to be drilled. Based only on the development 
            potential for unleased acreage within the withdrawal area 
            with a SoPhiH >1, Enduring estimates that 233 total 
            horizontal wells, including 39 Mancos Silt wells and 194 
            Gallup wells, will be forgone as a result of the 10-mile 
            withdrawal. Based on reserve reports from adjacent and 
            nearby wells in the Kimbeto Wash and Greater Lybrook Units, 
            Enduring can conservatively estimate that a 50 well/year 
            industry (several companies) drilling program to develop 
            the 233 wells (five wells per pad) could be expected to 
            produce over 86,000,000 barrels of oil and 25.85 billion 
            cubic feet of natural gas. Enduring's calculations that 
            support these conclusions are contained in Exhibit B 
            (spreadsheet).

                               EXHIBIT B

Page 1 of spreadsheet can be viewed on the Committee Repository at:

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20230713/116135/HHRG-118-II06-
20230713-SD068.pdf

Page 2 of spreadsheet can be viewed on the Committee Repository at:

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20230713/116135/HHRG-118-II06-
20230713-SD070.pdf

Page 3 of spreadsheet can be viewed on the Committee Repository at:

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20230713/116135/HHRG-118-II06-
20230713-SD071.pdf

Page 4 of spreadsheet is available on the EIA website at:

https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/data/browser/#/?id=3-
aeo2019&cases=ref2019ref--no--cpp&sourcekey=0

  2.  Development plan. The BLM analyzes productivity based on a lease-
            by-lease development basis rather than the industry 
            standard in the basin of large unit development to 
            calculate developable reserves. This has the effect of 
            raising costs and lowering the amount of recovery. The 
            estimates described by Enduring in Exhibit B are based on 
            current practice in this part of the San Juan Basin to use 
            large units combining federal, state and allottee acreages 
            in order to drill long horizontal wells. This allows 
            operators to recover reserves economically and efficiently 
            with minimal surface impact. A one-and-a-half-mile 
            horizontal well costs approximately $6.5 million and 
            returns an average of $6 million per year in revenue, with 
            a projected 20-year life cycle. Providing the necessary 
            access roads, pipelines, water handling facilities and 
            power lines for this undeveloped withdrawal area would add 
            several million dollars to that cost. In order to justify 
            the investment required to construct multi-well pads, 
            surface facilities, water recycling facilities and 
            pipelines, operators must pool allottee leases with 
            adjacent federal and state leases in large federal units 
            managed by the BLM. Yet, in the Mineral Potential Report, 
            the BLM uses an unrealistic lease-by-lease development 
            scenario that ignores the realities of actual development 
            practices in the withdrawal area, and drives up the costs, 
            in order to support its new, ``low potential'' assessment 
            of the withdrawal area.

  3.  High water cut error. The BLM's third error is to extrapolate a 
            high water cut from one well to the entire northern part of 
            the withdrawal area in order to again increase costs and 
            lower development potential in an area BLM had once 
            classified as medium to high development potential. The BLM 
            argues that all Mancos wells north of the CCHNP, to Nageezi 
            and Counselor, should now be viewed as low potential due to 
            ``an increase in water production from wells and a decrease 
            in oil and natural gas production. . . . Wells near the 
            withdrawal boundary yield about 80% water in the production 
            stream, hindering economic justification for infill 
            drilling.'' Mineral Potential Report, at p. 43. The BLM 
            explains its change in resource potential from the 
            previously identified medium potential to low potential as 
            ``due to the high water cut in production.'' Id.

       To Enduring's knowledge, there is only one well in the area 
            north of CCHNP with a water cut in the 80% range, the 
            Enduring West Lybrook Unit #767H. This well is an anomaly 
            and is offset by tens of adjacent wells with much lower 
            water cuts. The BLM's decision to write off the entire 
            withdrawal area north of CCHNP based on one data point from 
            an anomalous well is arbitrary. Moreover, a high water cut 
            well can be economically developed with water disposal 
            systems that are commonly in use in the San Juan and 
            Permian Basins in New Mexico.

    Looking at the allottees alone, Enduring believes approximately 
56,320 acres, outside of currently existing Mancos/Gallup units, could 
be developed in the withdrawal area. Of that, 10,720 acres or 19% of 
those acres are Navajo allottee tracts, and the remaining 45,600 acres 
(81%) are Federal/other. Based on estimated production and a royalty 
rate of 16.66%, the combined federal and allottee royalties forgone 
will be $1,122,997 per year, for a total of $1,022,459,948 over the 20-
year withdrawal. Thus, the total lost royalty for allottees will be 
$194,267,390. See Exhibit B, Tab 2. This amount of royalty spread over 
two decades would make a profound difference to the lives of the 
allottees and, in particular, to their elders who live at or below the 
poverty line.

    Question 6. In Mr. Atencio's testimony, he refers to a spill that 
occurred in 2019. The 2023 EPA report indicating that the reclaimed 
area had been restored to pre-spill functionality and has remained 
stable was introduced into the record.

    6a) Can you provide additional information about the nature of the 
spill and whether it caused any contamination to land, water or 
livestock?

    Answer. On February 17, 2019, there was a spill of flowback liquids 
from a frozen flowline at the Enduring North Escavada Unit #315H well 
location (API 30-043-21888). A cam lock on an aboveground flowline 
outside of a tank battery containment berm failed, resulting in the 
release of approximately 1,400 barrels (bbl.) of flowback liquids, of 
which 300 bbl. was estimated to be crude oil. (Mr. Atencio translated 
these official figures into gallons in his testimony.) There were no 
hydraulic fracturing operations occurring as alleged by Mr. Atencio.
    This undesired, but relatively small spill occurred in the NW/4SW/4 
Section 10, Township 22 North, Range 7 West, in Sandoval County near 
Counselor, New Mexico. The location of the spill was approximately 16.6 
miles from the outermost boundary of the CCHNP and outside the ten-mile 
withdrawal buffer area. It was near an ephemeral wash (a drainage area 
that is dry sometimes of the year) and the spill area is not near, nor 
connected to, any major waterbody including the San Juan River or 
Colorado River. The spill occurred on Allotment 155, owned by Rose Sam, 
Willie Harvey and Mary Harvey and their heirs. It is unclear if Mario 
Atencio is part of their family, as he claims in his testimony.
    The frozen flowline was detected the evening of February 17, 2019, 
and Enduring Resources personnel immediately rushed to the site and 
began diversion and containment efforts in the wash. The BLM and the 
Federal Indian Mineral Office (``FIMO'') were notified of the spill 
that evening. The FIMO is the federally approved point of contact for 
allottees receiving mineral royalties, and for that reason there is a 
level of trust between allottees and FIMO.
    The next day, February 18, 2019, FIMO contacted all allottees who 
lived in the area around the spill to notify them of the spill and the 
efforts being made to contain and mitigate the spill. Enduring 
Resources also notified the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection 
agency, but that agency deferred to the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (``EPA'') to oversee the containment and reclamation activities. 
Because the spill occurred on fee surface (Indian Allotted) land over 
federal minerals, agencies reviewing the cleanup work included the 
Bureau of Land Management, FIMO, U.S. EPA Region 9 and the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers (``USACE''). The Navajo Nation EPA was also kept 
involved.
    The USACE, which works in coordination with U.S. EPA, was the lead 
agency on the cleanup. The USACE determined that there were no 
hazardous or toxic substances that would require the use of Clean Water 
Act nationwide Permit 38 (``Cleanup of Hazardous and Toxic Wastes'') 
and elected to use a Clean Water Act nationwide 20 (``Response 
Operations for Oil or Hazardous substances'') permit. Enduring 
Resources retained an environmental consulting firm with expertise in 
this type of work, as well as a law firm with Clean Water Act 
expertise, to ensure that the work was done according to relevant law.
    On October 4, 2019, the USACE sent a letter directing Enduring 
Resources to take corrective actions including the preparation of a 
restoration plan for the area of the ephemeral wash and the related 
upland areas. On November 22, 2019, Enduring Resources submitted an 
``Ephemeral Wash Reclamation Plan and an Upland Reclamation Plan.''
    Enduring Resources and its contractor implemented the Plans. On 
June 15, 2023, EPA confirmed that the bank stabilization and 
reconstruction for the North Escavada Unit #315H Ephemeral Wash 
reclamation was in full compliance with EPA's Clean Water Act 401 
certification and restored to pre-disturbance functionality, as stated 
in the document introduced at the subcommittee hearing.
    All restoration work has been completed and is stable. There was no 
lasting damage to land or water sources as confirmed by subsequent soil 
and water testing. There was no damage to livestock. FIMO received no 
complaints nor claims of damages from allottees living in the area. No 
fines were assessed by any agency because there were no environmental 
violations. Enduring Resources was commended by the agencies for its 
immediate response, and thorough remediation and reclamation 
procedures. Enduring Resources has been released from all further work 
or reporting.

             Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva

    Question 1. Are Enduring Resources' current royalty payments to 
Navajo Allottees impacted by Public Land Order No. 7923?

    Answer. Although the Navajo Allottees' current royalty payments are 
not immediately impacted by Public Land Order No. 7923 (PLO No. 7923), 
their future payments over both the short and long-term will be 
impacted. PLO No. 7923 will have these short and long-term impacts on 
allottees:

    Short-term.

  1.  No new leasing of withdrawn federal acres. New leasing of 
            adjacent allottee acres is unlikely without the now 
            withdrawn federal leases. This means no new bonus payments 
            to allottees.

  2.  Also in the immediate short term there is at least one Enduring 
            development proposal that can't go forward--the proposed 
            Lone Road Unit, that is located entirely within the 
            withdrawal area. This development is missing necessary 
            federal leases (BLM did not lease in the withdrawal area 
            for last 10 years). These federal minerals are now 
            withdrawn and won't be leased; without the unleased federal 
            minerals the allottee leases will not be developed, and no 
            royalties will be paid to the allottees.

    Long-term.

  1.  Over the next 3-5 years the allottees will feel the impact of PLO 
            No. 7923 withdrawal of Federal minerals.

  2.  Existing leases in and adjacent to the withdrawal area will 
            expire due to the inability to develop allottee minerals 
            without federal minerals. For example, two of Enduring 
            Resource's most productive units, the Greater Lybrook and 
            Rodeo Units, lie partially within and partially outside of 
            the withdrawal area (see Exhibit A attached). As these 
            existing units are fully drilled and developed over the 
            next several years, Enduring planned to expand those units 
            in order to drill additional wells on federal and allottee 
            leases. Without the now withdrawn federal leases, the 
            existing allottee and federal leases outside the existing 
            unit will expire, and those lease bonus and rental payments 
            will not be replaced.

  3.  Lease rentals will be paid during the term of these existing 
            leases, but no royalties will be paid on those leased, but 
            undeveloped minerals because without the federal leases it 
            is uneconomic to develop only allottee leases.

  4.  No new leases, lease bonus payments, rentals and royalties in the 
            withdrawal area because it is uneconomic to develop only 
            the allottee leases.

    Enduring testified that the withdrawal of federal minerals will 
prevent the development of 233 horizontal wells or over 86,000,000 
barrels of oil and 25.85 billion cubic feet of natural gas. See 
attached Exhibits A and B. Based on these estimated production numbers 
and a royalty rate of 16.66% the forgone royalties for the Navajo 
allottees tracts alone would be $194,267,390 over the 20-year 
withdrawal. The BLM's predicted impacts in the Withdrawal EA on 
revenue, jobs and environmental justice communities, primarily the 
Navajo allottees, are much greater than disclosed in the Withdrawal EA.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much.
    We will now recognize Mr. Atencio for 5 minutes.

 STATEMENT OF MARIO ATENCIO, VICE PRESIDENT, TORREON/STAR LAKE 
    CHAPTER, NAVAJO ALLOTTEE SPOKESPERSON, CUBA, NEW MEXICO

    Mr. Atencio. Thank you, Chairman Stauber, Ranking Member 
Ocasio-Cortez, honorable Subcommittee members.
    [Speaking Native language], Navajo Nation President Mr. Buu 
Nygren, and co-panelists.
    I come before the Committee as spokesperson and stakeholder 
for my mother and father, Paul and Mary Ann Atencio, who are 
shareholders of 20 individual Indian allotment parcels located 
in the Counselor, Ojo Encino, and Torreon/Star Lake chapters of 
the Navajo Nation Government, which are located within the 
greater Chaco landscape.
    I also hold a fiduciary role as the Vice President of the 
Torreon/Star Lake Chapter House. Chapters are the local form of 
government on the Navajo Nation. The vast majority of my 
constituents are allotment shareholders.
    I am here today to urge you to oppose House Resolution 
4374. According to a crucially important study, Volume II, 
Navajo Religion in Chaco Canyon, an ethnographic report based 
on Hataalii interviews, the Greater Chaco landscape is the most 
important landscape to the Navajo people because the cultural 
ceremonies that were created there are the most sacred rituals 
that are foundational to Navajo cultural identity, very much 
similar to how critically important Jerusalem is to Judeo-
Christian-Islamic peoples.
    My family and I have deep spiritual and cultural 
connections to the Greater Chaco landscape, but over the years 
we have seen our lands and environment become deeply degraded 
by oil and gas pollution. There are nearly 40,000 oil and gas 
wells across the Greater Chaco landscape. The vast majority of 
Federal lands are already leased for extraction. Our family 
lands in Torreon and Counselor are surrounded by fracking 
sites, pipelines, and other oil and gas infrastructure.
    For many of us there, there is no option to move away from 
the pollution because that would entail an unbearable loss of 
cultural identity, and would disrupt our ability to pass on 
cultural traditions to future generations.
    In February 2019, my family's allotment land and water in 
Counselor was contaminated by a massive 42,000-gallon toxic 
liquid waste and 12,500-gallon crude oil spill at a fracking 
site operated by Enduring Resources. Neither my family nor our 
chapter community were notified of the spill by state or 
Federal agencies or by Enduring Resources. We were never made 
whole after our land, water, and livestock were poisoned. 
Spills like this happen at an average of four times a day in 
New Mexico. These incidents illustrate why protecting land and 
people from oil and gas pollution is critical.
    Secretary Haaland's mineral withdrawal is a step toward 
ensuring the integrity of numerous sacred sites and places and 
toward protecting the health and well-being of communities 
living on the front lines of extraction.
    In my written testimony, I present over a decade of 
collaboration and statements issued by Navajo Nation chapters, 
the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, the Navajo Office of the 
President and the Vice President, the All Pueblo Council of 
Governors, and other advocates in support of protecting the 
Greater Chaco landscape.
    Secretary Haaland's historic Honoring Chaco Initiative is 
the outcome of this long-standing advocacy, and the 10-mile 
mineral withdrawal is the first step of this initiative.
    Amid all the new controversy the withdrawal has generated, 
I encourage members of the Committee to think critically about 
the terms in which this debate has been framed. The question 
before us today is what actions will support an economically 
and environmentally just future for the people of the Greater 
Chaco Region?
    Our region has an approximate 40 percent unemployment rate, 
and about 40 percent of the people live below the poverty line. 
For some of our community members, these conditions can produce 
an impossible choice between extraction and economic survival. 
Some allotment holders, including members of my family, receive 
royalty payments from leased allotments. The withdrawal will 
not affect existing leases and payments, but may, for a very 
small percentage of parcels, affect future leaseability.
    The Honoring Chaco Initiative provides an opportunity to 
reject the false choice between extraction and economic 
prosperity, and to instead develop remedies for all allotment 
owners whose economic futures have always depended on taking 
the necessary steps to transition away from dependence on 
fossil fuels that puts our health, sacred places, and planet at 
risk.
    Lastly, the Honoring Chaco Initiative provides an 
opportunity to address the cumulative harms of fossil fuels in 
the Greater Chaco Region, and to develop co-management 
approaches so that the Dine people may thrive in this landscape 
as we work toward this goal. The 10-mile administrative 
withdrawal is a good first step.
    I look forward to working with members of the Committee and 
the Department of the Interior to continue to achieve landscape 
level protection for the Greater Chaco landscape.
    [Speaking Native language.]
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Atencio follows:]
   Prepared Statement of Mario P. Atencio, Vice-President of Torreon/
            Starlake Chapter of the Navajo Nation Government

    Good afternoon Chair Stauber, Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez, and 
members of the subcommittee. My name is Mario Atencio and I am a 
citizen of the Navajo Nation. I serve as the Vice-President of the 
Torreon/Star Lake Chapter in Northwestern New Mexico, which is in the 
Greater Chaco Landscape. Chapters are the local unit Navajo Nation 
Government. My family owns an Indian Allotment in the heart of this 
landscape, just on the edge of the 10-mile administrative withdrawal of 
federal lands recently implemented by Secretary Haaland.
    I appreciate the opportunity to testify today in opposition to 
House Resolution 4374, and in strong support of Secretary Haaland's 
actions to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape through the Honoring 
Chaco Initiative, of which the 10-mile mineral withdrawal is a crucial 
first step.
I. Harms of Oil and Gas Extraction

    My family and I have deep spiritual and cultural connections to the 
lands surrounding our home. But over the years, especially in the last 
decade with the introduction of industrialized fracking, we have seen 
our lands and environment become deeply degraded by oil and gas 
pollution. There are nearly 40,000 wells across the Greater Chaco 
Landscape. The vast majority of federal lands are already leased for 
extraction. Our family lands in Torreon and Counselor are surrounded by 
fracking sites, pipelines, and other oil and gas infrastructure. The 
roads have been torn up by oil and gas traffic. During inclement 
weather, poor road conditions often prevent community members from 
traveling safely to school, work, and medical appointments. The air 
quality has become hazardous, smelly, and difficult to bear, and in 
some areas pollution levels exceed federal air quality standards.\1\ 
Vegetation, animals, and medicinal plants are disappearing. I worry 
about how these changes are cumulatively affecting the health and 
wellbeing of my family and my community, especially the young, the 
elderly, and the most vulnerable among us.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Tsosie D, Benally H, Seamster T, et al. 2021. ``A Cultural 
Spiritual and Health Impact Assessment of Oil Drilling Operations in 
the Navajo Nation Area of Counselor, Torreon and Ojo Encino chapters''. 
July 15, 2021. Available at: http://nmhep.org/wpcontent/uploads/FINAL-
HIA-KBHIS-06-52-2021-00-copy1.pdf.; American Lung Association. 2023. 
``Report Card: New Mexico''. https://www.lung.org/research/sota/city-
rankings/states/new-mexico
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A study published by the Counselor Health Impact Assessment--K'e 
Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee and approved by the Navajo Nation 
Human Research Review Board found that Navajo residents in Counselor 
Chapter are exposed to dangerous levels of hazardous air pollutants, 
and that almost all residents surveyed reported health symptoms 
consistent with exposure to oil and gas pollution. For example, over 
90% of residents suffer from a sore throat and sinus problems, while 
80% reported coughs, headaches, itching or burning eyes, joint pain, 
fatigue, and sleep disturbance.\2\ As Dine people, we are tied to these 
lands. For many of us there is no option to ``move away'' from the 
pollution, because that would entail an unbearable loss of cultural 
identity, and would disrupt our ability to pass on cultural traditions 
to future generations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Tsosie et al. 2021; Atencio et al. 2022. Federal Statutes and 
Environmental Justice in the Navajo Nation: The Case of Fracking in the 
Greater Chaco Region. American Journal of Public Health. 112, 116-123, 
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306562
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    My family and many members of our community practice traditional 
cultural and spiritual ways that reference significant sacred sites in 
our homelands of Dinetah, within the Greater Chaco Landscape. We make 
pilgrimages that consist of traditional offerings and prayers to sacred 
mountains and sites in Dinetah. These areas are known to have 
historically supported medicinal plants and ceremonial herbs that today 
are threatened by oil and gas drilling. Medicine People and elders in 
my community have noted the gradual disappearance of these plants, as 
well as the degradation of the air and important lines of sight across 
the landscape. Oil and gas pollution and the destruction of sacred 
places in the Greater Chaco Landscape directly harms my and my 
relatives' ways of life, including our holistic wellness and our 
ability to continue our spiritual and cultural lifeways as Dine people. 
The visual, olfactory, and auditory disturbances caused by oil and gas 
extraction--including pipeline and road construction, traffic, ground 
disturbance, air pollution, and the physical presence of oil and gas 
infrastructure on the landscape--cumulatively alter the experience of 
being in my homelands and negatively affect my and my family's 
connection to place, culture, and tradition.
    In February 2019, my family's allotment land and water in Counselor 
was contaminated by a massive 42,000-gallon toxic liquid waste and 
12,500-gallon crude oil spill at a fracking site operated by Enduring 
Resources.\3\ Neither my family nor our Chapter community were notified 
of this spill by state or federal agencies or by Enduring. We were 
never made whole after our land, water, and livestock were poisoned by 
this toxic spill.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ See Atencio et al. v State of New Mexico et al., D-101-CV-2023-
01038, (N.M. May 10, 2023); lte Environmental, inc. ``Report of Final 
Sampling & Closure Request: neu 315, Release Response api 30-043-21888, 
NMOCD Incident ncs1905249442, Sandoval County, New Mexico.'' 077919003. 
Prepared for Enduring Resources, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Toxic spills like the one that devastated my family's land in 2019 
happen at an average of 4 times per day in New Mexico.\4\ These 
incidents illustrate why actions to protect land and people from oil 
and gas pollution, like Secretary Haaland's Public Land Order 7293, are 
critical. The administrative withdrawal is a step toward ensuring the 
integrity of numerous sacred sites and places, and toward protecting 
the health and wellbeing of communities living on the frontlines of 
extraction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ See New Mexico Oil Conservation Division data or Center for 
Western Priorities. ``2022 New Mexico Spills''. Available at https://
westernpriorities.org/resource/2022-new-mexico-spills/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    It is crucial to understand that Dine citizens of the Greater Chaco 
region have been voicing concerns about the impacts of oil and gas 
extraction for decades. Secretary Haaland's historic Honoring Chaco 
Initiative is the outcome of long-standing advocacy from Tribes, 
Pueblos, Navajo Chapters, impacted community members, and allied groups 
to protect this cherished place. These efforts have deep roots. The 
most recent wave of advocacy began in response to the introduction of 
multi-stage, high-pressure, high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) 
in the Greater Chaco Landscape. To provide further context for my 
support of the 10-mile mineral withdrawal, I will briefly review the 
history of Tribal engagement to protect the landscape from fracking 
under the federal oil and gas program, at the individual level, the 
level of Chapter House Government, and at the government-to-government 
consultation level.
II. History of Inter-Tribal Advocacy in Support of Greater Chaco 
        Protections

    Dinetah, in the heart of the Greater Chaco Landscape, is the place 
of emergence of the Dine people. Dine people have lived in Dinetah 
since time immemorial, caring for the land as instructed by the Holy 
People. After Dine people were forcibly removed from our lands and 
imprisoned by the U.S. government from 1863-1868, we returned to a 
newly established Treaty reservation. Years later, the lands in Dinetah 
became Navajo Trust Land and part of the Navajo Reservation as it was 
extended through President Roosevelt's Executive Orders 709 and 744. 
However, through subsequent Executive Orders and processes of Indian 
allotment, homesteading, railroading grants, and New Mexico statehood, 
our Dine homelands were taken away again and out of trust status, 
transforming this region into a ``checkerboard'' of land statuses, 
including federal, state, private, tribal trust, and tribal allotment 
land.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ Redhouse, John. 1984. The Leasing of Dinetah: An Eastern Navajo 
Odyssey. Roots of Navajo Relocation Series. Albuquerque, New Mexico: 
Redhouse/Wright Productions; See Navajo Nation Council resolutions CJY-
66-97 (1997), CMY-23-88 (1988) CAP-11-11 (2011), CO-47-12 (2012), and 
ENLC Resolution ENLCF-01-10 (2010); Grant, Silas. 2022. ``Chess or 
Checkers? Fracking in Greater Chaco''. In Rensink, Brenden (Ed). The 
North American West in the Twenty-First Century. University of Nebraska 
Press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Navajo Nation Council was first established by the U.S. 
government in 1923 for the purpose of approving oil leases in the 
Greater Chaco region after oil was discovered there in 1921.\6\ Before 
the imposition of the United States, the traditional government was 
mostly local and based on kinship. Today, the basic unit of local 
government in the Navajo Nation is the Chapter, each with its own 
Chapter House. The Chapter system was created in 1922, and there are 
currently 110 local chapters, each of which is able to meet in their 
respective Chapter House to express concerns to their Navajo Nation 
Council Delegate. The legislative branch of Dine government, the Tribal 
Council, consists of 24 Delegates, who represent the 110 Chapters. The 
Office of the President was created in 1991. Despite what opponents of 
the withdrawal might argue, the Navajo Nation government structure is 
multifaceted and the executive office is not the only expression of 
Dine community power and opinion. My Chapter, Torreon/Star Lake, is 
directly in the zone impacted by oil and gas development. It is with 
that lens that I explain the decade of support for Greater Chaco 
protections.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Chamberlain, Kathleen. 2000. Under Sacred Ground: A History of 
Navajo Oil, 1922-1982. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New 
Mexico Press.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The current Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Resource Management 
Plan (RMP) for the Farmington Field Office in the Greater Chaco 
Landscape was finalized in 2003.\7\ A Resource Management Plan is the 
federal land management blueprint for a particular region, and the 2003 
Farmington Field Office RMP covered a large part of the Greater Chaco 
Region. The 2003 RMP foresaw the potential for up to 10,000 new wells, 
but explicitly stated that fracking was not a technologically or 
economically viable option for the region. However, by 2010, the first 
horizontally fracked well was drilled in the Farmington Field Office to 
extract oil from the Mancos shale. The Mancos shale is richest in oil 
in and around Dine communities living near Chaco Culture National 
Historical Park. Soon, hundreds more wells were drilled. As fracking 
encroached across the landscape, our Eastern Dine communities were 
devastated by what former Navajo Nation Council Delegate Daniel Tso 
aptly describes as a ``tsunami of fracking''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ The most recent RMP for the Rio Puerco Field Office, south of 
the Farmington Field Office and also part of the Greater Chaco 
Landscape, is from 1992. It does not account for any oil and gas 
activity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2013, the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, which is made up of 
thirty-one Navajo Chapters, passed a resolution calling for a 
moratorium on new fracking activities within Eastern Navajo Agency, 
because the BLM had yet to analyze and disclose the impacts of fracking 
in the area.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ Resolution No. ENAC 12-2013-03.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2014, the BLM admitted it had failed to fully analyze or address 
the impacts of fracking in its 2003 RMP, and said it would prepare 
Resource Management Plan Amendment and Environmental Impact Statement 
(RMPA-EIS) to analyze new oil and gas activities in the area.\9\ The 
Bureau of Indian Affairs joined BLM as a co-leading agency in the RMPA-
EIS process in 2016. To this day, nearly ten years later, the RMPA-EIS 
has not been finalized, but BLM has continued to approve new fracking 
across the landscape.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ Federal Register, Vol.79, No. 37, Tuesday, February 25, 2014; 
Federal Register, Vol. 81, No. 204. Friday, October 21, 2016.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Beginning in 2015, the Navajo Nation Chapters of Counselor, Ojo 
Encino, and Torreon/Star-Lake, and other Chapters in Eastern Navajo 
Agency, passed numerous resolutions attesting that federal agencies 
have failed to consult with local Dine communities about oil and gas 
extraction, and have demanded a moratorium on new development until BLM 
and BIA complete and finalize the Mancos-Gallup RMPA-EIS. These 
Chapters have further submitted comments and protests in response to 
multiple BLM oil and gas lease sales that would affect their lands.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ See for example the Resolution of Torreon Star Lake Chapter 
passed on March 9, 2015; Counselor Chapter Resolution passed on March 
10, 2015; and Ojo Encino Chapter Resolution 03-09-15/002 passed on 
March 9, 2015.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Also in 2015, the All Pueblo Council of Governors, which is a 
Pueblo leadership organization and political entity composed of 20 
Pueblo Governors of the sovereign Pueblo Nations of New Mexico and 
Texas, passed a resolution supporting the protection of Chaco Canyon 
and all traditional cultural properties and sacred sites affiliated 
with Chaco Canyon.
    In 2016, the Dine Medicine Man Association and the Dine Hataalii 
Association, a nonprofit organization comprised of over 200 Dine 
medicine men and women from across the Navajo Reservation that exists 
to protect, preserve, and promote the Dine cultural wisdom, spiritual 
practice, and ceremonial knowledge for present and future generations, 
passed resolutions affirming the importance of the Greater Chaco 
region, where Dine communities were negatively impacted by hydraulic 
fracturing, and requesting an inter-agency field hearing to investigate 
these impacts. Both bodies also called for United Nations observers to 
come to Dinetah to record violations of the rights of Indigenous 
peoples caused by fracking in the region.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ See OLC-7-01. http://www.dineresourcesandinfocenter.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/02/0025-17.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In December 2016, the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, representing 
all 31 Chapters in Eastern Navajo Agency, passed a resolution ``in 
opposition to further approvals of federal fluid mineral leases, 
federal oil/gas related projects, and related environmental analysis 
approvals by Bureau of Land Management within or impacting Navajo 
Nation Eastern Agency areas and communities''.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\ Eastern Navajo Agency Council BLM Resolution. Resolution No. 
ENAC 12-2016-03. Attached.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In February 2017, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye and Vice 
President Johnathan Nez wrote to the BLM Farmington Field Office 
requesting that BLM ``place a moratorium on fracking-related activities 
such as multi-stage hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling and 
lease sales and permit approvals in the Mancos Shale/Gallup formation 
in the greater Chaco area until such as time as the amendment to the 
resource management plan is completed and an environmental impact 
statement is finalized''. This request was made out of concern that 
increased drilling was ``interrupting the daily lives of Navajo people 
who live in the Navajo Nation Chapters such as Counselor, Nageezi, 
Torreon and Ojo Encino''.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \13\ Begaye, Russel, and Jonathan Nez. 2017. ``Re: Concerns 
Regarding Chaco Canyon Cultural Historic Park,'' February 6, 2017. 
https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/NN-
Moratorium-request-2017-02-23-.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Days later, the All Pueblo Council of Governors and Navajo Nation 
President and Vice President held a historic meeting in which they 
issued a joint statement opposing horizontal fracking in the Greater 
Chaco region.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ Navajo-Hopi Observer. 2017. ``Fracking and drilling near Chaco 
Canyon challenged by Begaye, Nez''. Navajo-Hopi Observer. February 28, 
2017. Accessed July 8, 2023. https://www.nhonews.com/news/2017/feb/28/
fracking-and-drilling-near-chaco-canyon-challenged/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Shortly thereafter, in 2017, the National Congress of American 
Indians passed a resolution supporting a moratorium on leasing and 
drilling in the region.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \15\ Riley, Kurt, 2017, ``To Support Moratorium on Leasing and 
Permitting In Greater Chaco Region.'' Resolution,Cultural Protection & 
NAGPRA, Milwaukee: National Congress of American Indians, http://
www.ncai.org/resources/resolutions/to-support-moratorium-on-leasing-
and-permitting-in-greater-chacoregion
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Throughout 2018, Navajo Nation Chapters in the Greater Chaco region 
and Pueblo governments continued to protest BLM oil and gas lease 
sales. In March 2018, then Interior Secretary Zinke deferred an oil and 
gas lease sale in the Greater Chaco landscape in response to protests 
from Tribes, Pueblos, and advocates. Zinke cited the need to further 
analyze over 5,000 cultural sites in the leasing area, underscoring the 
irreplaceable value of the landscape.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \16\ United States Bureau of Land Management, 2018, ``BLM Defers 
Oil and Gas Lease Sale in New Mexico,'' March 2,https://www.blm.gov/
press-release/blm-defers-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-parcels-new-mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In February 2019, Counselor Chapter passed a resolution supporting 
federal legislation that would withdraw federal minerals from future 
oil and gas leasing within 10-miles of Chaco Culture National 
Historical Park.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\ Resolution of Counselor Chapter, #COUN-2019-02-001. Attached.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In March 2019, the All Pueblo Council of Governors and the Navajo 
Nation Office of the President and Vice President held a second 
historic summit to support protections for the Greater Chaco Landscape, 
where the sovereign governments announced their support of the Chaco 
Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, which would withdrawal federal 
minerals from future leasing within approximately 10 miles of Chaco 
Culture National Historical Park.\18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ All Pueblo Council of Governors, 2019, ``Tribal Leaders Host 
Historic Summit to Support the Protection of the Greater Chaco 
Landscape,'' https://www.apcg.org/uncategorized/historic-joint-
convening-betweenthe-all-pueblo-council-of-governors-and-navajo-nation-
2019/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A month later, in April 2019, the House Natural Resources Committee 
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held an Oversight Field 
Hearing on ``Oil and Gas Development: Impacts on Air Pollution and 
Sacred Sites'' during which I joined members of the Committee on a 
visit to Chaco Culture National Historical Park and a tour of nearby 
oil and gas sites. The following day, the Committee heard testimony 
from Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer in support of withdrawing 
federal minerals within 10-miles of Chaco Park ``to support the 
continuance of our cultural practices vital to our present 
identity''.\19\ The Committee also heard support for the mineral 
withdrawal from several other distinguished witnesses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\ Lizer, Myron. 2019. Testimony of Navajo Nation Vice President 
Myron Lizer for the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Field 
Hearing on, ``Oil and Gas Development: Impacts on Air Pollution and 
Sacred Sites.'' Santa Fe. https://www.congress.gov/event/116th-
congress/house-event/LC63888/text?s=1&r=21410
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In a joint effort between the New Mexico State Land Office, 
Pueblos, Tribes, and local communities, the State of New Mexico 
Commissioner of Public Lands issued Executive Order 2019-002 
``Moratorium on New Oil and Gas Mineral Leasing in the Greater Chaco 
Area''. Signed on April 27, 2019, this action placed a moratorium on 
new oil and gas leasing on state trust lands within the same area as 
the federal 10-mile mineral withdrawal.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ New Mexico State Land Office Executive Order No. 2019-002, 
``Moratorium on New Oil and Gas and Mineral Leasing in Greater Chaco 
Area'', April 27, 2019. https://www.nmstatelands.org/wp-content/
uploads/2019/06/SLO_EO-2019-002.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In May 2019, then Interior Secretary Bernhardt committed to defer 
for one year any new oil and gas leasing within 10-miles of Chaco 
Culture National Historical Park during a visit to the Park with 
Senator Martin Heinrich.\21\ This de facto moratorium on new federal 
leasing within 10-miles of the Park has remained in place and was 
recently codified through Public Land Order 7923.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \21\ Streater, Scott. 2019. ``Bernhardt Commits to Leasing 
Moratorium Near Chaco Canyon''. E&E News. https://
www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/bernhardt-commits-to-
leasing-moratorium-near-chaco-canyon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In December 2019, Torreon/StarLake Chapter passed a resolution 
supporting a 10-mile administrative withdrawal of federal lands from 
future mineral leasing surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical 
Park.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \22\ TSL #12/2019-35, passed December 8, 2019. Attached.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In response to requests from Tribes and Pueblos, the Fiscal Year 
2020 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill 
included a $1 million appropriation to fund an ethnographic study for 
Tribes to identify culturally important sites within the Greater Chaco 
Landscape.\23\ This money was allocated by Congress to the Chaco 
Heritage Tribal Association (CHTA), comprising Pueblos of Acoma, Jemez, 
Laguna, and Zuni, and the Hopi Tribe, with support from the Pueblos of 
San Felipe, Santa Clara, Tesuque, and Zia and the blessing of the All 
Pueblo Council of Governors; and to the Navajo Nation. In FY21 
additional funds were appropriated in the omnibus spending bill to 
allow both the Navajo Nation and the CHTA to complete their work. CHTA 
was allocated an additional $600,000.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\ Office of Senator Tom Udall. 2019. ``NM Delegation Secures 
Protections for Chaco Canyon Area in Government Funding Bill''. KRWG. 
December 19, 2019. https://www.krwg.org/post/nm-delegation-secures-
protections-chaco-canyon-area-government-funding-bill
    \24\ Vallo, Brian. 2021. Written testimony of Brian Vallo, Governor 
of the Pueblo of Acoma for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources 
Committee.''The Department of the Interior's Onshore Oil and Gas 
Leasing Program'' oversight hearing--April 27, 2021. 2021. Available 
at: https://www.energy.senate.gov/services/files/0F06A226-45A5-
423EA5FF-14271D3BFA14.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Navajo Nation's ethnographic report was completed in September 
2022. Volume II, ``Navajo Religion and Chaco Canyon: An Ethnographic 
Report Based on Hataalii Interviews'' finds that for Navajo people 
``Chaco Canyon is where all the ceremonies came together'' (38). As the 
report describes, Hataalii, or Navajo ceremonialists, are the ``primary 
knowledge-keepers of the history and practice of ceremonies and sacred 
places'' (43). The Hataalii interviewed impart the immense significance 
of the Chaco area for Navajo people. The Greater Chaco region is, 
according to the Hataalii, an area worthy of protection.
    In 2021, during the Biden-Harris administration's first White House 
Tribal Nations Summit, President Joe Biden and Interior Secretary Deb 
Haaland announced steps to protect Chaco Canyon and the greater 
connected landscape by initiating the process for a 20-year moratorium 
on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands within a 10-miles of Chaco 
Culture National Historical Park.\25\ The Secretary also announced the 
``Honoring Chaco Initiative'', a ``regional conversation among BLM 
field offices, BIA, and interested Tribes, Pueblos, and other Tribal 
interests in the Greater Chaco area to develop a broader cultural 
approach to all land management decisions across the Greater Chaco 
Landscape''.\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25\ United States Department of the Interior. 2021. `` Secretary 
Haaland Announces Steps to Establish Protections for Culturally 
Significant Chaco Canyon Landscape''. November 15, 2021. https://
www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-haaland-announces-steps-establish-
protections-culturally-significant-chaco
    \26\ United States Bureau of Land Management. 2023. ``Honoring 
Chaco Initiative''. Accessed July 11, 2023. https://www.blm.gov/
honoringchacoinitiative
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In January 2022, BLM initiated an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
process to evaluate the impacts of the proposed mineral withdrawal. 
During the EA process, BLM reviewed 16,715 comments in total, 
expressing a variety of opinions about the withdrawal, including many 
comments from Dine organizations, Chapter Houses, and Pueblos 
supporting the buffer zone and asking for the BLM to go beyond the 10-
mile zone to embrace a holistic approach to protecting the sacred 
landscape.\27\ The EA was published in November 2022. Secretary Haaland 
announced the mineral withdrawal on June 2, 2023.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \27\ United States Bureau of Land Management. 2023. ``Proposed 
Chaco Area Withdrawal Area Environmental Assessment (EA) Public Comment 
Response Report''. BLM Farmington Field Office. https://
eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/2016892/200507928/20080198/250086380/
20230 604_ChacoWithdrawal_CommRespRept.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Honoring Chaco Initiative: An Opportunity to Work Toward Economic 
        and Environmental Justice for the Future of Greater Chaco

    Today you will hear that withdrawing federal minerals from future 
mineral leasing around Chaco Culture National Historical Park will 
decrease domestic energy production and cause financial losses for Dine 
families who hold shares in Indian allotments within the withdrawal 
area. I encourage members of the Committee to think critically about 
the terms in which this debate has been framed. The question before us 
today is fundamentally one of which actions will support an 
economically and environmentally just future for the people of the 
Greater Chaco region, and what does that future look like? I posit that 
the only way for this region to move forward toward economic and 
environmental justice for Dine people and other Indigenous relatives 
who hold this place sacred is to break free from the legacy of being 
treated like a national energy sacrifice zone.\28\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \28\ See Energy Policy Project of the Ford Foundation. 2014. A Time 
to Choose: America's Energy Future. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing 
Company, 1974; Our Story: The Indigenous Led Fight to Protect Greater 
Chaco. Directed by Daniel Tso and Michael Ramsey. 48 minutes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Environmental Assessment on the proposed Chaco area withdrawal 
completed in 2022 (DOI-BLM-NM-F010-2022-0011) showed that the 
withdrawal will only result in an approximate 0.5 percent reduction in 
annual gas production and an approximate 2.5 percent reduction in 
annual oil production in the San Juan Basin. The impact on the region's 
fossil fuel production is thus minimal. Indeed, more needs to be done 
to reduce oil and gas pollution in the Greater Chaco region to protect 
public health and the climate. New Mexico is particularly vulnerable to 
climate harms, and within our state Indigenous peoples are 
disproportionately impacted by rising temperatures, stressed 
vegetation, arid soils, and increasing drought. The 2023 United Nations 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Synthesis Report 
found that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing fossil fuel 
infrastructure would exceed the remaining budget for a 1.5+C global 
warming scenario. In order to preserve a chance of limiting planetary 
warming to 1.5+C, there can be no new fossil fuel infrastructure, and 
existing extraction must be rapidly phased out. Secretary Haaland's 
Honoring Chaco Initiative provides an opportunity to address the 
cumulative harms of fossil fuels in the Greater Chaco region, and to 
develop co-management approaches so that Dine people and our relatives 
may thrive in this landscape. As we work toward this goal, the 10-mile 
administrative withdrawal is a good first step.
    Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Dine homelands in Greater 
Chaco were violently stolen and then reorganized into a checkerboard 
pattern of federal, state, private, tribal trust, and tribal allotment 
parcels.\29\ The General Allotment Act of 1887 is widely recognized as 
a settler colonial tool used to dispossess Indigenous peoples of their 
collective land base. Across the United States, allotment was used to 
take 90 million acres of Indigenous lands out of Tribal control and 
ownership.\30\ The same is true in Dinetah. The fragmentation of 
Eastern Dine lands through allotment and the fractionation of 
allotments over the years has posed significant challenges to the self-
determination of our communities. Approximately 4,000 allotments were 
patented to Dine individuals between 1906 and 1934, with about 3,900 of 
those tracts located in northwestern New Mexico and the rest in 
Arizona. These parcels cover over 750,000 acres of land with over 
40,000 known co-owners.\31\ Dine allottees are numerous and, like the 
citizens of any nation, hold differing views. What unites us is our 
ties to Dine Bikeyah.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \29\ See Navajo Nation Council resolutions CJY-66-97 (1997), CMY-
23-88 (1988) CAP-11-11 (2011), CO-47-12 (2012), and ENLC Resolution 
ENLCF-01-10 (2010); Grant, Silas. 2022. ``Chess or Checkers? Fracking 
in Greater Chaco''. In Rensink, Brenden (Ed). The North American West 
in the Twenty-First Century. University of Nebraska Press.
    \30\ Guzman, Kathleen. 2000. ``Give or Take an Acre: Property Norms 
and the Indian Land Consolidation Act.'' Iowa Law Review 85.
    \31\ See ``Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments: And To Permit 
The Leasing of Oil and Gas Rights on Navajo Allotted Lands''. U.S. 
Congress Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. S. HRG 106-282. Statement 
of Shenan Atcitty, Nordhaus Law Firm, for the Shii Shi Keyah 
Association. November 4, 1999
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    After the forced, genocidal long walk of the Dine, Hweeldih, from 
1863-1868, Dine people attempted to return to their traditional 
kinship-based form of government and social organization.\32\ Still, 
the federal government was not satisfied, and forced the reorganization 
of the Navajo government in order for oil and gas industries to have 
enforceable contracts--just two years after the discovery of oil in the 
region. That same federal government continues to operate oil and gas 
leases to this day, under the same claim of title. Dine Bikeyah has 
been used as a sacrifice zone to meet the needs of the federal 
government for the last hundred years--sometimes for uranium, sometimes 
for oil and gas, and it is Dine workers and community members who pay 
the price. Bear in mind that while the proponents of H.R. 4374 will 
argue that the federal government will lose revenue, at this very 
moment, there are over 20 wells operating within a mile of Lybrook 
Elementary School, where Dine children are being exposed to hazardous 
air pollutants while they play at recess--all to perpetuate the federal 
oil and gas program. Future generations are already shouldering a 
century-old tradition in Navajoland of being poisoned, with the 
blessing of the federal government, to prop up an industry that takes 
its profits elsewhere. It is past time for the extraction in this 
sacred place to end.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \32\ Todacheene, Heidi. 2014. ``She Saves Us From Monsters: The 
Navajo Creation Story and Modern Tribal Justice''. Tribal Law Journal. 
Volume 15. Article 2. 30.66. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/
viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=tlj
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    As an elected Tribal leader and heir to an allotment, I care deeply 
about the wellness of all my fellow community members in the Greater 
Chaco region. Growing up in this region, I have seen that the ongoing 
legacies of settler colonialism and unfettered extraction have not 
benefited our communities. Instead, our region has an approximate 40% 
unemployment rate and about 40% of people live below the poverty 
line.\33\ For some of our community members, these conditions can 
produce an impossible choice between extraction and economic survival. 
Some allotment holders, including members of my family, receive royalty 
payments from leased allotments. The withdrawal will not affect 
existing leases and payments, but may, for a very small percentage of 
parcels, affect future leasability.\34\ The Honoring Chaco Initiative 
provides an opportunity to reject the false choice that our communities 
have been forced into between extraction and economic prosperity and to 
instead develop remedies for all allotment owners whose economic 
futures will be affected as we take the necessary steps to transition 
away from dependence on fossil fuels that puts our health, sacred 
places, and planet at risk. For example, through the Honoring Chaco 
Initiative, Tribes, Pueblos, and Indigenous stakeholders can 
collaborate with Interior to develop federally-funded compensation 
plans to support allotment holders who could potentially lose mineral 
revenue.\35\ Through the Honoring Chaco Initiative, we can also 
collaborate to support the development of other economic opportunities 
for which our region is well suited, including solar and wind energy, 
small businesses, and tourism.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \33\ Morales, Laurel. 2019. ``On the Navajo Nation, 5,000 Workers 
Dependent On A Federal Paycheck.'' National Public Radio, January 12, 
2019, sec. Weekend Edition; Nez, Jonathan. 2020. U.S. House Energy and 
Commerce Committee Hearing; Addressing the Urgent Needs of Our Tribal 
Communities, Testimony by Jonathan Nez, President, Navajo Nation. 
Congressional Documents and Publications. (July 8, 2020).
    \34\ In its Environmental Assessment of the proposed withdrawal, 
BLM found that ``overall, 50, or just over 4 percent, of the unleased 
1,165 allotments [within the withdrawal area] analyzed may see a high 
or moderate impact on future leaseability. An additional 36 unleased 
allotments (approximately 3 percent) may see low, but real, impacts on 
future leaseability. The proposed withdrawal will likely not adversely 
affect the vast majority (over 92 percent) with respect to real 
leaseability.''
    \35\ There is precedence for compensation of this kind through the 
Mescal v. United States (1983) settlement agreement, a case in which 
allotment owners in the Greater Chaco region sued the U.S. Government 
for rightful title to the mineral estate. 79 of 2,500 allotments at 
issue in this case were already encumbered by existing leases that had 
illegally been issued by the United States. The settlement created a 
fund out of which money was disbursed to allottees whose lands were 
already encumbered.
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IV. Oppose H.R. 4374 and Support Environmental Justice for Greater 
        Chaco

    As stated, there is a long and rich history of engagement from 
local Navajo Chapters, the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, the Navajo 
Nation, and the All Pueblo Council of Governors in support of 
protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape. The mineral withdrawal around 
Chaco Park is a first step toward realizing the protections that are 
needed for the land and the people. As we continue along this path, we 
must center the needs of those directly impacted, including Dine 
allotment owners, so that we may achieve environmental and economic 
justice for the region, and finally put an end to the era of sacrifice 
zones.
    As an elected Tribal leader and allotment shareholder, I envision a 
future in which Eastern Dine communities can thrive in harmony and 
balance with our lands. Crucial to that future is access to more 
economic opportunities, and support in working toward a just and 
equitable transition. I am committed to helping our communities achieve 
that future, and I welcome you to join us.
    I look forward to working with members of this Committee and with 
the Department of the Interior to continue to achieve landscape-level 
protections for the Greater Chaco region through the Honoring Chaco 
Initiative. I urge you to oppose House Resolution 4374 so that we can 
get to work.
    I am happy to provide copies of any of the cited documents. The 
following are attached to my testimony:

  1.  Eastern Navajo Agency Council BLM Resolution, ENAC 12-2016-03--
            Opposing further approvals of federal fluid mineral leases 
            and oil and gas related projects within Eastern Navajo 
            communities.

  2.  Torreon/Starlake Chapter Resolution #12/2019-35--Supporting a 10-
            mile federal withdrawal

  3.  Counselor Chapter Resolution #COUN 2019-02-001--Supporting a 10-
            mile federal mineral withdrawal

                                 *****

                              ATTACHMENTS

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


 Questions Submitted for the Record to Mario Atencio, Vice President, 
                       Torreon/Star Lake Chapter
            Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman
    Question 1. You're a board member of Dine C.A.R.E. Looking at your 
organization's website and other sources online it's not clear how it 
is funded. A lot of groups disclose that online or in IRS filings, and 
we find that transparency is beneficial when groups are advocating on 
public policies like Interior's land withdrawal.

    1a) Where does Dine C.A.R.E. derive its funding?

    1b) Does Dine C.A.R.E. receive money from other outside 
organizations, particularly from environmental non-profit groups?

    1c) If so, can you tell us which organizations help support Dine 
C.A.R.E. financially?

    Answer. I am not currently a board member of Dine Citizens Against 
Ruining our Environment's (C.A.R.E.) and I do not have the information 
you seek.


    Question 2. Do you or any of your direct family members hold 
allotments or receive royalty payments from energy production?

    Answer. Yes. However, my father did not sign the federal oil and 
gas lease. Due to federal individual Indian land tenure regulations a 
simple majority is all that is needed to approve a lease on individual 
Indian allotted lands.

             Questions Submitted by Representative Grijalva

    Question 1. Mr. Atencio, from your understanding, will current 
royalty payments from Navajo Allottees impacted by Public Land Order 
No. 7923?

    Answer. It is my understanding that royalty payments will not be 
impacted by Public Land Order No. 7923. My father has informed me he 
did receive the June and July 2023 royalty payments without any issue.

    Question 2. Mr. Atencio, what do you think would be the long-term 
impacts on the Navajo people and their heritage if oil and gas 
development were to continue unchecked around Chaco Canyon?

    Answer. I think continued unchecked oil and gas development has 
already deeply impacted the Navajo people and their heritage. We see 
that the decade of local legislative opposition to oil and gas 
development on public lands point to a considered position that oil and 
gas development has had significant disruption to the physical and 
spiritual health of the people. Continued unchecked oil and gas 
development will compound the current impacts and cause irreparable 
community spiritual/environmental health impacts. Future spills, like 
the spill on my father's land, would burden an unknown number of future 
generations with the horrendous task of trying to clean up/reclaim the 
damage caused by oil and gas production across our landscape, and they 
will know that we had a chance to take reasonable action to protect 
them from harm yet we failed to do so.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much.
    We now recognize Ms. Hesuse for 5 minutes.

STATEMENT OF DELORA HESUSE, NAVAJO TRIBAL MEMBER AND ALLOTTEE, 
                  NAGEEZI CHAPTER, NEW MEXICO

    Ms. Hesuse. Good afternoon, Chairman Westerman, Ranking 
Member Grijalva, Chairman Stauber, and Ranking Member Ocasio-
Cortez, Navajo Nation Nygren, and members of the Subcommittee.
    Thank you for the opportunity to bring voice to those 
Navajo tribal members who, like me, have had our sole means of 
modest income from oil and gas payments from our Indian 
allotted mineral interests de facto stripped away by Public 
Land Order 7923, the Chaco 10-mile buffer withdrawal. This was 
despite the strong and consistent opposition of the allottees 
and our Tribal Nation, the Navajo Nation.
    In 2019, I came before another Subcommittee on behalf of 
many allottees who signed petitions in 2018 to oppose any 
buffer around the already-protected Chaco Culture National 
Historical Park. Later, in early 2020, the Navajo Nation, with 
the support of the allottees, proposed a compromise 5-mile 
buffer. In 2021, the Navajo Nation met with Members of Congress 
to encourage the compromise.
    When Secretary Haaland came into office, she promised to 
listen to the Indian Country and give us a stronger role in 
decisions affecting our lives. But she did not listen. She did 
not listen to our lofty voices. She did not consult with us or 
with the Navajo Nation on our proposed 5-mile compromise. 
Secretary Haaland instead issued the PLO that withdrew the 
Federal minerals necessary to the development of our allottee 
minerals.
    The Navajo Nation and the allottees now are united in their 
opposition of any buffer zone around the park. That is why we 
testify today in support of H.R. 4374.
    I am Delora Hesuse, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, Nageezi 
Chapter. My chapter is in the Greater Chaco Region, and near 
the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. My grandmother was 
a councilwoman for Nageezi Chapter for 8 years, and my father 
was a Navajo Nation Council delegate for Nageezi Chapter for 20 
years. Like my parents and my grandparents before me, I have 
worked with our community to help neighbors, other allottees 
who often do not speak or read English, to understand the oil 
and gas development on their properties, and ensure that they 
get good terms for their leasing.
    I have participated alongside other Navajo allottees in 
many dozens of environmental review meetings and planning 
processes over decades. We are very active and careful about 
how we use our land and develop our oil and gas, and make sure 
that we get regular water testing, and nothing is built on any 
traditional sites.
    I frequently go out to the well sites to watch when the 
companies perform air and water quality testing or other work 
so that I can see for myself what is being done, and ensure the 
interests of our community are respected.
    Many people don't understand our Navajo American heritage, 
and the fact that many individual Navajo Nation members such as 
I, called allottees, own private lands and minerals underneath 
them. Many years ago, the Federal Government passed a law that 
gave my ancestors an allotment of land and minerals and 
restricted fee title to own and pass down to their family 
members.
    Many allottees have family ties to specific land dating 
back to at least the early 20th century, if not the late 1880s. 
These lands were given to our great-great-grandparents in 
exchange for citizenship. We have rights as citizens and 
landowners to develop our lands for oil and gas as we see fit. 
This is a steadfast property right that sustains our 
livelihoods and way of life.
    In 2015 alone, the Federal Indian Mineral Office 
distributed $96 million to 20,835 allottees. This is hugely 
important because our area is very poor, and families still do 
not have electricity or running water. Our elderlies rely on 
this money to feed their grandchildren and livestock.
    I know for a fact that allottees' families have sent their 
children to school on royalty money. I have seen it. Some of 
them are now doctors and engineers. Other families have built 
businesses, including a very successful construction business. 
Oil and gas development always provides jobs for many of my 
neighbors and relatives, and many are out of work because 
leases and drilling permits are not being approved.
    The Public Land Order strains Navajo allottees and minerals 
make any new development impossible. More than 100 families in 
our community have leases that they negotiated and signed for 
the property, but have not been approved by the Federal 
Government. Many of these people live in small trailers without 
electricity or basic necessities, and they call and text me 
every day asking me to find out what is happening with their 
leases.
    This withdrawal is the end of their hopes because their 
land is tightly checkerboarded and mixed with Federal lands 
that have been withdrawn. It cannot be developed alone. If you 
take out the Federal minerals, you can see you cannot reach the 
tribal and allotted minerals. The Federal oil and gas are mixed 
with and gathering lines with other infrastructures cross 
Federal lands. It does not matter if the Department of the 
Interior says its existing rights are not subject to the 
buffer. This is wrong. This is an obvious fact of oil and gas 
production.
    The buffer is a significant taking of hundreds of millions 
of dollars of property from the allottees, property that the 
United States is supposed to protect us as trustees, not to 
block off for our own purpose.
    I, too, care deeply about Chaco culture heritage, but there 
is no oil and gas within 6 miles of Chaco Culture National 
Historical Park. Artifacts that may be outside the park are 
protected by BLM through the National Historic Preservation 
Action.
    I urge the Committee to pass this bill. I, and 20 other 
thousand Navajo allottees, have no idea how we will make ends 
meet if you don't. And I would like to thank you for the 
opportunity to testify today.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Hesuse follows:]
 Prepared Statement of Delora Hesuse, Navajo Indian Allottee, Nageezi 
                                Chapter
    Chairman Stauber, Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez and members of the 
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to bring voice to those 
Navajo tribal members who, like me, have had our sole means of modest 
income--oil and gas payments from our Indian allotted mineral 
interests--de facto stripped away by Public Land Order 7923, the Chaco 
ten-mile buffer withdrawal. This was despite the strong and consistent 
opposition of the Allottees and our tribal Nation, the Navajo Nation, 
to the withdrawal of a ten-mile buffer surrounding the Chaco Culture 
National Historic Park first proposed in legislation, then in a land 
use plan and finally a PLO.
    In 2019, I came before another subcommittee, on behalf of the many 
Allottees who signed petitions in 2018, to oppose any buffer around the 
already protected Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Later in early 
2020, the Navajo Nation, with the support of the Allottees, proposed a 
compromise five-mile buffer. In 2021, the Navajo Nation met with 
Members of Congress to encourage the compromise.
    When Secretary Haaland came into office, she promised to listen to 
Indian Country and give us a stronger role in decisions affecting our 
lives. But she did not listen to our Allottee voices, she did not 
consult with us or with the Navajo Nation on our proposed five-mile 
compromise. Secretary Haaland instead issued the PLO that withdraws the 
federal minerals necessary to the development of our allottee minerals. 
The Navajo Nation and the allottees now are united in their opposition 
to any buffer around the Park. That is why we testify today in support 
of H.R. 4374.
    I am Delora Hesuse, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, Nageezi 
Chapter. My chapter is in the Greater Chaco region and near the Chaco 
Culture National Historic Park. My grandmother was a Councilwoman for 
the Nageezi Chapter for eight years, and my father was a Navajo Nation 
Council Delegate for the Nageezi Chapter for twenty years. Like my 
parents and grandparents before me, I have worked with our community to 
help my neighbors, the other Allottees, who often do not speak or read 
English, to understand the oil and gas development on their properties 
and ensure that they get good terms for their leases. I have 
participated alongside other Navajo Allottees in many dozens of 
environmental review meetings and planning processes over decades. We 
are very active and careful about how use our land and develop our oil 
and gas and make sure that we get regular water testing and that 
nothing is built on any traditional sites. I frequently go out to the 
well sites to watch when the companies perform air and water quality 
testing or other work, so that I can see for myself what is being done 
and ensure that the interests of our community are respected.
    We have sought and achieved balance in development, in accord with 
our Navajo language and culture, working closely with industry partners 
who listen to us and respond to any community concerns because they are 
part of our community.
    Many people don't understand our Native American heritage and the 
fact that many individual Navajo Nation members such as I, called 
Allottees, own private lands and the minerals underneath them. Many 
years ago, the federal government passed a law that gave my ancestors 
an allotment of land and minerals in restricted fee title to own and 
pass down to their family members. Many Allottees have family ties to 
specific land dating back to at least the early 20th century if not the 
late 1880s. These lands were given to our great, great grandparents in 
exchange for citizenship, and we have rights as citizens and landowners 
to develop our lands for oil and gas as we see fit. This is a steadfast 
property right that sustains our livelihoods and way of life.
    H.R. 4374 would correct a wrong--PLO 7923--that puts many of our 
mineral rights off limits and stops a much-needed source of income to 
feed, shelter, clothe and protect our families. I'm not exaggerating 
the importance of this income.
    In 2015 alone, the Federal Indian Minerals Office distributed $96 
million to 20,835 Allottees. This is hugely important, because our area 
is very poor, and many families still do not have electricity or 
running water. Our elderly rely on this money to feed their 
grandchildren and livestock. I know for a fact that allottee families 
have sent their children to school on this royalty money. I have seen 
it. Some of them are now doctors and engineers. Other families have 
built businesses, including a very successful construction business. 
Oil and gas development also provides jobs for many of my neighbors and 
relatives, and many are out of work because leases and drilling permits 
are not being approved.
    The Public Land Order strands the Navajo Allottees and our 
minerals, making ANY new development impossible. More than a hundred 
families in our community have leases that they negotiated and signed 
for their property but that have not been approved by the federal 
government. Many of these people are living in small trailers, without 
electricity or basic necessities, and they call and text me every day 
asking me to find out what is happening with their leases.
    This withdrawal is the end of their hopes. Because their land is 
tightly checkerboarded and mixed with federal land that has been 
withdrawn, it cannot be developed alone. If you take out the federal 
minerals, you can see you cannot reach the Tribal and Allottee 
minerals. The federal oil and gas are mixed with ours, and the 
gathering lines and other infrastructure cross federal land. It does 
not matter if the Department of the Interior says existing rights are 
not subject to the buffer--this is wrong. This is an obvious fact of 
oil and gas production. The buffer is a significant taking of hundreds 
of millions of dollars of property from the Allottees, property that 
the United States is supposed to protect as a trustee, not to block off 
for its own purposes.
    Our future revenue loss could be as much as $200 million, although 
we do not know the exact number because it depends on the oil prices 
and the quality of the wells. In the BLM EA, BLM claims only 47 future 
wells will be eliminated by the withdrawal, but the company analysis 
instead shows 233 wells would be prevented. This is a significant 
impact to our livelihood--without federal oil and gas royalty income, 
we do not know how we will be able to survive.
    I testify today in support of H.R. 4374 as a community member, a 
grandmother, and someone who cares for others, especially our elders, 
who are very scared right now because they struggle to understand the 
impacts of the Public Land Order.
    I too care deeply about the Chaco cultural heritage. After all, I'm 
a Navajo who lives right in the Greater Chaco region. But the Chaco 
Culture National Historic Park already protects the Great Houses. 
Artifacts that may be outside the Park are protected by BLM through the 
National Historic Preservation Act. Any development of my minerals and 
the minerals of other Allottees is done in strict accordance with the 
Preservation Act, to make sure they are protected. Not only do we 
insist upon it, but that is the law of the land. The Secretary's Trust 
responsibility to Allottees is also the law of the land. But she 
ignored that responsibility to us.
    I urge the Committee to pass this bill. I and 20,000 other Navajo 
Allottees have no idea how we will make ends meet if you don't.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

                                 ______
                                 

  Questions Submitted for the Record to Delora Hesuse, Navajo Tribal 
                  Member and Allottee, Nageezi Chapter
            Questions Submitted by Representative Westerman
    Question 1. Deputy Director Culver's testimony states that the 
withdrawal ``does not affect existing leases, nor does it apply to 
minerals owned by private, State, or Tribal entities.''

    1a) I want to make sure the record is clear; will this withdrawal 
prevent allottees from developing their minerals?

    Answer. Yes. It prevents the Allottees who wish to develop their 
unleased minerals. We need other lands (Federal BLM lands and state 
lands) to develop horizontal drilling and fracturing. There are many 
Allottees who have sought out leases and negotiated leases but have not 
been able to get them approved because BLM has been sitting on their 
applications for more than a decade. Some of these families live 
without running water and electricity and all of them have many serious 
needs. These people have been very active in trying to find ways to 
earn a living on their lands and have negotiated good economic terms, 
but they cannot start receiving royalties because the leases and 
federal units are not approved.
    You need to understand that it is not just the withdrawal, BLM has 
stopped approving anything, even lines we need for our household 
utilities. Nobody understands how much this official federal policy is 
and how much it is confusion and delay. The people we used to work with 
at the BLM have stopped talking to us openly and telling us what is 
going on. You can see that they are under a lot of pressure.

    Question 2. In Mr. Atencio's testimony, he says that the region has 
an approximate 40% unemployment rate and about 40% of people live below 
the poverty line.

    2a) How will BLM's withdrawal impact these economic metrics--will 
it result in more unemployment and more folks living below the poverty 
line?

    Answer. The withdrawal will only increase the amount of 
unemployment and poverty. Many of our neighbors who worked for the oil 
and gas companies are out of work. I recently attended a meeting on 
June 6, 2023, in Farmington and Aztec wells services said 100 of his 
employees, mostly Navajos were laid off and nobody could tell them when 
they would be able to return to work. Due to only I application being 
approved in the last week.
    In our public comments, we told BLM that the Eastern Navajo Agency, 
which encompasses Navajo communities in Northern New Mexico, remain one 
of the least economically developed places in the United States. The 
Navajo Nation has an official poverty rate of 40.5 percent and a median 
household income of just $26,862. See Federal Reserve Bank of 
Minneapolis, Navajo Nation Reservation Profile, available at 
https:www.minneapolisfed.org/indiancountry/resource/reservation-
profiles/navajo-nation-reservation (accessed December 2, 2022). 
Economic conditions are even bleaker in the Eastern Navajo Agency, 
where the undersigned allottees--all enrolled citizens of the Nation--
eke out a living on allotted lands allocated to their forebearers by 
the Federal Government as a modest consolation for removing the entire 
region form what used to be Navajo Indian Reservation 
(``Reservation''). Plaintiffs now seek to eviscerate the chief 
remaining source of economic benefit from the Navajo Allottee's limited 
landholdings: oil and gas revenue.
    The Nageezi Chapter, a unit of local government adjacent to the 
Withdrawal area, the Navajo Times reported in 2013 that 30 percent of 
households lack electricity. Cindy Yurth, The Orphan on the 
Checkerboard, THE NAVAJO TIMES (April 9, 2013), http://
navajotirnes.com/news/chupters/050913hue.php. The neighboring Huerfano 
Chapter is only accessible by unpaved roads. Id. ``the chapter does 
sport 15 churches, 2 [Bureau of Indian Education] boarding schools, a 
clinic, and at 90 square miles it's so large it hosts 2 land boards, 2 
fire stations and 2 transfer stations.'' Id.

    Question 3. Deputy Director Culver's testimony states that the 
BLM's analysis found that the withdrawal would improve the ``quality of 
life of local communities from the reduction of development of Federal 
minerals in this area.''

    3a) Will this withdrawal improve your quality of life and the 
quality of life for the other allottees?

    Answer. No. it will not improve our quality of life. It will only 
make it difficult to feed our families and improve our communities and 
to get roads, electricity and running water. This oil and gas field has 
been in operation for fifty years, and nobody ever say any negative 
effects until outside groups began to campaign against it. Our air and 
water are tested regularly so we would know if there were problems 
caused by oil and gas.
    The withdrawal will not even protect Chaco Canyon. It is the 
tourists that are destroying the Great House. They trample over 
everything and litter and drive their cars up and down the canyon only 
a few feet from the ruins. I have family members who work for the park, 
and everyone there understands that if we really wanted to protect the 
Park we would restrict public access, not oil rigs operation five miles 
away. In Canyon de Chelly, which is managed by the Navajo Nation in 
cooperation with the Park Service, nobody is allowed to hike through 
the ruins except in small groups under the supervision of an official 
guide. If the public was serious about protecting Chaco, it would 
impose similar restrictions there, but they don't because that would 
interfere with their lives instead of ours.

                                 ______
                                 

    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much.
    Before we get to Members' questions, I will be asking 
unanimous consent that the two gentlewomen from New Mexico, 
Representative Stansbury and Leger Fernandez, be able to 
participate in today's hearing.
    Without objection, so ordered.
    The Chair will now recognize Mr. Crane for 5 minutes of 
questioning.
    Mr. Crane. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    President Nygren, how does it make you feel when you hear 
Members in this chamber recognize the sovereignty of the Navajo 
Nation only when it is convenient? How does that make you feel, 
Mr. President?
    Mr. Nygren. As President of the Navajo Nation, one of the 
most important things that I live by every single day is 
protecting the Treaty of 1868 and its best interests of the 
people in the communities.
    I know that Navajo people are very diverse. We are all over 
the country, and there are 200,000 of us that live on the 
reservation. But when you hear that it is only when it is 
convenient, it is a little frustrating. Tribal sovereignty 
shouldn't be a convenience, it should be something that we live 
by. There are laws. There are ways of working with tribes.
    And as mentioned earlier in my testimony, working together, 
coming up with a collective solution, and making sure that we 
don't leave people behind, and I feel like that is my No. 1 
important role as President, and I really, truly believe that 
the people that elected me this past year were people that are 
very poor, people in tough conditions, single mothers, 
grandparents that are raising their grandkids, people without 
jobs, and people that don't even have enough money to go to the 
laundromat.
    And I think about that every single day, so when I hear 
that, it is tough. It is a tough pill to swallow because it is 
a long road to get where we want to get.
    Mr. Crane. Yes. Ms. Hesuse, would you agree? Does it bother 
you to hear Members in this chamber and other Members talk 
about the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation only when it is 
convenient, but then they are more than happy to boss you all 
around and tell you how you can use your natural resources?
    I can tell you guys something. Many of the individuals on 
this panel don't share the same political affiliation that I 
do. I am a Republican, yet I represent many people, many of the 
Native people that identify as Democrats. But I can tell you 
one thing we have in common. I don't like to see this corrupt, 
often corrupt, overreaching, overbearing, irresponsible 
government tell any of my constituents or any of the American 
people what they can and cannot do, especially when it goes 
against their council, their presidency, the people that they 
elected to represent them. And that is something that I want.
    Mr. Atencio, do you believe in the sovereignty of the 
Navajo Nation?
    Mr. Atencio. Mr. Crane, as a local elected official, I do.
    Mr. Crane. OK. Thank you, sir. So, here is the thing, Mr. 
Atencio, and I respect your opinion. I can tell that you 
researched, you know what you have, you have a solid opinion.
    But this is my counsel to everybody in here. This swings 
both ways, OK? If you allow this government to come in and tell 
you what you can do with the buffer zone around Chaco Canyon, 
then don't complain when they come in and tell you something 
else. It is either you are sovereign or you are not. You guys 
have a president, you guys have an elected council. If the 
people that elected these individuals, these elected officials, 
wanted a buffer zone, they would have a buffer zone. OK? And 
that is not even to mention the $200 million that it is going 
to cost citizens and tribal members on the Navajo Nation. That 
is a lot of money.
    I remember going to meet President Nygren in my home state, 
and I remember driving around the reservation, and I noticed 
there was a lot of poverty there. So, that $200 on the Navajo 
Nation, that is going to mean a lot more than it would in 
Prescott, or Sedona, or Flagstaff, other areas that I 
represent.
    And here is the thing. I want to say this, as well. I have 
noticed this since I have been representing the Navajo people. 
It is not just with this Chaco Canyon buffer zone, Ms. Culver. 
Multiple times we have reached out to the Department of the 
Interior to ask about gravel pits. This is a big issue for the 
Navajo Nation. They want to be able to use their own gravel 
pits so that they can repair their own roads. Guess how many 
responses we have received from the Department of the Interior, 
Ms. Culver? Zero.
    They don't listen to me. You guys clearly aren't listening 
to the President and the Council of the Navajo Nation. Who 
exactly are you listening to, Ms. Culver?
    Ms. Culver. We are listening to the public. We are 
consulting with tribes, and we are engaging in extensive 
outreach and engagement with all of the many Americans for whom 
we steward the public lands.
    Mr. Crane. Well, that is hard to believe when you can't 
even respond to their Congressional Representative.
    Thank you, I yield back.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much. The Chair now recognizes 
the Ranking Member, Representative Ocasio-Cortez, for 5 
minutes.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Thank you so much.
    I would be remiss without mentioning with some of the 
comments just shared that we have heard Native governments 
across this country stand up against the Keystone XL Pipeline, 
the Dakota Access Pipeline, that stood up against being 
poisoned by industry and having their lands defiled. And we see 
Members of Congress also try to overturn the will of people 
here. This is not something that is new, and it speaks to the 
deep historical harm that the U.S. Government and history of 
the U.S. Government has with Native people, which is a deeper 
issue that we all must address.
    And, in fact, I would like to dig into the record of oil 
and gas companies operating in this area. Ms. Ashland, in Mr. 
Atencio's written testimony, he mentions that your company, 
Enduring Resources, spilled over 40,000 gallons of toxic 
fracking slurry mixed with crude oil onto his family's 
allotment near Chaco Canyon. Do you dispute this fact?
    Ms. Ashland. Enduring Resources has informed me that the 
spill did not occur on Mr. Atencio's allotment. It did occur. 
There was a spill in 2019. It was about 300 barrels of oil and 
about 1,000 barrels of water. It was cleaned up immediately, 
and it was----
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. So, the spill did occur?
    Ms. Ashland. The spill occurred. It was in the middle of 
February, and it was the result of a frozen pipe.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. But you dispute that it touched Mr. 
Atencio's allotment.
    Ms. Ashland. I have been told that it did not.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Mr. Atencio, was this spill on your 
allotment?
    Mr. Atencio. Yes, my father's allotment.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. OK, thank you.
    Ms. Ashland, did Enduring Resources pay any fines for 
impacts to land or water from that spill? Just a simple yes or 
no.
    Ms. Ashland. No.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. No? So, the company did not pay any 
fines for the impact of that spill.
    Mr. Atencio, did your family or your chapter ever hear at 
all from Enduring Resources about this spill?
    Mr. Atencio. Ranking Member, no. We have yet to receive any 
formal response from Enduring Resources.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. And I think this is something that 
speaks to a pattern that we have seen in front of this 
Committee.
    To be clear, the kinds of pollution from that spill and a 
spill of that magnitude is profound, with highly noxious, 
hazardous air pollutants and methane that either leaked 
inadvertently or are vented or flared by operators. I have seen 
it in person. I have seen families burn when they breathe in 
some of this air.
    And, in fact, so much methane spills out of industrial 
vents in the region that the methane cloud over New Mexico is 
now visible from space. We see this, and it happens not just in 
this instance but in many others where I have brought this 
point in front of this Committee, that people deserve to know 
if they are being poisoned, whether it is by accident or 
whether it is by any other process. And they are not being 
informed. They are not being told.
    The CDC also tells us that exposure to these pollutants can 
cause significant long-term health damage.
    Mr. Atencio, since the 2019 spill, have Enduring Resources 
or other oil and gas companies taken any steps to notify nearby 
communities of methane leaks, oil spills, or other incidents?
    Mr. Atencio. No.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. And as Enduring Resources started 
building the infrastructure necessary to produce fossil fuels 
in the community, were you ever informed of the risks 
associated with these plants?
    Mr. Atencio. No.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. One thing I do want to speak to is the 
very real economic harm and injustice associated with this 
issue, because Native people and Indigenous communities have 
been abused, and have not been respected. And in stripping 
everything away, we now are in an economic hostage situation 
where people feel like the only opportunity and that the only 
source is to acquiesce to oil and gas.
    And the answer to that is not to revert back, in my view, 
not to revert back to that, but to invest and reinvest in these 
communities, particularly where there is harm being done, 
particularly where there is disinvestment being done. And if 
families are being impacted in these allotments, they deserve 
economic restitution.
    And President Nygren, I understand that the Navajo Nation 
has taken a position on the 10-mile withdrawal. But that aside, 
are there other steps the Federal Government can take to better 
support the Navajo Nation through an energy transition?
    Mr. Nygren. Thank you, Honorable Cortez, I really 
appreciate that question.
    One of the things I want to say is, I was hoping that those 
discussions were going to happen this year. I did not even know 
about the announcement or anything from the Secretary. But my 
hope was that we were going to have these discussions so that 
we can come up with a collective solution. Because in Arizona 
we had probably the biggest, cleanest coal-fired plant, NGS, 
that was decommissioned and now doesn't exist anymore. The 
promise was solar fields down the road, but now nothing exists 
and people are out of jobs. There are no royalties, there are 
no taxes.
    So, I truly agree with having a transition plan that is 
equitable, and that plan was never presented. To me, it was 
just a decision that was made, and that was one of the reasons 
why we completely opposed this, there was no compromise, there 
were no alternative forms of how can we make this community 
thrive, alternative forms of energy. That wasn't presented, so 
that was one of the reasons why the Navajo Nation Council 
issued their resolution, and I made that statement, was how do 
we help these people? Because as the Navajo Nation President, 
the government wasn't affected. Less than 1 percent of those 
royalties come to the Navajo Nation. So, to me, as the 
President, I wasn't affected. But to the allottees, they felt 
like they were hit with a trash can, and I was splashed with 
water.
    So, that is where I completely agree with you, is that we 
have to think about the people that are in those tough 
situations that have to make those tough scenarios is how do we 
open the doors so that they can seek other alternative forms of 
funding. So, thank you for asking that.
    Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Thank you, President Nygren. My hope is 
that we can work together as a Committee to address some of 
these injustices, including considering solar royalties for 
some of these communities. Thank you.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you very much. I will now recognize 
myself for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Ashland, just to be clear, I wanted to make sure the 
record was clear on the spill that occurred in 2019. Has 
Enduring conducted clean-up efforts at the site?
    Ms. Ashland. Yes, immediately.
    Mr. Stauber. And I would like to submit for the record an 
e-mail from the EPA Region 9 certifying that the cleanup is 
complete, and that conditions have been ``been restored to pre-
disturbance functionality.''
    Ms. Ashland, what kind of outreach does Enduring do for 
allottee outreach?
    Ms. Ashland. Enduring is always happy to offer to show 
allottees around the plants, the facilities, explaining all the 
operations. We get phone calls all the time from allottees with 
questions, and I personally have answered many of those calls 
over the years that I have worked with Enduring. We try to be 
as responsive as possible.
    We are planning a listening session with the local chapter 
that would be basically a presentation of our operations and 
facilities and how they work, and the safeguards that we take 
to protect the air, and water, and soil around us.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you. Thank you very much.
    Ms. Hesuse, what kind of outreach do the allottees receive 
from Enduring?
    Ms. Hesuse. Thank you, Chair. Yes, they do. They do an 
outreach. And a matter of fact, we were on the verge of getting 
another outreach. So, we have been having outreach, and there 
is another company. Before Enduring it was WPX. So, a lot of 
the allottees got their information. And if the allottees want 
more, they will go and seek it.
    I had four uncles that don't speak English, and they asked 
me, ``Delora, is there a way that we can get, we don't 
understand what the flaring is. We don't understand it, the 
process of it.'' So, when another company came out to the gym, 
we sat them down, my uncles. So, now they have a clarification 
of what the flaring is, so they are at ease.
    So, I just wanted to make that statement. They are 
educating themselves. They are asking questions. Thank you.
    Mr. Stauber. Thank you.
    President Nygren, I wanted to begin by letting you know I 
share your frustration. It is unacceptable that the Biden 
administration has not properly consulted you and other members 
of the Navajo Nation throughout this entire withdrawal process.
    When issuing mineral withdrawals and arbitrarily pulling 
permits for important mining projects in my district in 
northern Minnesota, the Biden administration completely ignored 
the needs and desires of the local communities. Following the 
Navajo Nation Council's passage of the resolution opposing a 
buffer zone around Chaco Canyon and the letter that you and 
Speaker Curley submitted to the Biden administration, what kind 
of response did you receive?
    Mr. Nygren. We didn't get a response until I personally saw 
it on the news that there was a 10-mile buffer zone. And to me 
it was very shocking because I saw her a month earlier, and I 
have seen her multiple times over the past 6 months prior to 
the announcement. So, to me it was very shocking that our 
voices weren't being heard. And it made it seem like, as the 
Navajo Nation President, who is elected by all 110 chapters, 
all 400,000 people, that your voice is not being honored. So, 
it was very disheartening when I heard the news on the radio.
    But other than that, one of the things I do want to say is 
that, to me, what is important is tribal sovereignty, tribal 
consultation. Let's talk about it. Let's sit down before we 
make harsh decisions that will impact people now. We shouldn't 
make those types of decisions. These are decisions, as I 
mentioned earlier, it is very minimal to the Navajo Nation, but 
it is very highly impacting the allottees, and those peoples' 
livelihoods should have been considered because living in 
poverty is not fun. Having no money for laundry, having no 
money for gas, or not knowing how you are going to pay for 
resources, $20,000 might not seem a lot, but $20,000 is feeding 
multiple families on a daily basis. Thank you.
    Mr. Stauber. I think it is really egregious that you were 
notified via a television newscast, that you were notified not 
directly from the Bureau. And that is the concerning thing.
    For me, it is frustrating, as I told you what happened to 
us in northeastern Minnesota. The local communities support the 
mining projects because it is about jobs and the economy, the 
best environmental standards, best labor standards. And it 
sounds like you heard it from a local newscast. It was almost 
like they felt they didn't have to notify you in person. And, 
in fact, it sounds like they didn't even consult you and talk 
about the decision and have that compromise that you had talked 
about. And for that I am sorry that you and the allottees had 
to go through that. It is unacceptable.
    My time is up, and the next individual is going to be 
Representative Leger Fernandez for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and President 
Nygren, Ms. Hesuse, and Chapter Vice President, yatahey. I 
don't do it very well. Buenas tardes. Thank you so much for 
joining us.
    Congress and this Committee work best when tribal voices 
echo through the halls, even when those tribal voices are 
raising perhaps distinct issues. And Ms. Hesuse, I agree with 
you. It is not right that Navajo allottees don't have that 
infrastructure. And I can tell you we have started to change 
that. In the last 2 years, we have authorized billions of 
dollars for Indian Country and Navajo for investments in roads, 
water, electricity, and broadband.
    Last month, I had the honor of being on Navajo land to 
celebrate more than $300 million that I helped secure for the 
Navajo Gallup Water Supply Project. Thank you so much, 
President Nygren, for testifying yesterday in support of my and 
Senator Lujan's bill to fully fund that project. We need to get 
water to everybody's home on Navajo.
    And what we are also looking at is, as we invest in Indian 
Country, we must also safeguard the places that have unmatched 
cultural significance to our Indigenous communities that are 
managed by the Federal Government, because that is what we are 
talking about is Federal lands here. We really need to honor 
the historical ties, the love, the sacredness they hold.
    And thank you, President Nygren, for your testimony about 
Navajo leadership on protecting sacred sites.
    I was a very young attorney, and we worked on protecting 
Zuni Salt Lake. I know Navajo was part of that coalition 
because of its importance to you and the Pueblos. Mount Taylor, 
Navajo Laguna Acoma successfully added it as a historic 
cultural property. Where else had that been done? And that was 
because of its importance to Dine and the Pueblo people.
    And we celebrated and are grateful for the leadership of 
the Navajo Tribes, Zuni, and all the others to safeguard Bears 
Ears, which will now be co-managed by the tribes who hold it 
most sacred. That is how it needs to be done. And Bears Ears is 
a living cultural landscape, as you have taught us, similar to 
what you have taught us about the Greater Chaco Region, which 
you in your testimony, as well, President Nygren, as well as 
Vice President Atencio pointed out.
    And in each of these areas for protection, our job is to 
listen to the experts because we don't know, we are not there, 
we are not Navajo, we are not Pueblo, we are not Zuni. It is 
the experts or the Indigenous people themselves who hold these 
lands to be sacred, who know they are living places.
    And, yes, I know it is hard because in each of these 
instances there are the competing issues of mineral extraction, 
oil and gas, gravel, what be it. And we need to look at those, 
and it is not easy. Those decisions are not easy because they 
do affect resource development. They do affect money coming in 
for everybody.
    What I believe is important is honoring that which is 
invaluable, that which can never be replaced, that which is 
spiritual and sacred to those who tell us what are the most 
important places, because it is not everywhere, right? There 
are places that are appropriate to be developed. And that is 
why I oppose this bill today, even though I know it is a hard 
decision, and that there are many different voices on it.
    Tribal leaders, Pueblo, NCAI, and Navajo Pueblo people have 
written to Congress for decades in support of this withdrawal. 
And I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record this 
testimony, as well as I know we have in the record the Navajo 
Nation Council decision.
    President Nygren and Ms. Hesuse, I really do appreciate you 
sharing those concerns. I did receive feedback from allottees. 
Unfortunately, it was in Zoom. It is never as good as being out 
on the reservation.
    And President Nygren, you and I have had these 
conversations about what can we do, how can we find those 
solutions to move forward? President Nygren, I hope you are 
going to continue to work with us on this. What are some of the 
biggest issues that you think, as Congress, we must address to 
address the poverty that you described?
    Mr. Nygren. Thank you, Congresswoman. I really do 
appreciate that, and it is always good to see you.
    I think one of the things, as I mentioned earlier, is that 
before we make harsh decisions, we have to make sure there is a 
plan in place. And I am glad that you asked that. And I think 
that is very critical to look at the area. I know that within 
the Chaco area it is very unique. As I mentioned earlier, 
Navajo has been protecting Chaco for hundreds of years, and we 
have been there, and our clans and everything stemmed from 
there.
    But in terms of trying to transition, I think one of the 
things I think about is we really have to look at, I know 
people have talked about farming, people have talked about 
solar, people have talked about alternative forms of solutions. 
But those solutions were not brought to the table when this 
order came in. And my hope was that we were going to actually 
put something on paper so that we can use that as a guiding 
principle before this public order was issued. But to me, I 
just feel like we have to come back to the table.
    And I am sorry that you are opposing it, but we will 
continue to work on it, and hopefully come up with a solution 
so that people that are in poverty, let's try to help them, 
empower them so that their children in the future can be self-
sufficient and one day stand on their own two feet. I am all 
about that, so I look forward to working with you.
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. We are going to be a good team and 
working on that, and I will submit some additional questions 
for the record. Vice Chair President Atencio, I didn't get to 
you, so thank you very much.
    My time is expired. I yield back.
    Dr. Gosar [presiding]. Did the gentlelady from New Mexico 
have something to submit for the record?
    Ms. Leger Fernandez. Oh, yes, I did.
    Dr. Gosar. Without objection, so ordered.
    The gentleman from Idaho, Mr. Fulcher, is recognized.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And to the panelists, 
thank you for being here and providing some insight. It really 
is appreciated, and I can relate to a lot of the dialogue here 
today.
    Mr. Chairman, we are discussing again a situation where the 
Bureau of Land Management has decided to not listen to 
constituents, and that is the case when it comes to our Federal 
lands, as well as our tribal lands, and that is a topic that I 
have raised with Ms. Culver before, and with other officials 
within BLM. We know that all too well in my home state of 
Idaho. We have 12 million acres of BLM-managed lands. And not 
only are the issues with BLM present here, but they will soon 
be exacerbated with this new BLM public land rule that is 
underway.
    And President Nygren, in your written testimony, you 
mentioned the BLM's withdrawal of approximately 336,000 acres 
of Federal land in the Chaco Culture National Park. You noted 
that the objections of the Navajo Nation were ignored. And I 
have that same kind of situation in my home state of Idaho, 
when the BLM would not hold public hearings on this public land 
rule that I referenced. And I believe that has happened in 
other regions, as well.
    I am going to ask you, President Nygren, and also try to 
get Ms. Ashland's input on this. But first of all, do you feel 
like the Navajo Nation has been heard on this?
    And I think I know the answer. But the second part of this 
question, and what I am going to also ask of Ms. Ashland is, on 
this withdrawal, regarding the resources, how much wealth are 
we talking about here? Can you quantify that in any way?
    First of all, were you heard? Secondly, can you quantify 
the wealth of the resources that are part of this withdrawal?
    Mr. Nygren. Thank you, Congressman, for asking that 
question.
    As mentioned earlier, as President of the Navajo Nation, 
the voice of the Navajo people and the Navajo Nation Council, 
the legislative body united behind this effort opposing the 10-
mile buffer zone, no, we weren't heard. Hearing it on the news 
firsthand as the President of Navajo Nation is, obviously, you 
are not being heard.
    As mentioned earlier, it is a tough scenario to where you 
feel like you are representing the poorest of the poor, and 
when you are trying to bring people out of poverty, trying to 
provide them opportunities, if you are going to take a job from 
somebody or money from somebody, you should have a plan to 
replace it. And in this case, that plan wasn't provided, which, 
to me, is very disrespectful.
    And at the same time, one of the things that we forget to 
think about is Chaco is surrounded by the Navajo Nation, and 
the Navajo Nation has been protecting Chaco for hundreds of 
years. Chaco would not be where it is today if Navajo people 
didn't live there, didn't protect that, didn't have ceremonies, 
didn't honor it. So, for people to question how we feel about 
Chaco is very disrespectful to us. We have been doing it for 
hundreds of years. And as I mentioned in my testimony, and into 
the future and forever we will continue to protect Chaco 
because Chaco sits within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation.
    And the only part was you are taking money from poor 
people, so how do you replace that opportunity?
    Mr. Fulcher. You are saying there is the cultural wealth, 
but there is also the natural resource wealth.
    Mr. Nygren. Yes.
    Mr. Fulcher. And I understand the cultural piece, that 
makes sense. The natural resource piece, do you have any input 
on what is there?
    Mr. Nygren. I think Ms. Ashland mentioned that in her 
testimony.
    Mr. Fulcher. Ms. Ashland, with your expertise as a 
consultant, perhaps you can add some light to that.
    Ms. Ashland. Yes. Enduring has calculated that if 233 
Mancos wells were drilled, over 86 million barrels of oil and 
25.85 Bcf of natural gas could be produced; 19 percent of that 
would be Navajo, the remaining would be mostly Federal. Based 
on a royalty rate of 16.66 percent, the combined royalties 
foregone by just the Federal Government and the allottees would 
be $51,122,997 per year for a total of over $1 billion for the 
20-year withdrawal. The foregone royalties for the Navajo 
allottees' tracks alone would be $194,267,390 over the 20-year 
withdrawal.
    Mr. Fulcher. Thank you for that, Ms. Ashland and Mr. 
President.
    This is a property rights issue that we are dealing with. 
And Ms. Culver, I have communicated with you before, and I want 
to thank you for being here. This hasn't been pleasant for you, 
and I hope you get some bonus pay for showing up in the place 
of your director, because your director should be here. But at 
least you are showing up. I hope that in some way, with one of 
these hearings, you are at least getting the message we are not 
being heard. So, I am saying that again with you directly and 
on the record: We are not being heard. We are going to do 
everything we can here to try to set things right with this 
Committee.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Dr. Gosar. I thank the gentleman. The gentleman from 
Arizona, Mr. Grijalva, is recognized.
    Mr. Grijalva. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Director Culver, let me ask you for the record so that it 
is available to all the Members. The consultation process with 
the Navajo Nation, I mean, if that could be documented and 
sent, as opposed to being verbally told to us today, and also 
with other tribes, as you work through those discussions on the 
buffer, the scope of it, and how big it was going to be, and 
the reasons for it, I think it is important that be part of the 
record. I think it is important that the Members know what that 
level of engagement was, part of the Department with Tribal 
Nations and with Indigenous groups in the area.
    Now, having said that, what we have heard today, I think, 
is the uncomfortable conflict and dealing with the issues of 
economics, primarily, and dealing with the very fundamental 
issue of Chaco Canyon and its long and its perpetual 
protection. They are not supposed to conflict, but they do. And 
I think, unfortunately, this conflict is also ripe for a lot of 
hypocrisy and ripe for it in terms of how one feels or doesn't 
feel about the issue of sovereignty. It is fertile for 
hypocrisy from some of my colleagues.
    But anyway, my point, Ms. Culver, talk about Chaco Canyon 
as to one of the motivations to look at this whole study, to 
look at the withdrawal, and if the withdrawal leaves to be 
desired, that is, from my perspective, Mr. President, we are 
appreciative and respectful that you are here. If the 
consultation process relative to Navajo Nation leaves something 
to be desired, then that is regrettable and should be remedied, 
and I appreciate your comments.
    But Ms. Culver, talk about why we got to the point of 
having to deal with the buffer and the overall long-term 
protection of Chaco Canyon. There are other reasons here.
    Ms. Culver. Thank you so much for the question. The area 
around Chaco has been focus of significant concern. As noted, 
there has not been leasing in the Chaco area in the 10-mile 
buffer for over a decade because this has been such a 
consistent issue of the need for protection for these cultural 
resources for the local communities. For the other resources of 
this area, that this has been an ongoing issue.
    And there is a reason that the BLM has not leased in this 
area for over a decade across----
    Mr. Grijalva. And who is responsible for the permit to do 
the extraction on those lands?
    Ms. Culver. On the Federal lands, the BLM manages them. On 
the allotment lands, they are managed by the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, who has continued to issue permits throughout the last 
decade while there has not been leasing on the Federal lands. 
And the BLM has also continued to issue permits, of course, on 
the Federal lands.
    Mr. Grijalva. OK, thank you.
    Do I still have a little time, Mr. Gosar?
    Dr. Gosar. Yes.
    Mr. Grijalva. The other question, Mr. Atencio, I needed to 
ask you the same thing. Chaco Canyon. I think it needs to be 
explained in more than the limited way we have been explaining 
it today. Why is it important, and why does that protection 
need to be in perpetuity?
    Mr. Atencio. Thank you for the question, Representative.
    In the aforementioned Volume II Navajo Religion Chaco 
Canyon, the congressionally-funded ethnographic report based on 
medicine people interviews, is that they identify themselves as 
the cultural experts, and they speak for everyone, meaning all 
Navajos. And in there it says the greater Chaco landscape is 
the frame in which, they say it must be protected.
    Key incredibly sacred ceremonies are at the center core of 
Navajo national identity. If you mess with the Enemy Way 
Ceremony, you are messing with veterans and their behavioral 
health. That is an incredibly sacred, incredibly damaging thing 
to do to the veterans.
    How that is going to work, that is probably esoteric in 
nature to the Committee.
    Mr. Grijalva. Yes.
    Mr. Atencio. Thank you, Representative.
    Mr. Grijalva. No, sometimes there are places, special 
places that are bigger than many things. And I oppose this 
legislation because it tries to minimize the significance of 
the importance of our protection, and I think the issue of 
respecting and consulting needs to be examined, and nobody 
should be punished for this protection. And I hope that we can 
do that goal. But this legislation is not it.
    I yield back.
    Dr. Gosar. I thank the gentleman. The gentleman from 
Georgia, Mr. Collins, is recognized.
    Mr. Collins. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Director Culver, in addition to this Committee I serve as 
the Chair of the Science, Space, and Technology Research 
Subcommittee. And on that Committee we have been focusing on 
how the United States can maintain a technological advantage 
over China. And I am concerned that this Administration's track 
record of blocking access to critical minerals, sources that 
are here in the United States, in order to appease radical 
environmental groups will lead to us losing to China. Where do 
you propose we get these minerals from?
    Ms. Culver. Thank you for that question.
    The Administration is committed to ensuring supply chain 
for critical minerals. The President has issued us that 
direction, and we are evaluating it, including through an 
interagency working group on mining, and we hope to share those 
recommendations with you soon.
    Mr. Collins. It sounds like you all want to keep getting 
them from the Congo and using child labor.
    I also visited a mine in Minnesota, the largest deposit of 
cobalt and copper in the world. They are prohibited to mine it 
because of your Administration. So, Deputy Director Culver, are 
you trying to make us dependent on China for critical minerals?
    Ms. Culver. The Administration is committed to ensuring 
that the public lands do their part for critical minerals, as 
well as ensuring that we have a reliable supply chain.
    Mr. Collins. Mr. Chairman, I think it is the same answer 
that we hear day in and day out when we have these Committee 
hearings. It is over, and over, and over again when, in fact, 
it is nothing but a socialistic agenda to push this country 
into a woke social program, and make us dependent on China, and 
not allow the people of the United States to mine their land 
and provide critical minerals that we need in this country.
    And I am finished. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
    Dr. Gosar. I thank the gentleman. The gentlewoman from New 
Mexico, Ms. Stansbury, is recognized for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Stansbury. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    President Nygren, councilmembers, tribal leaders, and many, 
many New Mexicans and members of the Navajo Nation that I see 
in our audience and watching from home, I want to say welcome. 
Thank you for joining us today. I am Melanie Stansbury, and I 
represent New Mexico's 1st Congressional District, and I am 
honored to be able to represent the people of our state and the 
many Indigenous peoples who have walked this land since time 
immemorial.
    Chaco Canyon is a sacred place. For those of you who have 
never been there before, you can stand on the mesa overlooking 
Pueblo Bonito on a cold morning and see the ancient city walls, 
the kivas, and the sacred sites that stretch out as far as the 
eye can see. It is a place that is the ancestral home of the 
Pueblo people. The Pueblo people are tied to this place through 
their lineage, through their songs, through their prayers, 
through their continued practice of culture and religion that 
continues today.
    The Dine people, many of whom are here today, this is also 
their homeland. The people who live in this area, the people 
who have traversed that land, who have worked on that land, and 
who have prayed on that land since time immemorial, and, as 
President Nygren himself said today, who have protected the 
sacred sites of Chaco Canyon for generation after generation, 
and support the continued protection of this sacred place.
    So, it has been strange to me this morning to listen to 
this hearing, to listen to folks who have probably never even 
visited this place talk about a sacred site that has such deep 
historical, cultural, and religious meaning to the people of 
New Mexico and to the Indigenous people for whom this is their 
homeland.
    Beyond these spaces, the protection of Chaco Canyon is 
supported by the vast majority of New Mexicans. In fact, over 
75 percent of our state. And, of course, tribes across the 
nation have weighed in in support of the protection of this 
land. And that is why, Mr. Chairman, I have right here in my 
hand 61 letters and statements in support of protecting Chaco 
Canyon that I ask unanimous consent to submit to the record.
    Dr. Gosar. Without objection, so ordered.
    Ms. Stansbury. This includes 30 letters of support from 
Navajo allottees who live in the Greater Chaco area: testimony 
from Navajo Nation Vice President Lizer in 2019 stating that we 
cannot go through another environmental disaster in the area; 
from Navajo Nation President Begay in 2017 about his concerns 
about drilling in the area and its impacts to the daily lives 
of the Navajo people; from an allottee from the area who speaks 
to these impacts, and the ways in which withdrawal supports 
Pueblo and Dine solidarity; from the All Pueblo Council of 
Governors supporting withdrawal and affirming its sacred 
significance to both the Pueblo and the Navajo Nations; and 
from our very own colleague, Congressman and Republican Ryan 
Zinke, who, as Interior Secretary, deferred oil and gas leasing 
on these lands because ``I have always said there are places 
where it is appropriate to develop and where it is not,'' as it 
was evident even to Secretary Zinke that this was one of the 
places it was not.
    So, you will excuse my cynicism about this hearing called 
by our Republican colleagues to introduce a resolution that 
would strip away the authority of the Administration to protect 
these sacred lands. And as somebody who personally was born in 
San Juan County, just up the road from Nageezi, who has 
personally grown up visiting these places and hearing these 
stories and working with the people of New Mexico, I have to 
ask myself, why are we even holding this hearing? Why are we 
holding this hearing?
    I think it is evident that one of the star witnesses of the 
Majority is, of course, the oil and gas company that has 
drilling interests in this site and, in fact, as it has already 
been established here today, the very same company that spilled 
hundreds, thousands, we are not even sure how much, crude oil 
in the Chaco area in 2019. And after their well exploded a few 
days later, didn't even bother to call the families who were 
impacted by it. Not only did they not call them, they did not 
provide any sort of financial support or pay any kind of fines 
for the aftermath of what occurred.
    And those who are saying that this would somehow lock up 
development in the area do not understand that this landscape 
already has over 40,000 oil and gas wells in operation in it. 
So, why are we having this hearing?
    President Nygren, I am honored and grateful that you are 
here with us today, and I had the opportunity to speak with you 
yesterday, and I appreciate your comments of support in 
protecting Chaco Canyon and finding a path forward to ensure 
that we not only protect these lands.
    And Ms. Hesuse, I do appreciate you so much coming to 
share. I do appreciate that, and I know that many of the 
allottees who are not able to have their voices spoken and 
heard here today share many of the sentiments that have been 
heard today in this hearing.
    But I also think it is important to establish, as Director 
Culver has stated, and which has not been stated in this room, 
I think, sufficiently, that there has been years of tribal 
consultation that has preceded this Administration withdrawal 
and the legislative work that led to the introduction that all 
five Members of the New Mexico Delegation did of a legislative 
withdrawal of the 10-mile buffer. In fact, it dates back over 
decades.
    And it is not just a few activists. This is the Navajo 
Nation itself who has been engaged in these consultations, 
including both chapter leadership and previous administrations, 
as well as notification to the current Administration. It does 
include consultation with allottees, it does include 
consultation with Indigenous groups, and it does include 
extensive consultation with the 20 Pueblo Nations who are 
represented by the All Pueblo Council of Governors. So, there 
has been extensive work and consultation and representation and 
appreciation for tribal sovereignty.
    Finally, Mr. Atencio, I want to lift up your testimony 
today because I think that it speaks to many of the voices that 
were not heard in this hearing today and which are represented 
by folks who are sitting behind you, and by the voices that are 
in this packet of support letters that we provided today about 
this false choice of unkept promises, not just today by the 
current administration or previous administration, but the 
false promises and the unkept promises by the U.S. Government 
to the Navajo people, to the Pueblo people since the very 
beginning.
    So, let's protect Chaco Canyon. Let's find a path forward.
    And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Dr. Gosar. I thank the gentlewoman from New Mexico.
    In both 2018 and 2019, the Department of the Interior 
postponed two lease sales around Chaco Canyon in order to 
gather further information about the surrounding area. I find 
it very interesting that, despite the fact that both lease 
sales were deferred, then-Congresswoman Haaland criticized the 
Trump administration for failing to listen to the tribes. Here 
we are, 4 years later, and now Secretary Haaland has taken 
action to withdraw these lands without listening to tribal 
voices. What a shame.
    Ms. Culver, in Fiscal Year of 2020, the Department of the 
Interior environment and related agencies appropriations bill 
prevented the funds from being used to offer oil and gas 
leasing on any Federal lands or minerals within the Chaco 
Canyon area prior to the completion of a cultural resources 
investigation, which the bill also provided funds for. We have 
seen one of the reports, the Navajo Nation's report, but have 
not seen the second report from the other tribes. Is that 
report complete?
    Ms. Culver. We expect that report to be submitted in the 
near future. We have not yet received it.
    Dr. Gosar. You have not received it.
    Ms. Culver. No.
    Dr. Gosar. That baffles me, but doesn't surprise me, 
though, that the Department would move forward with such a 
severe action without completing these investigations. It makes 
it look like the decision to do a 10-mile buffer zone was pre-
determined, and that the public comment process was a check-
the-box exercise.
    Did you consider either of these reports before moving 
forward with the withdrawal?
    Ms. Culver. We have considered what we have received to 
date from both reports, as well as extensive input through 
numerous consultations and meetings with tribes and allottees.
    Dr. Gosar. So, the 61 individual complaints or people that 
chose to levy their voices, right? Is that what we are talking 
about? I just want to make sure we are talking about the right 
thing.
    Ms. Culver. During this process, which began before the 
formal withdrawal process started in 2022, we held numerous 
meetings with tribal leaders and with allottees, as well as 
once the formal process started, as well as numerous 
consultation meetings with just tribal leadership, and also 
separately with allotment holders.
    Dr. Gosar. Would it surprise you that I sent my staff out 
there and I was out there, and that we talked to over 300 
families of the allottees? Would that surprise you?
    Ms. Culver. I am not quite sure how to respond to that, 
Congressman. But if you went out there and spoke with people, 
that is a wonderful thing.
    Dr. Gosar. I actually did.
    Ms. Culver. Great.
    Dr. Gosar. And that is talking to people. That is not just 
talking to anybody. That is talking to the people directly 
affected by this.
    Now, did you simply ignore the conclusion from the report, 
which states ``Most of the Dine families within the buffer zone 
do not want a buffer zone, and are pretty adamant about it. As 
they stated, the Federal agencies and the Navajo Nation have 
not sat down with the allottees to discuss this proposed 10-
mile buffer zone.''
    So, if Congress appropriated money to do these ethnographic 
studies to identify cultural sites, and you didn't even 
consider them before making a decision, what is the question? I 
mean, I don't get it. We allot money for all these decisions to 
be made, and yet we don't see them. They are not responded to.
    Something is wrong with this equation, big time. Once 
again, my colleague from Arizona, Mr. Eli Crane, made the 
comment. It is so convenient to be sovereign when you want to 
be. Yet, it is inappropriate to be sovereign when you don't 
want to be. Something is wrong with this equation here, and it 
is bad. You ought to be at least consistent.
    Would it also surprise you that Ben Ray Lujan, a gentleman 
from this body, actually now sits with the U.S. Senate, we 
actually had this debate back and forth for quite a while. He 
actually gave in to an easement for these allottees. Never saw 
it happen.
    So, I find this very disrespectful, very disrespectful. I 
saw the gentlewoman from New Mexico placate not only to the 
President, but to others on this panel. That is so sad. That 
would explain why we see so many of these other side issues 
that we, oh, we will do this, we will do that.
    I have one warning for you. Be careful of the Federal 
Government bearing gifts. Be very, very careful.
    Let me ask you another question to the whole panel. You are 
going to be bought off with dollars? It seems to me like what 
you would want is to be able to be able to work, to be able to 
be proud. I find it very disingenuous that what they offered 
was just money. Here is my last question to you, Ms. Culver, 
and then to everyone on the list: Has the life span of the 
Navajo gotten better or worse over the last 20 years?
    You first, Ms. Culver.
    Ms. Culver. I have not made my own personal study of that 
issue. I know that we are trying to make decisions that support 
the economic and personal health and welfare of----
    Dr. Gosar. You obviously didn't do it here. You obviously 
did not do it here. Did you?
    Ms. Culver. I think we did.
    Dr. Gosar. No, you didn't.
    Ms. Culver. We took everyone's thoughts into account----
    Dr. Gosar. I can tell you right now you didn't even look at 
the second study because, as you said in your original 
statement, it was not present.
    President Nygren, has the life span of the Navajo gotten 
better or worse over the last 20 years?
    Mr. Nygren. Personally, I think that it has been tough, as 
all of us know that when you live in impoverished conditions, 
when you are trying to crawl out and make sure you bring your 
people to the 21st century and get them out of third-world 
country conditions, I know that it is a tough situation.
    I know that the life span, I know that a lot of our elders 
used to pass at 101, 102, late 90s, early hundreds. Now, you 
hear of so many of our people passing away a lot earlier than 
that. So, to me, a long time ago, when our people were self-
sufficient, they had sheep, they had cows, they were farmers, 
they were entrepreneurial, and they had the authority to do 
what they wanted to do within their communities, they were 
strong people, strong, resilient people.
    And that is one of the reasons why I am here today, is that 
I am an Arizona, Utah Navajo. I have no interest in the New 
Mexico Navajo side. But I know that those people are affected 
dearly to the point to where their livelihoods are being in a 
tough situation to make sure, as I mentioned earlier, $20,000 
might not seem like a lot of money, but to them, they feed 
families. They do what they can to help themselves so that they 
can at least provide something.
    And that has been my argument today, was there was no 
consultation, there were no solutions provided. It would be a 
different story here today if there was a solution provided 
with the withdrawal that says, sure, there are economic 
activities that might hurt the allottees, but here is the 
solution, here is some money, here are some dollars, here are 
ways of developing your Nation that will take you further into 
helping yourself.
    And I am glad that you asked that question about life span, 
because the more you can provide for yourself and have 
confidence and to really believe in yourself, you live a lot 
longer. But in this case, you put poor people in tougher 
situations, it is tough.
    And I feel like, as the Navajo Nation President now, I am 
the one that has to figure out that solution. I feel like I 
have inherited this issue, and the only way to get it done is 
through Congress or the Secretary to fix it. But in the 
meantime, it is the problem of the Navajo Nation President and 
the Navajo Nation Council that we have to come up with 
alternative solutions. In the first place, we didn't create it, 
but as the President, that is what I will do in the meantime, 
is to figure out the problem that I have been given, and how do 
we help those allottees become self-sufficient and self-
determined, just the way that they were. They were given oil 
and gas leases in the 1900s. They made do with what they had, 
and then now it was taken away. So, what is the solution?
    I think that is what the core of a lot of this discussion 
was. The allottees were not given a solution or alternatives to 
making ends meet. So, thank you, Congressman.
    Dr. Gosar. You are certainly welcome. I just want to end on 
one last aspect.
    I sat down with a number of the Navajo Nation in regards to 
oil and gas, as well as what other perspectives they could 
have. You brought up the NGS, Navajo Generating Station, and 
how quickly that came down. Well, isn't it interesting that 
there is a tribe in my district called the Walapai that sit 
with a number of leases in regards to mining, and it actually 
happens to be lithium. That was one of the connections I 
actually had was, if you have some needs, why not work with the 
Walapai?
    But I guess I can't do that because this Administration 
won't tell us where we would actually mine lithium. They would 
much rather do it in the Congo with child labor than they would 
actually doing it anywhere else. That is sad. I am very 
disappointed in this hearing today.
    I thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the 
Members for their questions.
    The members of the Subcommittee may have some additional 
questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to respond to 
these in writing. Under Committee Rule 3, members of the 
Committee must submit questions to the Committee Clerk by 5 
p.m. on Monday, June 19. The hearing record will be held open 
for 10 business days for their responses.
    If there is no further business, without objection, the 
Committee stands adjourned.

    [Whereupon, at 4:11 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

            [ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD]

Submissions for the Record by Rep. Westerman

           RESOLUTION OF THE NAABIK'IYATI' STANDING COMMITTEE

              25th NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL--First Year, 2023

AN ACTION RELATING TO RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT AND NAABIK'IYATI' 
COMMITTEES; RESCINDING RESOLUTION NABIJA-05-20 ``OPPOSING H.R. 2181 AND 
S. 1079, `THE CHACO HERITAGE AREA PROTECTION ACT OF 2019', UNTIL SUCH 
TIME AS THE BUFFER ZONE SURROUNDING CHACO CULTURAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL 
PARK IS REDUCED TO FIVE (5) MILES;'' OPPOSING THE WITHDRAWAL OF 
APPROXIMATELY 351,000 ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND SURROUNDING CHACO CANYON

WHEREAS:

A.  The Navajo Nation established the Resources and Development 
Committee as a Navajo Nation Council standing committee and as such 
empowered the Resources and Development Committee with authority to 
establish Navajo Nation policy with respect to the optimum utilization 
of all Navajo Nation resources and to protect the rights, interests, 
sacred sites and freedoms of the Navajo Nation and People to such 
resources, now and for future generations. 2 N.N.C. Sec. Sec. 500(A) 
and (C)(1).

B.  The Navajo Nation established the Naabik'iyati' Committee as a 
Navajo Nation Council standing committee and as such empowered 
Naabik'iyati' Committee to coordinate all federal programs and to 
assist and coordinate all requests for information, appearances and 
testimony relating to federal legislation impacting the Navajo Nation. 
2 N.N.C. Sec. Sec. 700(A), 701(A)(4), 701(A)(6).

C.  The Navajo Nation has a government-to-government relationship with 
the United States of America, Treaty of 1868, Aug. 12, 1868, 15 Stat. 
667.

D.  The Navajo Nation Council approved Naabik'iyati' Committee 
Resolution NABIJA-05-20, titled, ``OPPOSING H.R. 2181 AND S. 1079, `THE 
CHACO HERITAGE AREA PROTECTION ACT OF 2019', UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE 
BUFFER ZONE SURROUNDING CHACO CULTURAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK IS 
REDUCED TO FIVE (5) MILES'' on January 23, 2020, which is attached as 
Exhibit 1.

E.  The purpose of Resolution NABIJA-05-20 was to oppose federal 
legislation proposing a ten-mile buffer zone around Chaco Canyon and to 
offer a five-mile buffer zone as an alternative.

F.  While the 24th Navajo Nation Council sought to minimize negative 
economic impacts with a smaller buffer zone, the 25th Navajo Nation 
Council is concerned that any buffer zone, in addition to the 
withdrawal of public land, will have a detrimental impact to Navajo 
Nation allottees by preventing the development of new oil and gas 
resources on allotments as a result of the allotments being landlocked.

G.  The Navajo Nation Chapters of Pueblo Pintado, Whitehorse Lake, Lake 
Valley, and Nageezi (the ``Chapters'') have expressed opposition to 
land withdrawal and the imposition of any buffer zone around Chaco 
Canyon.

H.  The Chapters submitted resolutions in opposition to a buffer zone 
as follows:

          1.  Resolution of Pueblo Pintado, PPC-02-2023-022, attached 
        as Exhibit 2;

          2.  Resolution of Whitehorse Lake, WHLC-2-22-033, attached as 
        Exhibit 3;

          3.  Resolution of Lake Valley, LVC-FEB12-029, attached as 
        Exhibit 4; and

          4.  Resolution of Nageezi, NC-23-032, attached as Exhibit 5.

I.  The Chapters recognize the detrimental economic impact to the 
Navajo allottees should a buffer zone of any size be imposed around 
Chaco Canyon. If a buffer zone is adopted, the Navajo allottees who 
rely on the income realized from oil and gas royalties will be pushed 
into greater poverty.

J.  Pueblo Pintado and Nageezi Chapters also challenge the need for a 
buffer zone based on the current fence line that serves as a boundary 
to safeguard Chaco Canyon, as indicated in Exhibits 2 and 5, 
respectively.

K.  The 25th Navajo Nation Council wishes to support the Navajo Nation 
members who hold allotted land in the area around Chaco Canyon and 
allow those members to maximize their economic interests.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

A.  The Navajo Nation rescinds Resolution NABIJA-05-23 titled, 
``OPPOSING H.R. 2181 AND S. 1079, `THE CHACO HERITAGE AREA PROTECTION 
ACT OF 2019', UNTIL SUCH TIME AS THE BUFFER ZONE SURROUNDING CHACO 
CULTURAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK IS REDUCED TO FIVE (5) MILES.''

B.  The Navajo Nation opposes the United States intent of withdrawing 
approximately 351,000 acres around Chaco Canyon.

C.  The Navajo Nation does not support a buffer zone around Chaco 
Canyon.

                             CERTIFICATION

I, hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly considered by 
the Naabik'iyati' Committee of the 25th Navajo Nation Council at a duly 
called meeting in Window Rock, Navajo Nation (Arizona), at which a 
quorum was present and that the same was passed by a vote of 15 in 
Favor, and 01 Opposed, on this 27th day of April 2023.

                    Honorable Crystalyne Curley, Chairwoman
                              Naabik'iyati' Committee              
                                   Date: 5/1/23                    

This Resolution along with Exhibits 1-5 is available for viewing on our 
Committee Repository at: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/
20230713/116135/HHRG-118-II06-20230713-SD003.pdf

                                 ______
                                 

                           THE NAVAJO NATION

                          Window Rock, Arizona

                                                    May 3, 2023    

Honorable Deb Haaland, Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240

    Dear Secretary Haaland:

    We thank you for taking the time to meet with us in a government-
to-government meeting on April 25, 2023 to discuss the proposed 
withdrawal of public lands from location and entry under United States' 
mining laws and from leasing under the mineral leasing laws around the 
Chaco Culture National Historical Park for 20 years and to learn more 
about the Honoring Chaco Initiative.

    We heard the position of the United States Department of the 
Interior is that the withdrawal does not include allotted lands and as 
such will not affect allotted lands. The Navajo Nation respectfully 
disagrees as the practical effect of a withdrawal of federal lands is 
that the economic potential of the mineral leasing from allotted lands 
will be diminished. As we shared with you, the proposed land withdrawal 
impacts thousands of our Navajo people who hold allotment lands and 
hundreds of Navajo people who live within the area of the 336,000 acres 
of public lands currently proposed to be withdrawn.

    Many of these people are elderly culture bearers, who rely on 
income from oil and gas royalties to meet their basic needs. As an 
environmental justice community, our community represents the 
complicated multifaced nature of what it means to be an environmental 
justice community. At the heart of our community are people who have 
lived on these lands from time immemorial and desire to live there 
forever. All of the complexities that are part of this issue, along 
with the voices of our Navajo people, must be carefully weighed.

    On April 27, 2023, the Navajo Nation Council's Naabik'iyati 
Committee approved Resolution NABIAP-11-23, opposing the withdrawal of 
approximately 351,000 acres of public land surrounding Chaco Canyon. At 
the same time, the Committee rescinded the Navajo Nation's previous 
position supporting a five-mile buffer zone. As leaders of the Navajo 
Nation, we support the Navajo allottees who oppose the proposed 
withdrawal of these public lands.

    Thank you again for meeting with us and we hope to continue the 
dialogue so that all American citizens' voices are heard on this issue.

            Sincerely,

        Dr. Buu Nygren, President     Crystalyne Curley, Speaker
        THE NAVAJO NATION             25TH NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL

                                 ______
                                 
EPA e-mail, dated June 15, 2023

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                    ------                                



                     EASTERN NAVAJO LAND COMMISSION


                         Crownpoint, New Mexico


                                                   July 6, 2023    

Hon. Buu Nygren, President
Speaker Crystalyne Curley
The Navajo Nation
Window Rock, AZ 86515

    Dear President Nygren and Speaker Curley:

    Attached please find Resolution No. ENLCJN-01-23 passed by 
Eastern Navajo Land Commission (ENLC) on June 30th. This 
Resolution supports Congressman Eli Crane's introduction of 
H.R. 4374 which nullifies Public Land Order No. 7923. The 
Public Land Order by Interior Secretary Haaland regarding Chaco 
buffer zone will be nullified by H.R. 4374. It is important 
that the two branches of the Navajo Nation be unified. I 
respectfully ask for your support of ENLC's Resolution and give 
directives to assist Congressman Crane's office in the passage 
of H.R. 4374.

    Thank you and if you have any questions, please contact me.

            Sincerely,

                                                Seth Damon,
                                                           Chairman

                                 *****


            RESOLUTION OF THE EASTERN NAVAJO LAND COMMISSION


                      RESOLUTION No. ENLCJN-01-23


    SUPPORTING THE ENACTMENT OF LEGISLATION H.R. 4374 INTRODUCED BY 
                    REPRESENTATIVE CRANE TO NULLIFY


                         PUBLIC LAND ORDER 7923


WHEREAS:

  1.  The Eastern Navajo Agency Commission (``ENLC'' or 
            ``Commission'') is established as a Commission of 
            the Navajo Nation under the legislative branch, see 
            2 N.N.C. Sec. 861 et seq. (2005), as amended by 
            Navajo Nation Council Legislation No. 0589-07 
            (April 22, 2008); and

  2.  Among other authorities and duties under the amended ENLC 
            Plan of Operation, the ENLC is charged with 
            assuming primary responsibility for the direction 
            of the Navajo Nation's land acquisition and 
            consolidation efforts in the Eastern Navajo Agency, 
            2 N.N.C. Sec. 863(I), as amended; and

  3.  Among other land-related initiatives, the Commission has 
            drafted, and the Navajo Nation Council has 
            approved, proposed federal legislation to effect 
            the exchange of certain federal and Navajo Nation 
            lands and to protect archaeological resources in 
            the Eastern Navajo Agency (the so-called ``NELI'' 
            legislation), and the Commission has considered 
            various proposals designed to protect Chacoan ruins 
            and relics (together, the ``Chacoan Resources'') in 
            the Eastern Navajo Agency; and

  4.  The vast majority of the Chacoan Resources are located in 
            the Eastern Navajo Agency; nonetheless, Secretary 
            of the Interior Haaland issued Public Land Order 
            7923 with no genuine consultation with the only 
            people affected by that Public Land Order--the 
            Navajo allottees and residents of the Eastern 
            Navajo Agency and the Navajo Nation itself and its 
            constituent Chapters--and did so contrary to the 
            expressed wishes of the Navajo Nation leadership; 
            and

  5.  The interests of the Navajo Nation and its citizens in 
            the lands adversely affected by Public Land Order 
            7923 (the ``Lands'') include or are supported by 
            the following facts, which show violations of the 
            rights of the Navajo Nation, Navajo allottees, and 
            residents of land administered by either the Bureau 
            of Indian Affairs or the Bureau of Land Management:

          A.   The Lands are within the adjudicated Navajo 
        aboriginal territory, as determined by the Indian 
        Claims Commission, meaning that the area has been used 
        exclusively by the Navajo Tribe of Indians since time 
        immemorial.

          B.   The Lands are within the Navajo Land 
        Consolidation Area under the federal Indian Land 
        Consolidation Act, one of only a handful of such 
        federally approved tribal land consolidation areas.

          C.   The Lands are within Navajo Nation Chapters, 
        recognized by the Navajo Nation and by federal and New 
        Mexico courts as authorized local governing bodies.

          D.   The Lands are subject to individual and/or 
        family-based aboriginal occupancy rights that are ``as 
        sacred as the fee title of the whites'' under U.S. 
        Supreme Court decisions dating back to the great Chief 
        Justice Marshall near the founding of the United 
        States, that predominate even over federal patents 
        issued to others under Supreme Court precedent, and 
        that were recently acknowledged by the Interior Board 
        of Land Appeals. Such rights remain unadjudicated 
        notwithstanding efforts initiated by then-Solicitor 
        Felix Cohen because of the years-long resistance to 
        adjudicating them by the General Land Office, the 
        predecessor of the federal Bureau of Land Management.

          E.   The Public Land Order adopts a 10-mile buffer 
        zone around any known Chacoan Resource, effectively 
        rendering oil and gas development in the Eastern Navajo 
        Agency uneconomic. The selection of a 10-mile buffer 
        zone is wholly arbitrary. It and serves to accomplish a 
        near total ban on mineral development in the Eastern 
        Navajo Agency, a 10-mile ``buffer zone'' has no 
        rational relationship with the protection of Chacoan 
        Resources, and the promulgation of the Public Land 
        Order therefore violates the Administrative Procedures 
        Act.

          F.   Federal environmental law, including the 
        National Environmental Policy Act (``NEPA''), requires 
        the preparation of an Environmental Assessment (``EA'') 
        or Environmental Impact Statement (``EIS'') that 
        adequately discusses the impacts, including the impacts 
        on disadvantaged communities, of any proposed federal 
        action. However, no EIS was produced to support the 
        Public Land Order, and the EA that was produced is 
        legally inadequate for, among many other things, 
        failing to address meaningfully the adverse impacts on 
        revenues to allottees and to the Navajo Nation as 
        fractional interest holder of hundreds of the 
        allotments and as present or future owner of land in 
        its own right.

          G.   The allotment owners litigated against the 
        United States for 13 years to gain recognition that 
        Navajo allottees, and not the United States, are the 
        owners of the allotments underlying the allotted 
        surface, in the so-called Mescal class action lawsuit. 
        Public Land Order 7923 effectively nullifies the 
        allottees' hard-won mineral rights, and one estimate of 
        the damage to the allottees during the 20-year period 
        of the Public Land Order is $194 million. The Public 
        Land Order (and its supporting EA) fails to 
        meaningfully consider that impact, thus violating NEPA 
        and the United States' trust duty to the Navajo 
        allottees.

          H.   The Navajo people of the Eastern Navajo Agency 
        are the people responsible for reconstructing and 
        maintaining Chacoan ruins (as reflected in an 
        exhaustive report of the National Park Service), and 
        the Navajo people have assured that such resources that 
        are scattered throughout the Eastern Navajo Agency and 
        on lands owned or used by the Navajo remain 
        undisturbed. Indeed, it was the Navajo Nation and its 
        citizens who successfully litigated for decades against 
        federal agencies to successfully oppose federal 
        proposals to allow surface coal mining to the very 
        edges of the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park.

          I.   The Navajo Nation has a cultural affiliation 
        with the Chacoan civilization, as acknowledged as an 
        outgrowth of litigation brought by the Navajo Nation 
        against the United States to remedy the unlawful theft 
        by the National Park Service of human remains and 
        artifacts from Canyon de Chelly.

          J.   Federal, New Mexico, and Navajo Nation laws, 
        including NEPA, the National Historic Preservation Act, 
        the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (and their 
        state and tribal counterparts) have proved quite 
        effective and sufficient to protect the Chacoan 
        Resources. The supposed motivation in the Public Land 
        Order to protect such resources is pretextual; and

  6.  Representative Eli Crane (AZ-02) has introduced H.R. 
            4374, as shown in the attached federal legislation, 
            to nullify Public Land Order 7923; and

  7.  The Commission has considered the above and has 
            determined that it should formally support the 
            enactment of Representative Crane's bill and should 
            coordinate the Commission's position with the 
            Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council and the Navajo 
            Nation Office of the President and Vice President, 
            urging them or either of them to take any and all 
            appropriate action, including litigation if 
            appropriate, to restore the status quo ante to the 
            Eastern Navajo Agency.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT:

  1.  The Eastern Navajo Land Commission supports the enactment 
            of the attached bill introduced or to be introduced 
            by Representative Crane.

  2.  The Commission authorizes its Chair and Executive 
            Director to communicate the position of the 
            Commission as expressed by this Resolution to the 
            Office of the Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council 
            and to the Office of the Navajo Nation President 
            and Vice President (``OPNP''), and to ensure that 
            the position of and any actions to be taken by the 
            Commission are in conformity with the position of 
            the Navajo Nation Council.

  3.  The Commission respectfully requests the Speaker, the 
            Navajo Nation Council, and the OPNP to support the 
            nullification of Public Land Order 7923 by any 
            appropriate means and to vigorously oppose any 
            future attempts to impose federal land use controls 
            in the Eastern Navajo Agency that are determined by 
            the Navajo Nation to contravene the best interests 
            of the Navajo Nation and its citizens.

  4.  The Chair and/or his authorized delegate are authorized 
            to take any and all reasonable steps to effectuate 
            the letter and intent of this Resolution.

                             CERTIFICATION


I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was considered 
at a duly called meeting of the Eastern Navajo Land Commission 
at Churchrock, Navajo Nation (New Mexico) at which a quorum was 
present and that the same was passed by vote of 3 in favor and 
O opposed (the Chair not voting), this 30th day of June, 2023.

                                       Seth Damon, Chairman
                                     Eastern Navajo Land Commission

                                ------                                


                    COALITION OF LARGE TRIBES (COLT)


       Resolution: 06-02-2023-Resolution #02-2022 (WR-Las Vegas)


Resolution Calling for Withdrawal of Public Land Order 7923 and 
Deference to Navajo Nation Sovereignty in the Greater Chaco 
Area

WHEREAS, the Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT) was formally 
established in early April 2011, and is comprised of Tribes 
with large land base, including the Blackfeet Nation  
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe  Crow Nation  
Eastern Shoshone Tribe  Fort Belknap Indian Community 
 Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nations  Navajo 
Nation  Northern Arapaho Tribe  Oglala Sioux 
Tribe  Rosebud Sioux Tribe  Sisseton Wahpeton 
Sioux Tribe  Shoshone Bannock Tribes  Spokane 
Tribe  Ute Indian Tribe  Walker River Paiute 
Tribe and is Chaired by Councilman Marvin Weatherwax, Blackfeet 
Tribal Business Council: and

WHEREAS, COLT was organized to provide a unified advocacy base 
on all issues affecting tribes that govern large trust land 
bases; and

WHEREAS, COLT tribes consist of tribes that have a land base of 
100,000 acres of land or more, of which, of the 574 federally 
recognized Tribes, more than 50 tribes meet this criteria; and 
these tribes control 95 percent of tribal lands and consist of 
one half of the Native population; and

WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation is a COLT member tribe and requested 
a COLT resolution to oppose Public Land Order No. 7923 signed 
by Secretary Haaland on June 2, 2023 on grounds that the 
Department of the Interior had not conducted meaningful 
consultation with the Navajo Nation or its citizens and that 
the PLO disrespects the Navajo Nation's rights as a territorial 
sovereign to determine whether and how natural resources 
development occurs on Navajo lands; and

WHEREAS, The Chaco Withdrawal Public Land Order (PLO) was 
officially published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2023 
and that is its effective date; and

WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation explained that PLO No. 7923 has dire 
consequences for more than 20,000 Navajo citizens. In the last 
three and a half years alone Navajo Allottees have received 
more than $80,000,000 in oil and gas lease income. In many 
cases, this is those Allottees' only income in an extremely 
impoverished area. And yet, the Department of the Interior has 
withdrawn a 10-mile buffer over those same Allottees, 
withdrawing more than 336,000 acres of federal lands for a 
period of 20 years, at a loss of more than $1 billion in 
royalty income to the United States and Allottees. The Public 
Land Order strands the Navajo Allottees and their minerals, 
making ANY new development impossible. The area the Allottees 
were promised was their permanent homeland is heavily 
checkerboarded. You cannot reach the Tribal and Allottee 
minerals in the area around Chaco Canyon without the federal 
minerals. This is an obvious fact of oil and gas production 
well known to large land base tribes who are very familiar with 
the difficulty of developing only part of checkerboarded lands. 
The buffer is a significant taking of hundreds of millions of 
dollars of property from the Navajo Allottees; and

WHEREAS, on April 27, 2023, the Navajo Nation Council's 
Naabik'iyati Committee approved Resolution NABIAP-11-23, which 
opposes the withdrawal of public lands surrounding Chaco 
Canyon. The Navajo Nation Council is the governing body of the 
Navajo Nation and Resolution NABIAP-11-23 represents the 
official position of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation is in 
the best position to determine the best interests of its 
citizens; and

WHEREAS, Chaco Canyon has been home to the Navajo people since 
time immemorial and the Navajo Nation fully understands the 
need to protect the Chaco Culture National Historic Park, but 
also wants the voices of Navajo Allottees to be heard and to 
work toward a viable solution that respects all stakeholders.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, COLT calls for the withdrawal of 
Public Land Order 7923 in order to allow the more fulsome 
consultation requested by the Navajo Nation and to protect the 
Navajo Nation's sovereign right to protect its land and 
citizens and fulfill its proper role as the primary territorial 
sovereign decision-maker about whether and how resource 
development takes place on Navajo lands; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, COLT supports the Navajo 
Nation's request for the House Natural Resources Committee to 
hold a Congressional field hearing in the community of Nageezi, 
New Mexico, to hear directly from Navajo people who are 
directly impacted by Public Lands Order 7923.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the 
policy of COLT until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent 
resolution.

                             CERTIFICATION


This resolution was enacted at a duly called meeting of the 
Coalition of Large Tribes held in Las Vegas, Nevada within the 
home state of the Walker River Paiute Tribe on June 2, 2023 at 
which a quorum was present, with the resolution approved 
unanimously.

Dated this June 2, 2023

Attest:

Nathan Small,

Secretary, Coalition of Large Tribes

Marvin Weatherwax,

Chairman, Coalition of Large Tribes

                                ------                                


                     EASTERN NAVAJO LAND COMMISSION

                         Crownpoint, New Mexico

                                                  July 24, 2023    

Hon. Pete Stauber, Chairman
Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
1626 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Re: Statement for Inclusion in Record--H.R. 4374

    Dear Chairman Stauber:

    Attached is the Resolution of the Eastern Navajo Land Commission in 
support of H.R. 4374. We request that it be included in the legislative 
record.

    Thank you.

            Sincerely,

                                            Leonard Tsosie,
                                                 Executive Director

                                 *****

            RESOLUTION OF THE EASTERN NAVAJO LAND COMMISSION

                      RESOLUTION No. ENLCJN-01-23

    SUPPORTING THE ENACTMENT OF LEGISLATION H.R. 4374 INTRODUCED BY 
                    REPRESENTATIVE CRANE TO NULLIFY

                         PUBLIC LAND ORDER 7923

WHEREAS:

  1.  The Eastern Navajo Agency Commission (``ENLC'' or ``Commission'') 
            is established as a Commission of the Navajo Nation under 
            the legislative branch, see 2 N.N.C. Sec. 861 et seq. 
            (2005), as amended by Navajo Nation Council Legislation No. 
            0589-07 (April 22, 2008); and

  2.  Among other authorities and duties under the amended ENLC Plan of 
            Operation, the ENLC is charged with assuming primary 
            responsibility for the direction of the Navajo Nation's 
            land acquisition and consolidation efforts in the Eastern 
            Navajo Agency, 2 N.N.C. Sec. 863(I), as amended; and

  3.  Among other land-related initiatives, the Commission has drafted, 
            and the Navajo Nation Council has approved, proposed 
            federal legislation to effect the exchange of certain 
            federal and Navajo Nation lands and to protect 
            archaeological resources in the Eastern Navajo Agency (the 
            so-called ``NELI'' legislation), and the Commission has 
            considered various proposals designed to protect Chacoan 
            ruins and relics (together, the ``Chacoan Resources'') in 
            the Eastern Navajo Agency; and

  4.  The vast majority of the Chacoan Resources are located in the 
            Eastern Navajo Agency; nonetheless, Secretary of the 
            Interior Haaland issued Public Land Order 7923 with no 
            genuine consultation with the only people affected by that 
            Public Land Order--the Navajo allottees and residents of 
            the Eastern Navajo Agency and the Navajo Nation itself and 
            its constituent Chapters--and did so contrary to the 
            expressed wishes of the Navajo Nation leadership; and

  5.  The interests of the Navajo Nation and its citizens in the lands 
            adversely affected by Public Land Order 7923 (the 
            ``Lands'') include or are supported by the following facts, 
            which show violations of the rights of the Navajo Nation, 
            Navajo allottees, and residents of land administered by 
            either the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Bureau of Land 
            Management:
          A.   The Lands are within the adjudicated Navajo aboriginal 
        territory, as determined by the Indian Claims Commission, 
        meaning that the area has been used exclusively by the Navajo 
        Tribe of Indians since time immemorial.

          B.   The Lands are within the Navajo Land Consolidation Area 
        under the federal Indian Land Consolidation Act, one of only a 
        handful of such federally approved tribal land consolidation 
        areas.

          C.   The Lands are within Navajo Nation Chapters, recognized 
        by the Navajo Nation and by federal and New Mexico courts as 
        authorized local governing bodies.

          D.   The Lands are subject to individual and/or family-based 
        aboriginal occupancy rights that are ``as sacred as the fee 
        title of the whites'' under U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating 
        back to the great Chief Justice Marshall near the founding of 
        the United States, that predominate even over federal patents 
        issued to others under Supreme Court precedent, and that were 
        recently acknowledged by the Interior Board of Land Appeals. 
        Such rights remain unadjudicated notwithstanding efforts 
        initiated by then-Solicitor Felix Cohen because of the years-
        long resistance to adjudicating them by the General Land 
        Office, the predecessor of the federal Bureau of Land 
        Management.

          E.   The Public Land Order adopts a 10-mile buffer zone 
        around any known Chacoan Resource, effectively rendering oil 
        and gas development in the Eastern Navajo Agency uneconomic. 
        The selection of a 10-mile buffer zone is wholly arbitrary. It 
        and serves to accomplish a near total ban on mineral 
        development in the Eastern Navajo Agency, a 10-mile ``buffer 
        zone'' has no rational relationship with the protection of 
        Chacoan Resources, and the promulgation of the Public Land 
        Order therefore violates the Administrative Procedures Act.

          F.   Federal environmental law, including the National 
        Environmental Policy Act (``NEPA''), requires the preparation 
        of an Environmental Assessment (``EA'') or Environmental Impact 
        Statement (``EIS'') that adequately discusses the impacts, 
        including the impacts on disadvantaged communities, of any 
        proposed federal action. However, no EIS was produced to 
        support the Public Land Order, and the EA that was produced is 
        legally inadequate for, among many other things, failing to 
        address meaningfully the adverse impacts on revenues to 
        allottees and to the Navajo Nation as fractional interest 
        holder of hundreds of the allotments and as present or future 
        owner of land in its own right.

          G.   The allotment owners litigated against the United States 
        for 13 years to gain recognition that Navajo allottees, and not 
        the United States, are the owners of the allotments underlying 
        the allotted surface, in the so-called Mescal class action 
        lawsuit. Public Land Order 7923 effectively nullifies the 
        allottees' hard-won mineral rights, and one estimate of the 
        damage to the allottees during the 20-year period of the Public 
        Land Order is $194 million. The Public Land Order (and its 
        supporting EA) fails to meaningfully consider that impact, thus 
        violating NEPA and the United States' trust duty to the Navajo 
        allottees.

          H.   The Navajo people of the Eastern Navajo Agency are the 
        people responsible for reconstructing and maintaining Chacoan 
        ruins (as reflected in an exhaustive report of the National 
        Park Service), and the Navajo people have assured that such 
        resources that are scattered throughout the Eastern Navajo 
        Agency and on lands owned or used by the Navajo remain 
        undisturbed. Indeed, it was the Navajo Nation and its citizens 
        who successfully litigated for decades against federal agencies 
        to successfully oppose federal proposals to allow surface coal 
        mining to the very edges of the Chaco Canyon National 
        Historical Park.

          I.   The Navajo Nation has a cultural affiliation with the 
        Chacoan civilization, as acknowledged as an outgrowth of 
        litigation brought by the Navajo Nation against the United 
        States to remedy the unlawful theft by the National Park 
        Service of human remains and artifacts from Canyon de Chelly.
          J.   Federal, New Mexico, and Navajo Nation laws, including 
        NEPA, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Federal Land 
        Policy and Management Act (and their state and tribal 
        counterparts) have proved quite effective and sufficient to 
        protect the Chacoan Resources. The supposed motivation in the 
        Public Land Order to protect such resources is pretextual; and

  6.  Representative Eli Crane (AZ-02) has introduced H.R. 4374, as 
            shown in the attached federal legislation, to nullify 
            Public Land Order 7923; and

  7.  The Commission has considered the above and has determined that 
            it should formally support the enactment of Representative 
            Crane's bill and should coordinate the Commission's 
            position with the Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council and 
            the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice 
            President, urging them or either of them to take any and 
            all appropriate action, including litigation if 
            appropriate, to restore the status quo ante to the Eastern 
            Navajo Agency.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT:

  1.  The Eastern Navajo Land Commission supports the enactment of the 
            attached bill introduced or to be introduced by 
            Representative Crane.

  2.  The Commission authorizes its Chair and Executive Director to 
            communicate the position of the Commission as expressed by 
            this Resolution to the Office of the Speaker of the Navajo 
            Nation Council and to the Office of the Navajo Nation 
            President and Vice President (``OPNP''), and to ensure that 
            the position of and any actions to be taken by the 
            Commission are in conformity with the position of the 
            Navajo Nation Council.

  3.  The Commission respectfully requests the Speaker, the Navajo 
            Nation Council, and the OPNP to support the nullification 
            of Public Land Order 7923 by any appropriate means and to 
            vigorously oppose any future attempts to impose federal 
            land use controls in the Eastern Navajo Agency that are 
            determined by the Navajo Nation to contravene the best 
            interests of the Navajo Nation and its citizens.

  4.  The Chair and/or his authorized delegate are authorized to take 
            any and all reasonable steps to effectuate the letter and 
            intent of this Resolution.

                             CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was considered at a duly 
called meeting of the Eastern Navajo Land Commission at Churchrock, 
Navajo Nation (New Mexico) at which a quorum was present and that the 
same was passed by vote of 3 in favor and O opposed (the Chair not 
voting), this 30th day of June, 2023.

                                       Seth Damon, Chairman
                                     Eastern Navajo Land Commission

                                 ______
                                 

                     EASTERN NAVAJO AGENCY COUNCIL

                         Crownpoint, New Mexico

                                                  July 24, 2023    

Hon. Pete Stauber, Chairman
Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
1626 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Re: Statement for Inclusion in Record--H.R. 4374

    Dear Chairman Stauber:

    Attached is the Statement of the Eastern Navajo Agency Council in 
support of H.R. 4374. We request that it be included in the legislative 
record.

    Thank you.

            Sincerely,

        Johnny Johnson,               Ervin Chavez,
        Chair                         Vice Chair

                                 *****

             STATEMENT OF THE EASTERN NAVAJO AGENCY COUNCIL

                              ON H.R. 4374

    The Eastern Navajo Agency Council is a Navajo governmental body 
comprised of all Chapter Officers, Grazing Officials, Land Board 
members, and Navajo Nation Council delegates in the Eastern Navajo 
Agency. A Navajo Nation ``Chapter'' is the recognized local governing 
entity under the Navajo system of government. See 2 N.N.C. Sec. 4001 et 
seq.; Thriftway Mktg. Corp. v. State, 111 N.M. 763, 765-76 (Ct. App. 
1990). The Eastern Navajo Agency is the approximate 2.7-million acre 
area in northwest New Mexico under the administrative jurisdiction of 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs within the Department of the Interior. 
There are 31 Chapters within the Eastern Navajo Agency. This Statement 
is provided by the Eastern Navajo Agency Council through its 
undersigned Chairman and Vice Chairman.

    The Eastern Navajo Agency Council unreservedly supports the passage 
of H.R. 4374, the ``Energy Opportunities for All Act'' (the ``EOAA''). 
The EOAA would nullify Public Land Order 7923 (``PLO 7923'') issued by 
Secretary of the Interior Haaland (the ``Secretary''). PLO 7923 is a 
wrong-headed approach to solve a non-existent problem. PLO 7923 
operates to the detriment of the Navajo Nation, to which Secretary gave 
absolutely no deference despite the Navajo Nation's predominant 
interests in the Eastern Navajo Agency, or to the Navajo owners of 
trust allotments in the Eastern Navajo Agency, to whom the Secretary 
owes a trust duty but whom the Secretary cavalierly disregarded in 
promulgating PLO 7923 at an estimated cost to them of $194 million over 
the next twenty years.

    Navajo people comprise 95% of the entire population of the Eastern 
Navajo Agency. The Navajo government provides most of the governmental 
services in the area. No other Native nation has any significant 
population in the area and no other Indian nation provides any 
government services in the area. Almost all of the land in the Eastern 
Navajo Agency is held in trust for the Navajo Nation, held in trust for 
individual Navajo allottees, held in fee status by the Navajo Nation, 
or used by Navajo individuals in the exercise of their family-based 
unextinguished aboriginal occupancy rights.

    PLO 7923 purports to protect Chacoan cultural resources, but in 
reality is a camouflage for the Department to create a massive no-
development zone in an impoverished region with great potential for oil 
and gas development. There is no need whatsoever for PLO 7923, if it is 
truly intended to protect Chacoan resources. Those resources have been 
protected for about 1000 years or more, originally by the local Navajo 
population and more recently through enforcement of federal, New 
Mexico, and Navajo laws specifically designed to protect such cultural 
resources, including the National Historic Preservation Act, the 
National Environmental Policy Act, the Antiquities Act of 1906, the 
Historic Site Act of 1935, the Historic and Archaeological Data 
Preservation Act of 1974, the Navajo Nation Cultural Resources 
Protection Act (19 N.N.C. Sec. 1001 et seq.), the amended New Mexico 
Cultural Properties Act of 1969, Executive Order 11593, and BLM's 
organic act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

    At the hearing on H.R. 4374 before the Subcommittee on Energy and 
Mineral Resources of the House Natural Resources Committee, the person 
testifying on behalf of the Secretary was Nada Culver, identified as 
the Bureau of Land Management (``BLM'') Principal Deputy Director. This 
is more than just ironic. Literally for decades, the BLM sought to 
allow massive coal strip mining right to the edges of and all around 
the Chaco Canyon National Historical Park, reporting that coal strip 
mining, with its attendant blasting, earth removal, and rail 
construction and transportation, would have no appreciable impact on 
Chacoan cultural resources.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See, e.g., Environmental Assessment for Coal Preference Right 
Leasing (Sept. 1981) (incorporating Draft Environmental Assessment 
[June 1981] at pp. 3-20 to 3-23) (stating that the proposed coal strip 
mining ``would result in increased scientific knowledge about past 
cultures in the [coal leasing] area'' and stating that adequate 
mitigation would result from a Programmatic Memorandum of Agreement).

    In general, the BLM, including through its predecessor the General 
Land Office (``GLO''), has historically ignored or consciously 
subordinated the rights, needs and interests of the Navajo people in 
the Eastern Navajo Agency. These actions include, among other things, 
withholding allotment patents to the Navajo population ``for no 
legitimate reason,'' \2\ despite Secretary Ickes statement in 1933 that 
Navajos were entitled under the allotment laws to ``practically all of 
the vacant public domain in San Juan County and other counties,'' \3\ 
and, after the GLO stymied the allotment efforts, subverting a years-
long effort in the late 1940s, initiated by Solicitor Felix Cohen, to 
define individual or family-based aboriginal rights of Navajo people. 
Those rights remain valid, but unadjudicated. See United States v. 
Tsosie, 92 F.3d 1037 (10th Cir. 1996) (affirming District Court's 
judgment that the United States was required to exhaust Navajo Tribal 
Court remedies in addressing claim of unextinguished aboriginal 
occupancy right of Navajo woman residing in Eastern Navajo Agency); 
Thermal Energy Co., 183 IBLA 126, 135-36 (2013) (summarizing testimony 
of historian Mark Leutbecker and Larry Rodgers). Such occupancy rights 
are ``as sacred as the fee-simple title of the whites.'' E.g., United 
States v. Santa Fe Pac. R. Co., 314 U.S. 339, 345-46 (1941), quoting 
Mitchel v. United States, 34 U.S. (9 Pet.) 711, 746 (1835).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Bailey, A History of the Navajos: The Reservation Years (1986) 
at 117.
    \3\ Letter from Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to New 
Mexico Governor Arthur Seligman (Aug. 31, 1933) at 3.

    PLO 7923, on its face, prohibits mineral development only on lands 
administered by the BLM within an arbitrary ten miles of selected 
Chacoan cultural resources throughout the Eastern Navajo Agency, but it 
has the practical effect of prohibiting mineral development on all 
lands in the region, including Navajo Nation and allotted trust lands, 
as indicated on the attached map prepared by attorneys for the Navajo 
allotment owners. The Navajo allottees litigated against the government 
for over a decade to obtain a declaration that they, and not the 
federal government, own the minerals underlying the surface of their 
allotments,\4\ and PLO 7923 essentially takes the value of those 
minerals away from the Navajo allotment owners.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Order Approving Settlement of All Claims, Mescal v. United 
States, No. Civ. 83-1408-LH/WWD (Jan. 28, 1997).

    The entire area affected by PLO 7923 is within the Navajo tribe's 
recognized aboriginal land base, as determined in the Indian Claims 
Commission in Docket 229. That means that these lands have been used 
and occupied exclusively by the Navajo people since time immemorial. 
``Exclusively'' means precisely that. See, e.g., the recent attached 
letter to the editor of the Navajo Times from retired Department of the 
Interior Archaeologist David Siegel. In addition, all of the affected 
lands are within the Secretarially approved Navajo Land Consolidation 
Area designated in the Navajo Land Consolidation Plan, one of only a 
handful of approved tribal land consolidation plans approved by the 
Department of the Interior under the federal Indian Land Consolidation 
Act. Most of the affected land is also within the boundaries of the 
Executive Order 709/744 extension to the Navajo Reservation, and the 
federa1 lands within that 1.9 million acre area were illegally restored 
to the public domain and remain, as a legal matter, trust property of 
the Navajo Nation unlawfully administered by the BLM. See Navajo Tribe 
of Indians v. State of New Mexico, 809 F.2d 1455, 1459 n.9 (10th Cir. 
1983); \5\ Affidavit of Herbert Stacher, attached hereto.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ The Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the Navajo 
Nation's claim of title based on the failure of the Department of the 
Interior to grant allotments to all Navajos within the EO 709/744 
extension, based on the statute of limitations in the Indian Claims 
Commission Act. 809 F.2d at 1464. However, such a dismissal does not 
extinguish the underlying right to the land. See United States v. 
Gammache, 713 F.2d 588, 591-92 & n.9 (10th Cir. 1983).

    The official position of the Navajo Nation is reflected in 
Resolution No. NABIAP-11-23 of the Committee of the whole of the Navajo 
Nation Council, the Naabik'iyati' Committee. That resolution was 
submitted to Chairman Stauber by the Speaker of the Navajo Nation 
Council with her letter dated July 12, 2023. ``The legitimacy of the 
Navajo Tribal Council, the freely elected governing body of the 
Navajos, is beyond question.'' Kerr-McGee Corp. v. Navajo Tribe of 
Indians, 471 U.S. 195, 201 (1985) (footnote omitted). Secretary Haaland 
gave no deference to the Council's considered position. And as Navajo 
Nation Buu Nygren testified before the Subcommittee, Secretary Haaland 
gave no deference to him, even as he attempted a compromise with the 
Department. This is inexplicable in any rational sense, given the 
unique, most substantial interests of the Navajo Nation in the area. As 
President Nygren testified, ``Respect for tribal sovereignty must be 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
consistent even when it is not convenient.''

    The Eastern Navajo Agency Council supports the official position of 
the Navajo Nation. There should be no ``buffer zone''; none is needed, 
and a ten-mile buffer zone is wholly arbitrary. It represents the 
Secretary's continued assault on resource development and property 
rights. The Eastern Navajo Agency Council therefore wholeheartedly 
supports the enactment of H.R. 4374.

            Respectfully submitted,

        Johnny Johnson,               Ervin Chavez,
        Chair                         Vice Chair

                                 *****

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                 

Submissions for the Record by Rep. Grijalva

                             To Nizhoni Ani

                                                  July 12, 2023    

Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

    To Nizhoni Ani is a 501(c)3 organization located on the Black Mesa 
Plateau in Northeast Arizona on the Navajo Nation. To Nizhoni Ani was 
organized to protect the water source of Black Mesa from Industry use 
and waste. Our goal is to bring power back to our Indigenous 
communities impacted by coal while maintaining a balanced environment 
with the elements of life--water, land, air and sunlight.

    To Nizhoni Ani strongly opposes H.R. 4374, which would nullify 
Public Land Order No. 7923, withdrawing certain land in San Juan 
County, New Mexico, from mineral entry. The Department of the 
Interior's (DOI) recently finalized withdrawal of public lands from 
future mineral development on federal lands within 10 miles of Chaco 
Culture National Historical Park (CCNHP) for the next 20 years is an 
important first step in protecting the people, health, land, and water 
in the region, and we support real solutions in ensuring a just energy 
transition.

    Introducing this resolution (H.R. 4374) is Representative Elijah 
Crane's first major legislative blunder. Representative Elijah 
Crane's--who was elected only after redistricting occurred--exposes his 
inexperience working with a large Indigenous constituency. We urge him 
to learn to engage the communities he's working for, instead of being 
influenced by his Republican colleagues, particularly with reckless 
fossil fuel development greatly contributing to climate change, which 
majorly impacts Indian Country.

    Decades of fossil fuel development, and corporations manipulating 
and taking up space on Navajo land is evident in actions by the Navajo 
Nation Council's Resources and Development Committee to continue 
pushing for false support and false solutions from within the 
Republican Party--a party which is not interested in real solutions, 
only in fueling and perpetuating extractive and harmful development.

    Crucially, the Department of the Interior and the Resources and 
Development Committee have stopped short of actions to support public 
health, cultural and ecological sites and resources, and economic 
development.

    To truly protect the Greater Chaco Landscape, the DOI must robustly 
continue the Honoring Chaco Initiative, to involve impacted communities 
in decision-making about the broader interconnected landscape, and 
cumulatively assess the impact of extractive development on health, 
culture, environment, and climate. Support should be offered to 
allotment owners from these decision makers; it is false to perpetuate 
a disingenuous, zero-sum narrative and that there is no recourse 
besides more oil and gas development, where neighbors are left 
breathing toxic emissions. It is time for leadership to step up and 
provide creative and genuine solutions such as development of wind and 
solar on these lands. Crucially, the development of projects that will 
help protect our limited water supplies.

            Sincerely,

                                        Nicole Horseherder,
                                                 Executive Director

                                 ______
                                 
                                                    May 6, 2022    

Sarah Scott
CCNHP Area Withdrawal
Bureau of Land Management
Farmington Field Office
6251 College Blvd., Suite A
Farmington, NM 87402

    Dear Ms. Scott:

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide input on the proposed 
Chaco Culture National Historical Park Area Withdrawal (withdrawal). 
Most of the undersigned groups, representing over 1.6 million members 
and supporters, have been working to protect the Greater Chaco 
landscape for decades, while some of the undersigned have been working 
to protect the area for centuries through cultural preservation. We 
strongly support this proposal and encourage the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) to act swiftly and ensure protection for the next 20 
years.

    Below, we provide details into the specific benefits derived from 
this withdrawal and raise our concerns with the rampant misinformation 
campaign being run by the oil and gas industry. We look forward to 
continuing to engage in the process.
I. Preliminary Thoughts

    The United States is an active participant in the Convention 
Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 
(the ``World Heritage Convention''), adopted in 1972. As a State Party, 
it has unique responsibilities to protect the 24 World Heritage Sites 
within its jurisdiction, including the Greater Chaco landscape.
    Dubbed ``Chaco Culture,'' elements of the landscape in the Planning 
and Decision Area were inscribed as a World Heritage Site on November 
12, 1987. These resources are determined to be of Outstanding Universal 
Value under Convention criterion iii (``bearing a unique or at least 
exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization 
which is living or which has disappeared.'')
    Chaco is one of just 11 World Heritage Sites (WHS) in the United 
States specifically inscribed for its connections to cultural history, 
together with places as diverse and significant as Independence Hall 
and the Statue of Liberty. Chaco Culture WHS includes Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park (``CCNHP''), Aztec Ruins National Monument, 
managed by the National Park Service, as well as 6 Archaeological 
Protection Sites . The Outliers are a part of a Chacoan network 
recognized as part of the World Heritage Site including road, 
communities with great houses. Together these features compose a broad 
cultural landscape where no one part can be removed from the whole. In 
addition, since the 1995 Congressional Act recognizing 39 Outliers, 
significant new information has come to light about other Chacoan 
settlements in the region that are worthy of protection as candidate 
Outliers.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See http://www.chacoarchive.org/cra/outlier-database/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The World Heritage Convention establishes a system of 
identification, preservation and registration of cultural properties 
and natural sites of Outstanding Universal Value. The Preamble of the 
Convention recognizes that ``the deterioration or disappearance of any 
item of the cultural or natural heritage constitutes a harmful 
impoverishment of the heritage of all nations'' and establishes the 
``importance, for all the peoples of the world, of safeguarding this 
unique and irreplaceable property'' as ``part of the world heritage of 
mankind as a whole.'' \2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ See https://whc.unesco.org/archive/convention-en.pdf.

    The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World 
Heritage Convention outline the substantive obligations State Parties 
have to protect inscribed World Heritage Sites.\3\ These include 
measures to ensure their protection and continual efforts to monitor 
and submit periodic reports regarding the status of those sites and 
ongoing threats. Specifically, States Parties have the obligation to
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ See https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/.

     have adequate long-term legislative, regulatory, 
            institutional and/or traditional protection and management 
            to ensure the safeguarding of World Heritage Sites (Article 
            II.F, Clause 97);
     have legislative and regulatory measures at national and 
            local levels to assure the protection of the property from 
            social, economic and other pressures or changes that might 
            negatively impact the Outstanding Universal Value, 
            including the integrity and/or authenticity of the property 
            (Article II.F, Clause 98);

     have an appropriate management plan or other documented 
            management system which must specify how the Outstanding 
            Universal Value of a property should be preserved, 
            preferably through participatory means.'' (Article II.F, 
            Clause 108);

     submit specific reports and impact studies each time 
            exceptional circumstances occur or work is undertaken which 
            may have an impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of 
            the property or its state of conservation. (Article IV.B, 
            Clause 169);

     submit periodic reports for examination by the World 
            Heritage Committee (Article V.B, Clause 204).

II. Responding to Inaccurate and Misleading Information Concerning the 
        Nature and Impact of the Proposed Withdrawal

    Inaccurate and misleading information continues to circulate 
concerning the nature and impact of the proposed withdrawal. In the 
following section, we respond to three statements that, in our opinion, 
are especially problematic:

        Inaccurate/Misleading Statement #1: The proposed withdrawal 
        will inhibit oil and gas development on non-federal lands. The 
        proposed withdrawal applies exclusively to federal lands and 
        minerals, just as the New Mexico State Land Office's existing 
        withdrawal applies exclusively to state lands and minerals.\4\ 
        It would not apply to or in any way affect the rights of 
        individuals or entities that possess an interest in non-federal 
        lands within the proposed withdrawal area, including allotment 
        lands.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Exec. Order 2019-002--Moratorium on Oil and Gas Leasing in the 
Greater Chaco Area (Apr. 27, 2019).

        There is substantial on-the-ground evidence for this 
        conclusion. According to BLM, ``there have not been any new 
        leases issued [within the proposed withdrawal area] since 
        2011.'' \5\ While ``there have been multiple lease parcels 
        nominated over the past ten years within the withdrawal area,'' 
        those parcels were all deferred because of the need to complete 
        tribal consultation and comply with other legal obligations.\6\ 
        Additionally, since 2019, Congress has withheld funding for any 
        oil and gas leasing activities on federal lands within the 
        proposed withdrawal area.\7\ Thus, for over ten years, BLM has 
        managed the proposed withdrawal area as if a withdrawal had 
        been in place.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ BLM, Petition/Application for Withdrawal 3.
    \6\ See, e.g., BLM, July 2013 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale EA 
12 (deferring multiple parcels within the proposed withdrawal area 
because ``Tribal Consultation in Progress'').
    \7\ Press Release, NM Delegation Secures Protections for Chaco 
Canyon Area in Government Funding Bill (Dec. 19, 2019).

        Yet, oil and gas development in the proposed withdrawal area 
        continued during this time frame without apparent interruption. 
        Since 2012, BLM has approved approximately 19 drilling permits 
        for previously-issued leases within the proposed withdrawal 
        area.\8\ Further, since 2012, oil and gas companies have 
        drilled at least thirty-three new wells in the proposed 
        withdrawal area, including at least four that access Navajo-
        owned oil and gas resources.\9\ Finally, over the past four 
        years, the Federal Indian Minerals Office has planned at least 
        two oil and gas lease sales for allotment lands that included 
        numerous parcels within the proposed withdrawal area.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ Based on data downloaded from BLM's AFMSS on Apr. 13, 2022.
    \9\ Based on data downloaded from the New Mexico Oil Conservation 
Division's website on Apr. 13, 2022.
    \10\ Federal Indian Minerals Office (FIMO), Oil and Gas Lease Sale, 
April 2018 EA 39; FIMO, Oil and Gas Competitive Lease Sale EA 2021 9 
(Sept. 2021).

        Inaccurate/Misleading Statement #2: Oil and gas companies have 
        not harmed cultural resources or sacred sites in the landscape 
        surrounding Chaco Canyon. Oil and gas development has 
        completely transformed much of northwestern New Mexico. What 
        was once a remote and undeveloped region now resembles an 
        industrial zone. Over 15,000 miles of roads, mostly built by 
        the oil and gas industry, fragment the landscape surrounding 
        Chaco Canyon.\11\ More than 90 percent of federal lands in the 
        Farmington Field Office are leased,\12\ and companies have 
        drilled over 37,000 wells in the area.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ BLM, Mancos-Gallup RMPA/EIS AMS 2-122 (Mar. 2015).
    \12\ Press Release, Legislation to Permanently Protect Greater 
Chaco Landscape Passes House of Representatives (Oct. 30, 2019).
    \13\ BLM, Farmington Mancos-Gallup 2020 Affected Environment 
Supplemental Report AE-92 (Feb. 2020).

        This has directly and profoundly harmed significant cultural 
        resources and sacred sites. Oil and gas development has 
        ``destroyed'' long stretches of the Great North Road--a highly 
        significant ``cosmographic expression'' built by the Chacoan 
        people to ``unit[e] the Chaco world and its work with its 
        spiritual landscape.'' \14\ In fact, the broader complex of 
        Chacoan roads that emanates from Chaco Canyon and ``unites'' 
        cultural features across the broader landscape is ``rapidly 
        deteriorating,'' in large part due to oil and gas 
        development.\15\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\ Sofaer, Marshall, and Sinclair, The Great North Road: a 
Cosmographic Expression of the Chaco Culture of New Mexico 9.
    \15\ Friedman, Sofaer, and Weiner, Remote Sensing of Chaco Road 
Revisited 378 (Nov. 2017).

        The indirect impacts of oil and gas development are also 
        widespread and severe. According to leading Chaco experts, 
        components of the Chaco Culture WHS now resemble ``industrial 
        parks.'' \16\ For example,
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \16\ Ruth M. Van Dyke, Impacts of Oil and Gas Drilling on 
Viewscapes and Soundscapes at the Chaco Outlier of Pierre's, San Juan 
County, New Mexico 1 (Feb. 16, 2017).

             Despite the efforts of the Bureau of Land Management and 
        the National Park Service to jointly minimize the ground 
        footprint impacts of oil and gas drilling on the Pierre's 
        community, there have been significant impacts to the viewscape 
        and the soundscape. No less than 12 pumpjacks and at least 5 
        drilling containers are visible from the high places in the 
        community. Pumpjacks . . . are prominently visible on the 
        skyline from Houses A and B as well as the pinnacle sites. 
        Noise from the nearest pumpjack . . . , located approximately 
        600 m southwest of Pierre's butte, is audible from throughout 
        the community. Looking south toward Chaco Canyon, numerous 
        pumpjacks . . . dot the valley floor.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \17\ Id. at 14-15.

        Such impacts are, unfortunately, commonplace, particularly on 
        lands north and east of the proposed withdrawal area, which 
        have experienced and continue to experience significant 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        development pressure.

        If oil and gas development continues to encroach upon and 
        within the proposed withdrawal area, these direct and indirect 
        impacts will individually, collectively, and permanently alter 
        the irreplaceable cultural landscape that surrounds CCNHP. 
        These impacts will be significant--and likely unavoidable--
        which several DOI agencies and offices have previously 
        recognized. For example:

                   Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 
                (ACHP): ``The effects of continued [oil and gas] 
                development [in the landscape surrounding Chaco Canyon] 
                stand not only to directly impact historic properties; 
                they may also impair the traditions and tribal way of 
                life that has endured for centuries if not carried out 
                with an understanding of these important connections.'' 
                \18\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ Letter from Milford Wayne Donaldson, Chairman, ACHP, to David 
Bernhardt, Secretary, DOI 1 (June 10, 2019).

                   BLM: ``Leasing this parcel could potentially 
                involve significant access issues. Access across Tsun 
                Je Zhin Mesa north of parcel #64 could intrude across 
                the Chaco North Road. Our staff have identified clear 
                evidence for the North Road on Tsun Je Zhin Mesa as 
                well as with the east half of the parcel in Ah-shi-sle-
                pah Wash.'' \19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \19\ Letter from David J. Mankiewicz, BLM, to Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, 
Director, Hopi Cultural Preservation Office 2 (Dec. 23, 2009).

                   Federal Indian Minerals Office (FIMO): ``For 
                Parcel 791 219, 99.9% of the physical [area of 
                potential effects] APE and 70.4% of the atmospheric APE 
                fall within the viewshed of the North Road. For Parcel 
                791 220, 57.5% of the physical APE and 84.2% of the 
                atmospheric APE fall within the viewshed of the North 
                Road. Given that the North Road is a NR eligible 
                property (Criterion A, C, and D) and that setting is an 
                important element of its significance, it is unlikely 
                then that unmitigated development of Parcel 791 219 
                would be feasible. . . .'' \20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \20\ FIMO, Oil and Gas Competitive Lease Sale EA 2021 98 (Sept. 
2021).

                   National Park Service (NPS): ``[t]he recent 
                proposed lease sale of 36 BLM parcels for oil and gas 
                development near Chaco Culture National Historical Park 
                and World Heritage Site has drawn considerable concern 
                from park management and other stakeholders. Though 
                that sale has been postponed to January 2014, we 
                believe this scale of development has the potential for 
                significant adverse effects on park viewsheds and 
                related values. The CCNHP viewshed contains numerous 
                ancient road alignments, including portions of the 
                Great North Road, and others that extend to the 
                northeast and northwest. Should these lease sales go 
                forward, park visitors will see construction and use of 
                new oil and gas roads, interfering with their views of 
                the ancient roads. Visitors will see oil and gas wells, 
                new electric transmission lines, and heavy transport, 
                construction, and ongoing well production traffic, all 
                of which would cumulatively affect the context, 
                setting, and historical integrity of the park.\21\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \21\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 4 (May 
29, 2013) (emphases added).

        Inaccurate/Misleading Statement #3: CCNHP and important 
        cultural resources in the surrounding landscape are already 
        protected. The Chaco culture's sphere of influence encompassed 
        much--if not the entirety--of the Four Corners region. Evidence 
        of this is found at Wupatki National Monument in Arizona, 
        Chimney Rock National Monument in Colorado, and the Bluff Great 
        House in Utah. Yet, these protected places are exceptions to 
        the norm, as oil and gas development--particularly on public 
        lands in northwestern New Mexico--has ``destroyed'' many 
        significant cultural features created by the Chacoans and 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        turned others into ``industrial parks.''

        Further, while oil and gas development is not allowed within 
        CCNHP, much of the surrounding landscape, including public 
        lands bordering the national park, are currently open to 
        leasing and drilling. According to NPS, there would likely be 
        ``significant adverse effects on park viewshed and related 
        values'' if federal lands in the proposed withdrawal area are 
        leased and drilled.\22\ That is why ACHP has called for a 
        ``buffer zone'' around CCNHP and why the All Pueblo Council of 
        Governors and many others are supporting legislation that would 
        statutorily withdraw federal lands within ten miles of CCNHP 
        from future oil and gas leasing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \22\ Id.

III. The Proposed Withdrawal is Needed to Fulfill DOI's Obligations to 
        Protect Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the Chaco 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Culture World Heritage Site

    The proposed withdrawal would provide enhanced and much-needed 
protection for CCNHP. In particular, it would limit harmful development 
activity within the park's viewshed. The withdrawal would also help 
prevent further degradation to the integrity of the Chaco Culture WHS.

A. The proposed withdrawal is needed to limit harmful development 
        activity within the park's viewshed.

    By limiting oil and gas development within the park's viewshed, the 
proposed withdrawal would help address ``the greatest external threat 
to park resources.'' According to NPS, there are several significant 
cultural locations within CCNHP that are susceptible to visual and 
auditory impacts from oil and gas development within the park's 
viewshed, including Penasco Blanco, Pueblo Alto, Pueblo Pintado, and 
Tsin Kletsin.\23\ Pueblos and Tribes that access and use these sites 
for traditional purposes have expressed concern for ``the broad effects 
from oil and gas development that result in an altered landscape where 
individuals are no longer able to complete early morning prayers, night 
observances, or other ceremonies due to the impaired visual and 
auditory setting.'' \24\ ACHP has raised identical concerns:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \23\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 2 (May 
29, 2013).
    \24\ BLM, Farmington Mancos-Gallup Draft RMPA/EIS, Appendix H-2 
(Feb. 2018).

        Chaco also is a place of transcendent spiritual and traditional 
        cultural importance to Indian tribes of the region. Many 
        Pueblos and Indian Tribes in the Four Corners region recognize 
        that the Chaco Culture area is rich with sacred sites of utmost 
        importance to them. The threats posed by continued development 
        are not merely physical impacts on historic properties; they 
        can impair the traditions and tribal way of life that has 
        endured for centuries.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \25\ Letter from Milford Wayne Donaldson, Chairman, ACHP, to Rep. 
Grijalva & Rep. Bishop, House Natural Resources Committee 1 (Apr. 30, 
2019).

    Accordingly, Pueblos and Tribes have repeatedly asked the Interior 
Department to avoid issuing any more oil and gas leases on federal 
lands within the proposed withdrawal area.\26\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \26\ See, e.g., Letter, All Pueblo Council of Governors, to State 
Director, BLM (Jan. 14, 2018) (protesting oil and gas leases within the 
proposed withdrawal area); Press Release, All Pueblo Council of 
Governors Response to BLM's Preferred Plan for Greater Chaco (Mar. 3, 
2020) (``For years, and at the urging of Pueblos and other tribes, DOI 
has designated federal land in this 10-mile area unavailable or 
otherwise removed parcels from oil and gas lease sales. APCG and many 
other stakeholders of this region have repeatedly called upon the 
federal government to protect this region.'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Additionally, all of these sites are open to and interpreted for 
members of the public, many of whom value the park because of its 
``solitude, natural quiet, remote high desert environment, and minimal 
park development,'' which provide ``an unparalleled opportunity to 
stand among the ruins and imagine the activity that occurred during the 
height of the Chacoan occupation.'' \27\ Thus, by limiting oil and gas 
development within the park's viewshed, the proposed withdrawal would 
help protect these sites and further DOI's obligation to ``accommodate 
access to and ceremonial use of Indian sacred sites by Indian religious 
practitioners'' and ``avoid adversely affecting the physical integrity 
of such sacred sites.'' \28\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \27\ NPS, Chaco Culture National Historical Park General Management 
Plan Amendment/Environmental Assessment 15.
    \28\ Exec. Order 13,007, 61 Fed. Reg. 26,771 (May 29, 1996); see 
also NHPA XXX.

    Over the years, NPS, BLM, and ACHP have all found that there could 
be significant impacts on the park's viewshed if widespread oil and gas 
development were to occur within the proposed withdrawal area. In 2013, 
NPS provided BLM with comments on a draft visual resources management 
plan for the Farmington Field Office. In those comments, NPS stated 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
that

        [t]he recent proposed lease sale of 36 BLM parcels for oil and 
        gas development near Chaco Culture National Historical Park and 
        World Heritage Site has drawn considerable concern from park 
        management and other stakeholders. Though that sale has been 
        postponed to January 2014, we believe this scale of development 
        has the potential for significant adverse effects on park 
        viewsheds and related values. The CCNHP viewshed contains 
        numerous ancient road alignments, including portions of the 
        Great North Road, and others that extend to the northeast and 
        northwest. Should these lease sales go forward, park visitors 
        will see construction and use of new oil and gas roads, 
        interfering with their views of the ancient roads. Visitors 
        will see oil and gas wells, new electric transmission lines, 
        and heavy transport, construction, and ongoing well production 
        traffic, all of which would cumulatively affect the context, 
        setting, and historical integrity of the park.\29\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \29\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 4 (May 
29, 2013) (emphases added).

    NPS specifically highlighted the sparsity of development within the 
park's viewshed, particularly to the north: ``This landscape is not 
pristine or untrammeled, but it is largely intact and the fact the 
ancient features are still visible and detectable suggests that the 
level of integrity is high. Each additional modern feature, ground 
disturbance, or terrain modification obscures or outright obliterates 
these features.'' \30\ Separately, NPS has found that a ``cultural 
landscape'' exists that ``encompasses the whole park, and includes the 
viewshed into and from adjacent lands, dark night sky, air quality, and 
resources and values of traditionally associated peoples,'' \31\ and 
stated that ``impacts to viewsheds have the potential to diminish 
integrity of the park cultural landscape.'' \32\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \30\ Id. at 3.
    \31\ BLM, Draft EA/FONSI Jan. 2014 Oil & Gas Lease Sale 24; see 
also Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 6 (May 
29, 2013) (``Surrounding lands outside the park boundary also 
contribute to the integrity of setting and feeling of the park cultural 
landscape.'').
    \32\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 7 (May 
29, 2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    BLM has reached similar conclusions. Several years ago, after 
receiving lease nominations within the proposed withdrawal area, BLM 
prepared a series of viewshed maps, which confirm that public lands 
through the proposed withdrawal area are visible from several key 
observation points within the park.\33\ BLM concluded that development 
on these parcels ``could impact visitor experience of sweeping, 
unimpaired views; appreciation of ancient sites with minimal 
distractions; and no intrusions of man-made noise or light (at night) 
at those points by introducing man-made structures into the 
landscape.'' \34\ BLM also found that development on lease parcels over 
twenty miles away would be visible from within the park.\35\ For this 
reason, in 2018, BLM included an alternative in the Mancos-Gallup Draft 
RMP Amendment that would close federal lands to leasing up to fifteen 
miles from the park's boundary--five miles beyond what is proposed in 
the withdrawal.\36\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \33\ BLM, Penasco Blanco Viewshed Analysis Results; BLM, Pueblo 
Alto Viewshed Analysis Results; BLM, Pueblo Pintado Viewshed Analysis 
Results; BLM, Tsin Kletsin Viewshed Analysis Results.
    \34\ BLM, Draft EA/FONSI Jan. 2014 Oil & Gas Lease Sale 62.
    \35\ Id. at 63.
    \36\ BLM, Farmington Mancos-Gallup Draft RMPA/EIS, Appendix H-4 
(Feb. 2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Finally, ACHP has echoed NPS and BLM's findings concerning the 
impact of oil and gas development on the park's viewshed. In 2013, in 
comments on Farmington's draft visual resources management plan, ACHP 
advised BLM that ``[i]t is particularly important to apply Class I or 
II designations to all areas within the Chaco viewshed, including those 
currently available for oil and gas leasing, in order to protect the 
viewshed from adverse visual effects.'' \37\ Further, in 2019, 
following then-Secretary of the Interior Bernhardt's decision to 
recognize a congressional moratorium on leasing within the proposed 
withdrawal area by announcing an administrative moratorium on leasing 
within the withdrawal area, ACHP again raised concerns for how DOI was 
managing the landscape surrounding CCNHP: ``The effects of continued 
development stand not only to directly impact historic properties; they 
may also impair the traditions and tribal way of life that has endured 
for centuries if not carried out with an understanding of these 
important connections.'' \38\ ACHP specifically endorsed the creation 
of a ``buffer zone'' around the park where oil and gas leasing on 
federal lands would be prohibited.\39\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \37\ Letter from Reid J. Nelson, ACHP, to Lindsay Eoff, Project 
Manager, BLM 1 (May 31, 2013).
    \38\ Letter from Milford Wayne Donaldson, Chairman, ACHP, to David 
Bernhardt, Secretary, DOI 1 (June 10, 2019).
    \39\ Letter from Milford Wayne Donaldson, Chairman, ACHP, to Rep. 
Grijalva & Rep. Bishop, House Natural Resources Committee 2 (Apr. 30, 
2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In sum, over the years, three DOI agencies--NPS, BLM, and ACHP--
have repeatedly voiced concern for the impact of oil and gas 
development on the park, including its viewshed, and have recommended 
courses of action, including creation of a ``buffer zone,'' that are in 
complete harmony with the withdrawal proposed by Secretary Haaland.

B. The proposed withdrawal is needed to prevent further degradation of 
        the Chaco Culture WHS.

    The National Park Service and archaeological experts with decades 
of experience studying Chaco Canyon and the surrounding landscape have 
identified oil and gas development as the ``greatest external threat'' 
to the integrity of the Chaco Culture WHS. Notably, the landscape that 
surrounds and contextualizes the Chaco Culture WHS contributes to its 
``outstanding universal value.'' According to NPS,

        [t]he original [WHS] nomination underwent an important 
        modification that led to the inclusion of five associated Chaco 
        Greathouse communities managed by the BLM and Aztec Ruins 
        [National Monument], another NPS unit. This unusual action 
        (which followed the US congressional passage of PL 96-550) was 
        done to recognize that the Chacoan civilization and its remains 
        are not confined to the concentrated area in Chaco Canyon 
        proper. . . . The listing is remarkable in that UNESCO 
        recognized and requested that the additional `outlying' 
        segments be included in the listing because they illustrate the 
        vast extent of the Chaco World in the 10th through the 12th 
        centuries.\40\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \40\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 3 (May 
29, 2013) (emphases added).

    NPS has also noted that while ``[m]ost of the Great North Road and 
numerous other road alignments are outside of the World Heritage 
boundaries[,] . . . views of and along those roads contribute to 
Chaco's outstanding universal value.'' \41\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \41\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, over the years, oil and gas development has impaired the 
``outstanding universal values'' of the WHS, as detailed in a recent 
assessment of Pierre's Site by Professor Ruth Van Dyke, a leading 
expert on Chaco Canyon. Professor Van Dyke found ``that although the 
BLM has taken care not to place drill rigs on top of surface 
archaeological sites, there are major indirect and cumulative impacts 
to the resources--specifically, to the viewscapes and soundscapes. 
Sadly, rather than a sacred landscape and part of a UNESCO World 
Heritage Site, the Pierre's community today resembles an industrial 
park.'' \42\ In a separate study, Professor Van Dyke and two of her 
colleagues indicated that ``energy development in the 20th century has 
destroyed virtually any traces of the North Road between Kutz Canyon 
and Aztec.'' \43\ As noted earlier, ``views of and along [the Great 
North Road] contribute to Chaco's outstanding universal value.'' \44\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \42\ Ruth M. Van Dyke, Impacts of Oil and Gas Drilling on 
Viewscapes and Soundscapes at the Chaco Outlier of Pierre's, San Juan 
County, New Mexico 1 (Feb. 16, 2017).
    \43\ Van Dyke, Lekson, and Heitman, Chaco Landscapes: Data, Theory 
and Management 50 (Feb. 25, 2016).
    \44\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 3 (May 
29, 2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    NPS has made similar findings. In a 2013 report on the state of the 
Chaco Culture WHS, NPS identified ``energy development as the greatest 
external threat to park resources'' and acknowledged that ``[t]he 
ability to consistently and successfully manage external threats and 
their effects on the cultural values is not present.'' \45\ Also in 
2013 and in response to a specific leasing proposal for public lands in 
close proximity to the WHS, NPS stated that ``Chaco's specific World 
Heritage values of sweeping, unimpaired views, clean air, and no 
intrusions of man-made noise or light would be affected by a high level 
of development near the World Heritage sites.'' \46\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \45\ Id.
    \46\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 7 (May 
29, 2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    This leasing proposal was just one of several in recent years that 
included public lands within the proposed withdrawal area. One of those 
proposals included a parcel that overlapped with the Great North Road 
about four miles north of the NHP. According to BLM, ``[l]easing this 
parcel could potentially involve significant access issues. Access 
across Tsun Je Zhin Mesa north of parcel #64 could intrude across the 
Chaco North Road. Our staff have identified clear evidence for the 
North Road on Tsun Je Zhin Mesa as well as with the east half of the 
parcel in Ah-shi-sle-pah Wash.'' \47\ Fortunately, and in response to 
concerns from the Hopi Tribe, BLM deferred this parcel--but, like most 
of the landscape surrounding the park, it remains open to leasing and 
development.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \47\ Letter from David J. Mankiewicz, BLM, to Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, 
Director, Hopi Cultural Preservation Office 2 (Dec. 23, 2009).

    To prevent further degradation to the Chaco Culture WHS, ACHP has 
endorsed the creation of a ``buffer zone'' around the park. In 
commenting on the Chaco Cultural Heritage Protection Act, which would 
withdraw the same federal lands from oil and gas leasing that DOI's 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
proposed withdrawal would, ACHP stated that:

        [b]y creating the ``Chaco Cultural Heritage Withdrawal Area,'' 
        the legislation would remove development threats on federal 
        lands within and adjacent to the Chaco National Historical Park 
        and other portions of the World Heritage Site. It should be 
        noted that by doing so the Congress would be fulfilling the 
        obligations of the World Heritage Convention for states party 
        to protect their World Heritage Sites and, where necessary, to 
        create buffer zones for that purpose. The provisions of H.R. 
        2181 would in large part meet the threats identified in the 
        Chaco Culture World Heritage Site Statement of Outstanding 
        Universal Value.\48\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \48\ Letter from Milford Wayne Donaldson, Chairman, ACHP, to Rep. 
Grijalva & Rep. Bishop, House Natural Resources Committee 2 (Apr. 30, 
2019).

    Creating such a ``buffer zone'' would also address NPS's 
``considerable concern'' for leasing in the landscape surrounding the 
Chaco Culture WHS,\49\ and help avoid ``reduc[ing] this landscape to 
dots on a map that threaten to destroy the most compelling, least-
understood, and perhaps most significant aspects of [the Chaco] 
phenomenon.'' \50\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \49\ Letter from Lawrence T. Turk, Superintendent, Chaco Culture 
National Historical Park, to Lindsay Eoff, Project Manager, BLM 4 (May 
29, 2013).
    \50\ Van Dyke, Lekson, and Heitman, Chaco Landscapes: Data, Theory 
and Management 1 (Feb. 25, 2016).

C. The proposed withdrawal would help DOI fulfill its legal obligation 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        to achieve ``maximum consistency'' with state and local plans.

    The proposed withdrawal would help DOI achieve consistency with the 
New Mexico State Land Office's withdrawal of state lands surrounding 
CCNHP. Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, BLM must 
ensure that its land management efforts are consistent ``with State and 
local plans to the maximum extent'' possible.\51\ While this 
requirement does not require absolute consistency between federal and 
state/local plans, ``it ensures that the States' interests . . . will 
not be ignored. . . .'' \52\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \51\ 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1712(c)(9).
    \52\ Cal. Coastal Comm'n v. Granite Rock Co., 480 U.S. 572, 596 
(1987) (Powell, J., dissenting).

    On April 27, 2019, New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie 
Garcia Richard issued Executive Order (EO) No. 2019-002--Moratorium on 
New Oil and Gas and Mineral Leasing in Greater Chaco Area. The EO 
explains that ``the protection of Chaco Culture National Historical 
Park and other sites is essential to safeguard archaeological and 
cultural resources of the tribes, nations and pueblos, the State of New 
Mexico and the United States. . . .'' \53\ Accordingly, the EO 
``withholds'' state trust lands ``from new leasing for oil and gas or 
mineral purposes'' within the proposed withdrawal area ``until December 
31, 2013. . . .'' \54\ Because DOI's proposed withdrawal would have the 
same effect on federal lands (for a period for twenty years), it would 
help DOI achieve ``maximum consistency'' with the State of New Mexico's 
current plan for the landscape surrounding Chaco Canyon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \53\ SLO EO 2019-002
    \54\ Id.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI. The Proposed Withdrawal is Needed to Protect Cultural Resources

    The significance and importance of the 10-mile zone revolves around 
its values--spiritual, archaeological, and scientific. Chaco Canyon and 
the surrounding Greater Chaco Landscape constitute a living cultural 
and ancestral landscape of great spiritual significance to the Pueblo 
Tribes of New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. The Pueblos trace their 
ancestry to Chaco's many ceremonial and sacred sites, as well as to 
traditional cultural places on this landscape. Pueblo ancestors have 
lived and practiced ritual within Chaco's boundaries and across the 
Greater Chaco Landscape for thousands of years. Navajo residents of 
Greater Chaco have enduring ties to this landscape, as well, and the 
Pueblos and the Navajo Nation identify many traditional cultural places 
here.

    In addition to years of previous work, archaeological survey and 
reconnaissance work (reflected in Figure 1) by Archaeology Southwest in 
2020 revealed more than 4,200 archaeological and historic sites in the 
protective zone.\55\ These places were created by diverse groups--
including Paleoindian, Archaic, Puebloan, Navajo, Jicarilla Apache, and 
others--in time periods from about 10,000 BCE to the present. Because 
less than 20 percent of the area enclosed by the 10-mile zone has been 
archaeologically surveyed, the actual site count is undoubtedly much 
higher.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \55\ Reed 2020.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                Figure 1

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    .epsAt least 10 significant ancient Chacoan-Pueblo communities are 
known to lie within and just beyond the 10-mile zone around Chaco Park. 
These include the Bis san'ni Community, located a few miles northeast 
of Chetro Ketl, and the Pierre's Community, located up the Great North 
Road, at about the edge of the 10-mile protection zone. A linear 
community lies along the Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah road, which originates at 
Penasco Blanco and trends to the northwest for more than 25 kilometers 
(19 miles). Most of this linear ancient community lies within the 10-
mile protection zone. Additional Chacoan communities within the 10-mile 
zone include Casa del Rio, Bee Burrow, Kin Indian-Escavada-Greasy Hill, 
Greenlee, Indian Creek, Mesa Tierra, and Tse Lichii'. As described 
below, these are significant sites--the characteristics and condition 
of which merit additional study and protection from oil-gas 
development.

     The ancient Pueblo community at Bis san'ni comprises at 
            least 30 sites in a roughly 4 km-square or roughly 1000-
            acre area. The community lies about 5 miles northeast of 
            Pueblo Bonito. The core of the site is a Chaco great house 
            with about 40 rooms and 5 kivas. Pueblo sites in the 
            community around Bis san'ni contain about 50 rooms and 
            several kivas. In addition, the community contains resource 
            procurement sites and other sites of limited use.

     The Pierre's site complex is the largest community on 
            Chaco's Great North Road. Pierre's contains three small 
            Chacoan great houses with perhaps 50 total rooms, single 
            and second--story, and several kivas. The community also 
            incorporates a watchtower-like feature called El Faro (the 
            lighthouse). In the community around Pierre's core, at 
            least 75 rooms are present at numerous small pueblo 
            habitation or field house sites. Additional sites include 
            artifact scatters, the Great North Road, and rock features. 
            Additional discussion of Pierre's is provided below.

     Mesa Tierra is a Chacoan great house with 30 rooms and 5 
            kivas located southwest of Pueblo Bonito. The site was 
            built on a mesatop and includes a small community of 
            surrounding sites with perhaps 20 additional rooms.

     Casa del Rio lies along Chaco's West Road and comprises a 
            great house with perhaps 140 rooms and several large, dense 
            midden areas. An ancient reservoir lies south of the great 
            house. The community around Casa del Rio is largely 
            unknown, due to the lack of archaeological survey.

     Greenlee lies southeast of the Chaco Park boundary and 
            consists of a Chacoan great house with 15 rooms and one 
            kiva. It sits on a low mesatop. A Chacoan road segment run 
            to the east of the site. A probable community of small 
            sites surrounds Greenlee but its nature is unclear due to 
            limited archaeological investigation.

     Bee Burrow is a small Chacoan great house with 11 rooms 
            and 2 kivas located south of Pueblo Bonito and the Park 
            boundary. Chaco's South Road passes by the site to the 
            east. Petroglyphs are present along a cliff face southwest 
            of the great house. The community surrounding Bee Burrow is 
            poorly understood but contains dozens of small pueblo sites 
            and perhaps 500 total rooms.

     The Indian Creek community lies west of Chaco and includes 
            two small Chacoan great houses--Casa Cielo and Casa Abajo--
            and a community of 20 small pueblo sites with over 100 
            rooms. In addition to the communities listed above, there 
            are others--clusters of sites that may constitute distinct 
            communities and have not yet received detailed examination.

    To better understand the nature and extent of cultural resources in 
the 10-mile zone, Archaeology Southwest undertook a reconnaissance 
project focusing on the northwest, north, and northeast portions of the 
10-mile area.\56\ A primary goal of the work was to identify or confirm 
cultural communities in the 10-mile zone, with the main criterion being 
spatial proximity. In several cases, the mix of sites across time 
periods was substantial. For these areas, then, the geographically 
proximate sites were not described as discrete communities, but rather 
as site clusters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \56\ Reed 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    A larger objective in this work was connected to the currently 
ongoing RMPA and EIS planning process undertaken by the BLM and the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). This goal involved looking at the 
Greater Chaco Landscape in not so much a totally unique manner, but at 
a different scale than is pursued by the Agencies. Typically, Federal 
Agencies in the western United States treat cultural sites as single 
phenomena during the Section 106 process. Thus, archaeological 
contractors identify sites or TCPs during projects, and the projects 
are redesigned, in most cases, to avoid the resources by 50-100 feet. 
In rarer cases, such as road alignments, the decision is made to 
conduct test excavations to mitigate effects on the cultural resources.
    This avoidance policy has spared many cultural resources from 
outright destruction, but has also resulted in a highly fragmented 
cultural landscape across many places of the American West, and in 
particular, across the Greater Chaco Landscape. As a result, many 
indirect and cumulative effects have built up across Greater Chaco, as 
the ancient Chacoan-Puebloan landscape has been slowly but persistently 
in-filled by the industrial infrastructure of the oil-gas industry.
    In our view, a better perspective looks at cultural sites not in 
isolation, but as pieces of larger communities on the landscape. This 
community- or landscape-based approach has been part of archaeological 
research for nearly 25 years, but it has not yet appeared in the 
Agencies' playbook. Although the BLM lands in Greater Chaco are 
currently leased at more than 90 percent, this landscape-level approach 
can be implemented to protect communities and site clusters that have 
not yet seen impacts, such as those seen at the Pierre's Community.\57\
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    \57\ See Van Dyke 2017.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To add to what Van Dyke's study has revealed and what prior BLM 
GIS-based analysis also showed, we compiled a map of the Pierre's 
Community and then overlaid the current BLM ACEC that was put in place 
years ago in an effort to protect the community and keep oil-gas 
development away (Figure 2). Again, as Van Dyke has clearly 
illustrated, the number and density of oil-gas well pads and other 
facilities has compromised the viewshed and soundscape around the 
Pierre's Community. This study and the mapping exercise amplify this 
message.
    Figure 2 shows sites in the ancient Pierre's Community and site 
cluster, encompassing at least 160 sites of varying ages (primarily 
Chacoan with some Archaic, Early Navajo, and Historic Navajo 
manifestations), with the BLM's ACEC zones of protection shown. The 
ACECs were designed to protect Pierre's and two sections of the Great 
North Road, both north and south of the community. As the map shows, 
however, the ACECs cut through the middle of the community--protecting 
some sites but not offering any protection for outlying sites that are 
part of the ancient and historic community. Although the Pierre's 
Community is recognized as part of the Chaco Culture World Heritage 
designation, beyond BLM small ACECs, this amazing place has no special 
protection from oil-gas or other development.

                                Figure 2

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Moving north of the Pierre's Community, we come to a point that 
is near the northern margin of the 10-mile zone (Figure 3). This site 
cluster, described as ``North of Pierre's,'' includes more than 100 
sites of primarily historic Navajo and Archaic ages that lie on 
predominantly BLM lands. Beyond the initial recording of these sites on 
various projects, little additional research has been completed. At 
present, we do not know whether these sites constitute one or more 
discrete cultural communities. Additional research is necessary to 
better understand this very interesting site cluster. We do know that 
the density of sites in this cluster was the main reason that the 
withdrawal boundary was drawn where it lies. Currently, this cluster of 
sites has little protection.

                                Figure 3

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    West of the Pierre's Community, we come to another dense 
cluster of sites identified as the Split Lip Flats cluster, after a 
local topographic feature (Figure 4). This very dense cluster contains 
at least 266 sites that are primarily of Middle-Late Archaic, 
Basketmaker II, and Pueblo I-III origin, located primarily on BLM-
managed lands. The Chacoan road known as the Ah-She-Sle-Pah road is 
shown on the same map (in Figure 4), running northwest from just below 
the Chaco Canyon sites of Penasco Blanco and pointing to the core of 
the Split Lip Flats cluster. Although it has hardly been documented, 
there is a Pueblo II community in this cluster on the road alignment. 
More research would help us understand this area northwest of Chaco's 
boundary. As the map figure shows, there is an ACEC that encompasses a 
small portion of the Ah-She-Sle-Pah road. The bulk of this dense and 
poorly understand site cluster and community lies on BLM lands, and it 
is not protected in any way.

                                Figure 4

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    Next, we move to the east, past Chaco's boundary and to the 
community known as Bis san'ni (Figure 5). This Chacoan community was 
well studied in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Cory Breternitz, Mike 
Marshall, and others. The community encompasses at least 61 sites that 
are predominantly Pueblo II in age. Earlier and later Pueblo sites are 
present, as well as Archaic and Historic Navajo age sites. On the 
north, the community is largely bounded by the wide swath of Escavada 
Wash. BLM land is but a small percentage in the Bis san'ni area, mostly 
on the north end of the Chacoan community. Although Bis san'ni is 
recognized as unique Chacoan Outlier, it is afforded no special 
protection, and oil-gas wells could be placed in close proximity to the 
community.

                                Figure 5

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T2952.020


    .epsLastly, we move north of Bis san'ni to a location near the 
northeast edge of 10-mile zone. This site cluster is the smallest, with 
30 sites, and is identified as the Northeast of Chaco site cluster 
(Figure 6). The sites are split between Historic Navajo camps and 
settlement dating between 1880 and 1960, and a range of Archaic and 
likely Archaic camps and scatter sites. Similar to the North of 
Pierre's site cluster, these sites are known only through limited, 
survey-level documentation. Data show the presence of a Navajo 
community in the area, from 1880 to 1960. Nevertheless, additional 
research is required to better understand the Navajo community and to 
tease out the parameters of Archaic period settlement in the cluster, 
from 5500 to 800 BCE. This site cluster is probably the most at-risk of 
all discussed here, because companies working in the Mancos Shale oil 
development have placed many wells in the area just beyond the site-
cluster boundary and the 10-mile boundary. If the BLM and BIA do not 
honor the 10-mile protection zone in this area, it is very likely that 
the sites in this cluster will become mere islands of ``preserved'' 
remnants of Navajo and Archaic cultures embedded within a highly 
industrialized modern landscape.

                                Figure 6

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    The group of six ancient and historic communities and site 
clusters discussed here is just a sample of those that lie within the 
10-mile protection zone. Along with the ten previously documented and 
described Chacoan communities, they clearly illustrate the high density 
of cultural and historic sites in this area directly adjacent to Chaco 
Park. These findings again reinforce our understanding that the 10-mile 
zone of protection is not an arbitrary boundary. The 10-mile zone 
contains irreplaceable ancient and historic sites and communities that 
merit much more protection than BLM and BIA policy and regulations 
currently provide.
    Other than the Pueblo of Acoma's 2018 project with Archaeology 
Southwest (Anschuetz, Reed et al. 2019, little recent ethnographic work 
has been undertaken with any Tribal groups. Dozens of traditional 
cultural properties (TCPs) were revealed during the Acoma Project 
within the 10-mile zone, indicating that there are probably hundreds, 
if not thousands, of TCPs and other Tribal cultural sites as yet 
unidentified across Greater Chaco. Current, ongoing cultural studies 
(funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs), with the Chaco Heritage 
Tribal Association--a coalition of Pueblo groups--and the Navajo Nation 
will add immeasurably to our understanding of the 10-mile zone and the 
Greater Chaco Landscape. A failure to protect Federal lands in the 10-
mile zone would undoubtedly result in loss of sensitive cultural 
resources.
    Beyond the specifics of TCPs, sacred sites, cultural and historic 
sites, other scientific aspects of the Greater Chaco Landscape attest 
to its significance, including the Chaco Park's International Dark Sky 
designation and the incredible viewsheds and soundscapes Ruth Van Dyke 
(2017) and other archaeologists are only beginning to document. 
Additionally, the 10-mile zone encompasses much of the Park's viewshed, 
and visitors are able to view and appreciate the significance of the 
largely-undeveloped landscape surrounding the Park from Pueblo Alto, 
Pueblo Pintado, and several other locations.
    These values plainly underscore that the 10-mile zone of protection 
is not arbitrary. The 10-mile zone contains irreplaceable ancient and 
historic sites and communities that merit greater protection than BLM 
and BIA regulations currently provide. This reinforces the need for 
permanent withdrawal of the 351,000 acres in Secretary Haaland's order, 
as well as the need for legislation to permanently remove the threat of 
future oil-gas development from this land.
V. The Proposed Withdrawal Will Support Local Community Health and 
        Well-Being

    Not only does BLM have the inherent authority to withdraw these 
lands from mineral development, but it is imperative for a number of 
resource values as well as the surrounding communities that BLM 
withdraw these lands from mineral development.

A. BLM must analyze impacts to community health and well-being 
        throughout the environmental analysis.

    The proposed withdrawal can and should be an example of putting the 
commitments that the Biden Administration has emphasized into action 
for the benefit of the communities surrounding and historically 
connected to the greater Chaco landscape. As emphasized in Executive 
Order (EO) 13990, ``Protecting Public Health and the Environment and 
Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis'', it is the Federal 
government's responsibility to ``promote and protect our public health 
and the environment; and conserve our national treasures and monuments, 
places that secure our national memory.'' CCNHP is undoubtedly a 
national treasure rich in cultural history that deserves continued and 
improved protection. The EO emphasizes, in places ``[w]here the Federal 
Government has failed to meet that commitment in the past, it must 
advance environmental justice.'' Given the extensive amount of existing 
oil and gas development in the region, existing community health 
impacts, high poverty rates, and countless other harms against 
Indigenous communities tied to the region, CCNHP and the proposed 
withdrawal area is a prime location for the Federal government to make 
progress toward righting past wrongs and advancing public health and 
environmental justice. In doing so, the Federal government

        must be guided by the best science and protected by processes 
        that ensure the integrity of Federal decision-making. It is, 
        therefore, the policy of [the Biden] Administration to listen 
        to the science; to improve public health and protect our 
        environment; to ensure access to clean air and water; to limit 
        exposure to dangerous chemicals and pesticides; . . . to reduce 
        greenhouse gas emissions; to bolster resilience to the impacts 
        of climate change; to restore and expand our national treasures 
        and monuments.\58\
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    \58\ EO 13990, ``Protecting Public Health and the Environment and 
Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis'' January 20, 2021. 
Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-
actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-protecting-public-health-and-
environment-and-restoring-science-to-tackle-climate-crisis/

    The present environmental analysis is one of the most prime 
opportunities for the Biden administration to meet its commitments and 
stand up for environmental justice and community health.
    Additionally, evaluating and addressing the impacts to the health 
and economic welfare of surrounding communities must be an integral 
part of the ongoing environmental analysis. As stated throughout these 
comments, it will be important for the agencies to incorporate into 
this assessment a clear commitment and framework for ongoing 
consultation and coordination with Pueblos, Tribes, and residents.
    BLM must take a hard look at health and safety impacts to the 
community surrounding the proposed withdrawal. Local community and 
Tribal members have expressed serious concerns about the impacts of oil 
and gas development on local air and water quality, as well as noise 
and dust from nearby operations. Given the science supporting negative 
health impacts and continual requests from those most impacted by this 
decision, our coalition fully supports the proposed withdrawal area. 
This withdrawal would generally decrease risks to public health and 
safety from air emissions, noise, light pollution, and traffic, thus 
benefiting community health and wellbeing.
    The impact to public health from industrialized drilling and 
associated climate impacts cannot be understated, particularly with 
such a rampant acceleration in the surrounding area in a short period 
of time. A 2014 review identified 15 different components of 
unconventional oil and gas development, everything from trucks and 
tanks to chemicals and venting, which can present a chemical, physical 
and/or safety hazard.\59\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \59\ John L. Adgate et al., Potential Public Health Hazards, 
Exposures and Health Effects from Unconventional Natural Gas 
Development, 48 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 8307 (Feb. 24, 
2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Residents living near drilling and fracking operations experience 
increased reproductive harms, asthma attacks, rates of hospitalization, 
ambulance runs, emergency room visits, self-reported respiratory 
problems and rashes, motor vehicle fatalities, trauma, and drug abuse. 
A 2019 Physicians for Social Responsibility review concluded:

        By several measures, evidence for fracking-related health 
        problems is emerging across the United States. In Pennsylvania, 
        as the number of gas wells increase in a community, so do rates 
        of hospitalization. Drilling and fracking operations are 
        correlated with elevated motor vehicle fatalities (Texas), 
        asthma (Pennsylvania), self-reported skin and respiratory 
        problems (southwestern Pennsylvania), ambulance runs and 
        emergency room visits (North Dakota), infant deaths (Utah), 
        birth defects (Colorado), high risk pregnancies (Pennsylvania), 
        premature birth (Pennsylvania), and low birthweight (multiple 
        states). Benzene levels in ambient air surrounding drilling and 
        fracking operations are sufficient to elevate risks for future 
        cancers in both workers and nearby residents, according to 
        studies. Animal studies show that two dozen chemicals commonly 
        used in fracking operations are endocrine disruptors that can 
        variously disrupt organ systems, lower sperm counts, and cause 
        reproductive harm at levels to which people can be 
        realistically exposed.\60\
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    \60\ See https://www.psr.org/blog/resource/compendium-of-
scientific-medical-and-media-findings-demonstrating-risks-and-harms-of-
fracking/

    Across the country, multiple studies have pointed to the negative 
impacts of oil and gas development on community health, raising deep 
environmental justice concerns. In Pennsylvania, the following symptoms 
were reported by over half the people living near gas development who 
responded to a health survey. They included fatigue (62%), nasal 
irritation (61%), throat irritation (60%), sinus problems (58%), 
burning eyes (53%), shortness of breath (52%), joint pain (52%), 
feeling weak and tired (52%), severe headaches (51%), and sleep 
disturbance (51%). The survey was completed by 108 individuals (in 55 
households) in 14 counties across Pennsylvania.\61\ Similar impacts are 
probable to exist across impacted communities in New Mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \61\ Nadia Steinzor, et al., Investigating links between shale gas 
development and health impacts through a community survey project in 
Pennsylvania, New Solutions, vol. 23 iss. 1. (2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In one study, health experts surveyed agreed that oil and gas 
setbacks of over 1,000 feet were likely inadequate to protect public 
health, and additional setbacks were necessary to protect young 
children and elderly people.\62\ Many unconventional oil and gas 
setback rules, for setbacks of 1000 feet or less, do not adequately 
protect health, especially children's respiratory health, that ``the 
majority of municipal setback ordinances are not supported by empirical 
data,'' and calling for a one-mile minimum for setbacks between 
drilling facilities and schools, hospitals, and occupied dwellings in 
light of the heightened health risks of residing within .5 mile or less 
of unconventional oil and gas drilling sites.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \62\ See Celia Lewis et al., Setback Distances for Unconventional 
Oil and Gas Development: Delphi Study Results. 13 PLoS One e0202462 
(Aug. 16, 2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    One such study found that babies whose mothers lived near multiple 
oil and gas wells were 30% more likely to be born with heart defects 
than babies born to mothers who did not live close to oil and gas 
wells.\63\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \63\ Lisa M. McKenzie et al., Birth Outcomes and Maternal Resident 
Proximity to Natural Gas Development in Rural Colorado, 122 
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES 412 (April 2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In general, research indicates that the potential cumulative 
effects of social and environmental stressors and social determinants 
of health in the context of oil and natural gas activity can increase 
the risk or magnitude of exposure and the frequency and/or severity of 
adverse health impacts of oil and gas drilling (e.g., pollution sources 
are often located closer to communities of color and low-income 
``environmental justice'' communities--in this context largely Navajo 
residents currently already being hit very hard by COVID-19--underlying 
health conditions can increase vulnerability to pollution-related 
health impacts, and pollution-related health impacts can exacerbate 
existing health and socioeconomic stressors); and they can present 
obstacles to preventing, diagnosing, managing, and treating adverse 
health impacts.
    A study by Johns Hopkins University, which examined 35,000 medical 
records of people with asthma in Pennsylvania, found that people who 
live near a higher number of, or larger, active gas wells were 1.5 to 4 
times more likely to suffer from asthma attacks than those living 
farther away, with the closest groups having the highest risk.\64\ 
These asthma-related impacts are of particular concern in the 
communities adjacent to the proposed withdrawal and the Farmington 
Field Office. In San Juan and Rio Arriba Counties, child asthma 
hospitalizations exceed the New Mexico state average.\65\ The New 
Mexico Department of Health has noted that low-income populations and 
``environmental justice'' populations face not only disproportionate 
asthma risks, but also significant difficulty managing their asthma, in 
part due to lack of access to health care. Rio Arriba and McKinley 
Counties have some of the highest rates of asthma emergency department 
visits in Northern New Mexico, also higher than the state average.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \64\ Rasmussen, Sara G. et al., Association Between Unconventional 
Natural Gas Development in the Marcellus Shale and Asthma 
Exacerbations, 176 JAMA Internal Medicine 1334 (2016).
    \65\ New Mexico Dept. of Health, The Burden of Asthma in New 
Mexico: 2014 Epidemiology Report (Jan. 2014), at 41, available at 
https://nmhealth.org/data/view/environment/54.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2017, over 40% of San Juan county residents stated that they 
have difficulty accessing health care often due to geographic 
constraints but also for economic reasons.\66\ Cumulative health 
effects result throughout the course of life of a person suffering from 
air pollution related asthma: children with asthma are much more likely 
to miss school, hurting their educational prospects as well as their 
health (with some adverse health effects enduring into adulthood), and 
resulting in significant funding losses for local schools.\67\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \66\ 2017 Community Health Needs Assessment Report San Juan County, 
New Mexico.
    \67\ See Attendance Works, Mapping the Early Attendance Gap (2017). 
Available at http://www.attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/
Mapping-the-Early-Attendance-Gap_ Final-4.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The agency should consider this scientific information in full and 
acknowledge that oil and gas development and resulting climate change 
impacts will have direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts to the 
health and welfare of surrounding communities. In the planning area, 
these impacts can also have a differential adverse impact on low-income 
populations or communities of color, creating environmental justice 
concerns that can and should be addressed in the plan and in any 
subsequent approved activities. Supporting a 20-year withdrawal for the 
proposed area would significantly benefit community health and 
wellbeing.

B. BLM should analyze socio-economic impacts and develop measures to 
        mitigate those impacts as necessary.

    In addition to health impacts, oil and gas development can have 
socioeconomic impacts on local communities. For instance, the influx of 
construction and operations workers associated with oil and gas 
development and ancillary facilities in communities with low-income and 
Indigenous populations could lead to the undermining of local community 
social structures and, consequently, could lead to a range of changes 
in social and community life. BLM should evaluate socioeconomic impacts 
and include those in considering the costs and benefits of approving 
the proposed withdrawal.
    A study by Headwaters Economics recommends what data to track along 
with ideas for how to approach and develop monitoring protocols to help 
planners, local leaders, industry, and community members understand and 
respond to the social and economic impacts of a high intensity 
industrial activity like hydraulic fracturing.\68\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \68\ See https://headwaterseconomics.org/energy/oil-gas/energy-
monitoring-practices/.

    The Headwaters study recommends that the following five areas be 
monitored to more fully assess the impact of oil and gas development on 
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communities:

  1.  Population growth & worker residency patterns: an influx of 
            temporary and transient workers may create an inflated 
            demand on social services, housing, and infrastructure, 
            straining the capacity of small communities to meet that 
            need.

  2.  Employment, personal income, and local business effects: 
            monitoring this data can help states and communities 
            understand which types of businesses may be most vulnerable 
            to energy-related economic impacts and guide how and where 
            to direct support before, during, and after boom periods.

  3.  Cost of living and housing: the average wages in a community 
            experiencing an energy boom may not rise concurrently with 
            the increased energy development. An increased price of 
            living may adversely impact those whose wages do not 
            increase with the rise of energy activity.

  4.  Service, infrastructure, capacity, and revenue: a region's tax 
            base may increase with a growth in energy activity, but the 
            appropriation of those funds to address environmental and 
            health impacts may be difficult. A boom in the energy 
            sector of a community may result in an increased need for 
            police, fire protection, roads, water treatment, landfills, 
            and other government activities, all of which can be 
            costly.

  5.  Quality of life and other local concerns: as reflected in 
            multiple community accounts of health concerns, citizen 
            science health assessment studies, numerous complaints 
            filed to the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources 
            Department Oil Conservation Division regarding leaks and 
            emissions from oil and gas sites in the Greater Chaco 
            Region, the rapid growth of energy development in the area 
            has resulted in measurable detriments to public and 
            environmental health.

    We urge BLM to incorporate into its approach for the proposed 
withdrawal a thorough assessment of the socioeconomic impacts of the 
projected oil and gas development in the planning area and to develop 
mitigation measures to address those impacts.

VI. The Proposed Withdrawal Will Benefit the Climate and Mitigate the 
        Impacts of Climate Change

    The primary purpose of the proposed withdrawal is to protect Chaco 
Canyon and the greater connected landscape's rich Tribal and cultural 
legacy. It is important to note that in addition to the vast cultural 
values and the need to protect the landscape, the proposed action also 
provides progress toward the necessary climate goal of limiting warming 
to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Federal government is at a critical moment 
in time--the decisions made now will impact the climate and quality of 
life for future generations.
    DOI has the authority to adopt a programmatic as well as a 
localized approach to phase out and ultimately eliminate fossil fuel 
development and production on public lands and waters.\69\ BLM must 
manage public lands according to ``multiple use'' and ``sustained 
yield'' and ``in a manner that will protect the quality of scientific, 
scenic, historical, ecological, environmental, air and atmospheric, 
water resources, and archeological values.'' \70\ Multiple use 
obligates the agency to make the ``most judicious use'' of public lands 
and their resources to ``best meet the present and future needs of the 
American people.'' \71\ This requires taking ``into account the 
longterm needs of future generations,'' ensuring ``harmonious and 
coordinated management of the various resources without permanent 
impairment of the productivity of the land and the quality of the 
environment.'' \72\ Importantly, BLM must also ``take any action 
necessary to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of the lands.'' 
\73\ The significant adverse impacts caused by burning fossil fuels 
from oil and gas development and production on public lands directly 
and urgently threaten BLM's ability to uphold its statutory mandates 
under FLPMA.
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    \69\ See 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1701-1785; 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321-4370h; 30 
U.S.C. Sec. 226(a), (b), (m); 43 C.F.R. Sec. 3101.1-2 (2019).
    \70\ 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1701(a)(7) & (8), Sec. 1712(c)(1), 
Sec. 1732(a).
    \71\ Id. Sec. 1702(c).
    \72\ Id.
    \73\ Id. Sec. 1732(b).
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    As documented in the Farmington Field Office--Mancos-Gallup Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement and Resource Management Plan Amendment 
(RMPA) completed in February 2020, oil and gas development has been the 
predominant use in the Farmington Field Office for decades.\74\ BLM has 
already leased 1.8 million acres in the Farmington Field Office for 
development--an astonishing ``92% of Federal fluid minerals within the 
planning area.'' \75\ Industry has also drilled over 37,000 wells and 
built a 15,000-mile long network of access roads within the planning 
area.\76\ And if nothing changes (i.e., under the Draft RMPA's no-
action alternative), then oil and gas leasing could continue on 95 
percent of the planning area.\77\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \74\ See Farmington Mancos-Gallup Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement and Resource Management Plan Amendment, available online at: 
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/68107/510
    \75\ Id. at 1.
    \76\ Id. at AE-92.
    \77\ Id. at 3-121.
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    BLM's multiple use mandate requires careful and thoughtful 
balancing between developing and conserving resources and decision-
making based on current inventories of ``public lands and their 
resource and other values.'' \78\ Over the years, the balance in the 
Farmington Field Office has swung decidedly away from conserving 
cultural and natural resources and toward development. Accordingly, BLM 
and DOI have an affirmative obligation to comply with the multiple use 
mandate by prioritizing conservation alternatives for the Greater Chaco 
Landscape. The proposed withdrawal area is a necessary and, in the 
context of the larger field office, minimal, buffer required to 
prioritize protection over additional development in the Greater Chaco 
Region.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \78\ See 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1702(c) (directing BLM to achieve ``a 
combination of balanced and diverse resource uses that takes into 
account the long-term needs of future generations for renewable and 
non-renewable resources, including, but not limited to, recreation, 
range, timber, minerals, watershed, wildlife and fish, and natural 
scenic, scientific and historical values'').
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VII. The Proposed Withdrawal is Needed to Protect Chaco's International 
        Dark Sky Certification

    CCNHP was first established as a national monument in 1907 to 
preserve and tell the story of Chaco Canyon, which continues to be an 
important cultural center for tribal communities today. The park 
protects many of these impressive structures and is one of the largest 
collections of ancestral sites north of Mexico. While the footprint of 
CCNHP itself is small, the larger connected cultural landscape is vast. 
In and around the park, ecological resources, cultural sites, 
properties, and resources are greatly significant and essential to the 
integrity of the landscape--including clean air and water, wildlife 
habitat, culturally significant sites including vegetation, and dark 
night skies.
    Chaco has long been considered by many night sky enthusiasts to be 
one of the best places in America to stargaze. Today, amidst this 
ancient landscape, visitors can experience the same dark sky that the 
Ancestral Puebloans with ties to Chaco Culture observed a thousand 
years ago. The protection of dark night skies is a priority at Chaco 
not only for the enjoyment of star-gazing visitors, but for the natural 
environment as well. Nocturnal wildlife relies on darkness for 
survival, and the natural rhythms of humans and plants depend on an 
unaltered night sky. And night skies and astronomy are essential to 
understanding and fully engaging with the formation and continued 
significance of Chacoan sites.
    Archaeoastronomer Anna Sofaer, who studied the sites for 20 years 
beginning in 1977, has documented the intricate astronomical system in 
the design of this vast Puebloan site, extending beyond the Park 
boundaries. Astronomical alignments have been noted in many sites at 
Chaco. Seven buildings in Chaco Canyon have alignments with the Maximum 
and Minimum risings and settings of the Moon. No other culture in the 
world is known to build structures in alignment with this long 
cycle.\79\
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    \79\ Sofaer, Anna. Chaco Astronomy: An Ancient American Cosmology. 
Ocean Tree Books, 2008.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In 2013, CCNHP was officially designated a Dark Sky Park by the 
International Dark Sky Association. The park's natural nighttime 
darkness, commitment to reducing light pollution, and ongoing public 
outreach led to its certification. Chaco takes advantage of this asset 
through evening astronomy programs at their public observatory, where 
visitors can observe the clear and dark night sky.\80\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \80\ https://www.nps.gov/chcu/learn/nature/darkskypark.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In addition to the harm unchecked industrial development can have 
on dark skies, a 2018 study out of Cornell/Iowa showed that park 
visitation drops 8% or more when pollution is high.\81\
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    \81\ Air pollution and visitation at U.S. national parks. Science 
Advances. 4. eaat1613. 10.1126/sciadv.aat1613.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ``Air Quality Resource Values'' or AQRVs, are parks' identified 
lists of values that the National Park Service is concerned about being 
impacted by pollution--including dark skies and ecosystems.\82\ 
According to the National Park Service, more than 3,300 after dark 
visitor contacts are recorded annually at Chaco Culture National 
Historical Park.\83\ Sky glow adversely impacts nighttime scenic 
quality and visual resources by inhibiting park visitors' ability to 
view celestial objects. Disruption of the natural cycles of light and 
dark also have detrimental effects on wildlife, including bats and the 
insects on which they feed. Bright flaring operations less than 10 
miles from Chaco are often easily discernible. This proposal will 
safeguard air-quality related resources by better regulating this light 
and air pollution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \82\ Air Quality Related Values in National Parks. https://
www.nps.gov/articles/aqrv-
assessment.htm#:?:text=Air%20quality%20related%20values%20(AQRVs,%2C%20e
cological%2C 
%20or%20recreational%20resource.&text=particles%20affecting%20visibility
%2C%20and
    \83\ Chaco Night Sky Program. https://www.nps.gov/chcu/
planyourvisit/nightsky.htm#:?:text= 
Over%203%2C000%20visitors%20and%20school,to%20image%20deep%2Dspace%20obj
ects.

VIII. The Proposed Withdrawal Directly Benefits the Species in the 
        Area, and Supports the Protection of federally listed 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Threatened and Endangered Species

    All of the benefits stated above indirectly benefit all species of 
plant and animal in the region by limiting human-species conflicts, 
reducing light pollution which can disrupt routines, and contributing 
to a better balanced climate. The limitation on oil and gas development 
will also directly improve the lives of species that call Chaco home 
including ``elk, deer, bobcats, rabbits, badgers, porcupines, bats, 
snakes, lizards and other amphibians, and diverse bird populations.'' 
\84\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \84\ Chaco Culture National Historical Park-Nature, https://
www.nps.gov/chcu/learn/nature/index.htm

    Additionally, this proposed withdrawal will directly support the 
protection of listed threatened and endangered species. A quick search 
of the Fish and Wildlife Service's iPac mapping tool shows the 
potential existence of several threatened and endangered species in the 
withdrawal area. These include Canada lynx, Mexican spotted owl, 
Southwestern willow flycatcher, yellow-billed cuckoo, Colorado 
pikeminnow, razorback sucker, Monarch butterfly, Knowlton's cactus, 
Mancos milk-vetch, Mesa Verde cactus, and the Zuni fleabane. Creating 
development-free space around the Park will benefit these species in 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
their recoveries.

VI. Conclusion

    Once again, the undersigned strongly support this proposal and 
encourage the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to act swiftly and ensure 
protection for the next 20 years. This withdrawal allows the BLM to 
better meet its obligations to the CCNHP and the WHS of which it is 
part. This withdrawal will also significantly benefit a number of 
resources, as well as the surrounding communities. Please include this 
letter in the project record. We look forward to continuing to work 
with the BLM, and the Farmington Field Office, to protect Greater 
Chaco.

            Sincerely,

        Logan Glasenapp               Paul F. Reed
        Staff Attorney                Chaco Scholar
        New Mexico Wild               Archaeology Southwest

        Michael Casaus                Emily Wolf
        NM State Director             NM Sr. Program Coordinator
        The Wilderness Society        National Parks Conservation 
                                      Association

        Angel Pena                    Ellen Montgomery
        Executive Director            Public Lands Campaign Director
        Nuestra Tierra                Environment America

                                 ______
                                 

                          ENVIRONMENT AMERICA

                             Washington, DC

                                                  July 12, 2023    

Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

    Dear Chairman Stauber and Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez:

    We are writing in opposition to H.R. 4374, which would nullify 
Public Land Order No. 7923, withdrawing certain land in San Juan 
County, New Mexico, from mineral entry. We support Order No. 7923, 
which will protect the greater Chaco Canyon landscape.

    Chaco Culture National Historical Park preserves part of an 
important place that was once the center of life for Ancestral 
Puebloans. The park provides a safe haven for diverse plant and animal 
species that were once more numerous in the San Juan Basin. Oil and gas 
activity have long threatened the last undeveloped portions of the 
Greater Chaco Landscape.

    Chaco Canyon is known for its dark skies. Situated in an often-
cloudless desert far from the lights of development and industry, it's 
so uniquely perfect for stargazers that in 2013 it was designated an 
``International Dark Sky Park.'' In this darkness and isolation, desert 
wildlife thrive. Elk, bobcats, badgers, bats and lizards all make their 
homes here in dense concentrations, living and roaming among the ruins 
and the red rock formations that surround them. Some of them are 
nocturnal, adapted to, and dependent on, the dark night skies.

    In developing Public Land Order No. 792 to protect this national 
treasure, the Department of Interior followed all necessary processes. 
During a public comments period which included public meetings 
throughout 2022, they received more than 130,000 comments from the 
public in favor of the withdrawal.

    We urge you to oppose H.R. 4374 and to support the protection of 
Chaco Canyon.

            Sincerely,

        Lisa Frank,                   Ellen Montgomery,
        Executive Director, 
        Washington Legislative 
        Office                        Public Lands Campaign Director

                                 ______
                                 

Submission for the Record by Rep. Grijalva

Rep. Grijalva submitted e-mail messages from 956 constituents. 
The messages can be viewed on the Committee Repository at:

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/II/II06/20230713/116135/HHRG-
118-II06-20230713-SD011.pdf

                                ------                                


 Archaeology Southwest  Conservation Lands Foundation 

 Environment America  National Parks Conservation Association 
                                

     New Mexico Wilderness Alliance  The Wilderness Society

                                                  July 12, 2023    

Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Re: H.R. 4374 to nullify Public Land Order No. 7923, withdrawing 
        certain land in San Juan County, New Mexico, from mineral entry

    To whom it may concern:

    On behalf of our organizations' millions of members and supporters, 
we write today to strongly oppose H.R. 4374, introduced by 
Representative Elijah Crane. Our organizations have been working to 
protect the Greater Chaco landscape for decades, and we fully support 
the Department of the Interior's (DOI) recently finalized withdrawal of 
public lands from future mineral development on federal lands within 10 
miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park (CCNHP) for the next 20 
years.
    The approximately 336,404 withdrawn acres of federal public lands 
and minerals create a buffer around CCNHP, which protects approximately 
4,000 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, representing more 
than 12,000 years of human cultural history in Chaco Canyon. The park 
also protects key plants and wildlife within the Colorado Plateau 
ecosystem and presents an important opportunity to safeguard the 
region's biodiversity and monitor its environmental quality. CCNHP is 
an International Dark Sky Park and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage 
Site. Chaco Canyon was a center of Pueblo culture between the 9th and 
13th centuries, and has 16 buildings within the park: the largest, best 
preserved, and most complex prehistoric architectural structures in 
North America.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.nps.gov/chcu/learn/historyculture/significance-of-
the-park.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    While Chaco Canyon was once the center of a thriving ancient 
society, today, Chaco Canyon and the surrounding Greater Chaco 
Landscape remain a living cultural and ancestral landscape of great 
spiritual significance and traditional lifeways to the Pueblo Tribes of 
New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.\2\ The national park helps to protect 
the structures and stories of people whose descendants maintain deep 
spiritual and cultural ties to the landscape. Visitors can also enjoy 
the quiet and peace found in the park's scenic vistas, night skies, and 
clean air.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/wp-content/uploads/chaco-
10-mile-primer.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Unfortunately, extensive oil and gas development threatens the 
natural and cultural resources in the park and surrounding Greater 
Chaco Landscape, air and water quality, and public health in the 
region. BLM has already leased over 90% of the federal lands 
surrounding Chaco for drilling, and oil and gas companies have drilled 
more than 37,000 wells in the area and built a sprawling network of 
roads--15,000 miles--five times longer than the distance from Los 
Angeles to New York.\3\ Permanent protections and an assessment of the 
cumulative impact of oil and gas on health, culture, and climate are 
needed to ensure the resources and stories at CCNHP and in the Greater 
Chaco Landscape are protected, and the recently finalized 
administrative withdrawal is a crucial first step.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ https://www.abqjournal.com/2477783/buffer-zone-a-vital-first-
step-to-protecting-chaco.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Many Chacoan sites exist outside the Park's official boundaries, so 
lease sales by BLM in the surrounding area almost always result in the 
loss of artifacts, history, and sacred sites as well as wildlands, 
habitat, and dark skies. The proposal to create a 10-mile buffer zone 
around CCNHP was developed through a robust stakeholder process which 
demonstrated the significance of protecting this portion of the Greater 
Chaco Landscape. Recent archaeological surveys and reconnaissance work 
by Archaeology Southwest revealed more than 4,000 archaeological and 
historic sites in the northern portion of the withdrawal zone. 
Additionally, because less than 20 percent of the area enclosed by the 
10-mile zone has been archaeologically surveyed, the actual site count 
is undoubtedly much higher.\4\ The Final Environmental Assessment for 
the withdrawal reflects that ``there are 4,730 archaeological sites 
within the proposed 10-mile withdrawal but outside the CCNHP'' and that 
``[t]here are also an unknown number of undocumented archaeological 
sites within the withdrawal boundary.'' \5\ Moreover, the cultural 
resources important to Pueblos and Tribes exist at a landscape scale 
and are not all archeological in nature. The 10-mile zone protects much 
of CCNHP's viewshed and dark skies as well, meaning visitors from all 
over the world can continue to experience the historic and sensitive 
landscape without the encroachment of energy development.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/wp-content/uploads/chaco-
10-mile-primer.pdf
    \5\ U.S. Dep't of Interior, Proposed Chaco Area Withdrawal 
Environmental Assessment, DOI-BLM-NM-F010-2022-0011, at 1-1, 4-13 (May 
2023) [hereinafter Final EA], available at https://eplanning.blm.gov/
public_projects/2016892/200507928/20079943/250086125/
20230531_ChacoWithdrawal_ EA_Final_508.pdf
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Public Land Order No. 7923 is limited in scope. It respects valid 
existing mineral development rights and private property rights. It 
applies only to future leasing of federal lands and minerals. It does 
not apply to pre-existing leases or affect the rights of individuals or 
entities that possess an interest in non-federal lands or minerals 
within the proposed withdrawal area, including allotment lands and 
minerals. It does not preclude the issuance of permits to drill 
pursuant to existing leases, the issuance of rights of way, or 
infrastructure expansion.
    Due to its limited scope and related actions that have prevented 
new leasing, Public Land Order No. 7923 retains the status quo that has 
been in effect for over a decade. Since 2011, the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) has not issued any leases within the withdrawal area, 
and has deferred nominated lease parcels within the withdrawal area 
around CCNHP pending completion of Tribal consultation and other legal 
obligations.\6\ Additionally, Congress has withheld funding since 2019 
for any oil and gas leasing activities on federal lands within the 
withdrawal area.\7\ Yet, oil and gas development in the withdrawal area 
has continued. BLM has approved approximately 19 drilling permits since 
2012 for previously-issued leases within the withdrawal area.\8\ Over 
the same period, oil and gas companies drilled at least thirty-three 
new wells in the withdrawal area, including at least four that access 
Navajo-owned oil and gas resources.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ See, e.g., BLM, July 2013 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale EA 
12 (deferring multiple parcels within the proposed withdrawal area 
because ``Tribal Consultation in Progress'').
    \7\ See Press Release, NM Delegation Secures Protections for Chaco 
Canyon Area in Government Funding Bill (Dec. 19, 2019); BLM, Petition/
Application for Withdrawal 3.
    \8\ Based on data downloaded from BLM's AFMSS on Apr. 13, 2022.
    \9\ Based on data downloaded from the New Mexico Oil Conservation 
Division's website on Apr. 13, 2022.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    The Department of Interior issued Public Land Order No. 7923 
pursuant to the authority and process that Congress enacted in the 
Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). In FLPMA, Congress 
made an express delegation of withdrawal authority to the executive 
branch and provided that the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to 
make, modify, extend, or revoke withdrawals, but only in accordance 
with the provisions and limitations of FLPMA, Section 204.\10\ 
Consistent with FLPMA, the Department of Interior evaluated the 
environmental impacts of the current uses of the land, the economic 
impact of the withdrawal, and the effects of the withdrawal on impacted 
individuals and groups; consulted with sovereign Pueblo and Tribal 
nations, local governments, and impacted individuals and groups; and 
conducted a robust public engagement process that garnered widespread 
support for the proposal, including over 110,000 public comments in 
support.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\ 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1714.

    The administrative mineral withdrawal adopted through Public Land 
Order No. 7923 provides temporary protection for sensitive cultural and 
natural resources surrounding CCNHP until permanent protection can be 
secured legislatively. Our organizations began advocating for 
legislative protection long before the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area 
Protection Act (S. 2907) \11\ was first introduced in the 115th 
Congress by Senators Tom Udall (D-NM) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) in 
2018, over five years ago. In the 116th Congress, this legislation was 
reintroduced in both the House (H.R. 2181) \12\ and the Senate (S. 
1079).\13\ The House Bill, sponsored by then-Representative Ben Ray 
Lujan, had co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, and the bill 
passed the House in 2019 with bipartisan support. The legislation was 
reintroduced in the 117th Congress (S. 5124 \14\; H.R. 9344 \15\) and 
most recently in the 118th Congress (S. 1404 \16\; H.R. 3062 \17\), 
sponsored by Senator Ben Ray Lujan and Representative Teresa Leger 
Fernandez, and co-sponsored by New Mexico's full congressional 
delegation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \11\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/
2907?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=95
    \12\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/
2181?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=32
    \13\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/
1079?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=33
    \14\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/
5124?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=4
    \15\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/
9344?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=3
    \16\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/
1404?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=2
    \17\ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/
3062?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B %22Chaco+Heritage%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=1

    Both Public Land Order No. 7923 and the pending legislation strike 
a balance between the preservation of existing rights to use and 
develop non-federal lands and minerals, including those held in Trust 
or by allottees, and the need to protect the array of cultural and 
ecological resources, as well as public health, in the region. Adjacent 
non-federal lands and federal lands with existing leases will continue 
to experience development. The analysis set forth in the Environmental 
Assessment for Public Land Order No. 7923 concluded that the action 
will result in approximately forty-seven fewer oil and gas wells being 
drilled in the withdrawal area.\18\ Although the withdrawal represents 
a compromise, the reduction in oil and gas development will positively 
impact the Chaco region's cultural, ecological, scenic, and 
recreational values.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \18\ Final EA at 2-14.
    \19\ Final EA at 1-9, 1-10, 1-11; 2-14, 2-15, 3-1, 4-12, 4-13, 4-
16, 4-35, 4-39 (reflecting that the withdrawal would have a positive 
impact on the Chaco region's scenic and cultural values, with 
accompanying benefits to the quality of experiences for recreational 
users; provide improvements to the visual setting of the area, 
including enhanced visibility for night sky viewing, decreased noise 
and traffic from drilling and production operations, and improved 
regional air quality; decrease greenhouse gas emissions; minimize 
disturbance to paleontological resources; prevent negative impacts to 
wilderness areas and characteristics; reduce the spread of invasive 
species and noxious weeds; prevent erosion that could impact wetlands 
and riparian zones; improve water quality and availability; avoid 
disturbance and damage to soils, vegetation, and wildlife; and improve 
the quality of life and public health in local communities, including 
communities of environmental justice concern).

    Public Land Order No. 7923 reflects a robust public process and 
thousands of public comments, honors New Mexico's history and culture, 
and recognizes that some places are just too special to lose. 
Therefore, we strongly oppose H.R. 4374, which would undermine the 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
values and resources protected by the withdrawal.

    Thank you for your consideration.

            Sincerely,

        Emily Wolf,                   Paul F. Reed,
        NM Sr. Program Coordinator    Preservation Archaeologist
        National Parks Conservation 
        Association                   Archaeology Southwest

        Sally Paez,                   Michael Casaus,
        Staff Attorney                NM State Director
        New Mexico Wilderness 
        Alliance                      The Wilderness Society

        Ellen Montgomery,             Romir Lahiri,
        Public Lands Campaign 
        Director                      NM Associate Program Director
        Environment America           Conservation Lands Foundation

                                 ______
                                 

Submissions for the Record by Rep. Leger Fernandez

                        Statement for the Record
                        Governor Brian D. Vallo
                            Pueblo of Acoma
                             April 15, 2019

    On behalf of the Pueblo of Acoma (``Pueblo'' or ``Acoma''), I thank 
members of the Committee for traveling here to learn about the impacts 
of oil and gas development, and the importance of protecting 
Waphrba'shuka--Chaco Canyon, and the Greater Chaco Region.
I. Cultural Resources

    Chaco Canyon and the Greater Chaco Region, plays an integral role 
in Acoma's living history, our culture, and identity. Our discussion of 
Chaco cannot be separated from our discussion of our present-day home 
and community of Haaku, Acoma. As Acoma people, Chaco Canyon and the 
Greater Chaco Region are deeply rooted in our collective memory, and 
the experiences of our ancestors. It is an extension of our ancestral 
homeland, where our Ancestors lived for generations to form the 
foundations of our cultural practices, traditions, and beliefs that 
help define our identity as Acoma people today. Chaco Canyon, and its 
vast landscape, are not abandoned--but contain the cultural resources 
that tie Acoma to Chaco, and from Chaco to the place of our emergence.
    The Greater Chaco Region, is therefore a living landscape, depended 
on by living Indigenous communities, like Acoma. Within the Greater 
Chaco Region are archaeological and significant cultural resources, 
left by our Creator, utilized by our Ancestors, and accessible to us 
for the continuance of our cultural practices. As Acoma, we have a 
culturally embedded and inherent responsibility to protect these 
resources. Many of these cultural resources remain unidentified in the 
Greater Chaco Region. While archaeologists are adept at recognizing 
many types of archaeological resources (potsherds, room blocks, pit 
houses, etc.), many of the cultural resources important to the Pueblo 
are outside the domain of archaeology. For Acoma, all ancestral pueblo 
archaeological resources are cultural resources, but not all cultural 
resources are archaeological in nature, and therein, lies the major 
issue. When we are confronted with unchecked oil and gas development in 
a region we know to be rich in cultural resources, we are forced to 
rely upon federal agencies, as our trustee, to safeguard these 
resources. However, these agencies are often unable or unwilling to 
take the necessary first step needed to engage with tribal experts to 
identify these significant cultural resources. This necessary first 
step includes providing us with the opportunity to survey nominated 
lease parcels and potential drilling sites before federal action is 
taken.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ See ``Uncited Preliminary Brief (Deferred Appendix Appeal) of 
Amici Curiae All Pueblo Council of Governors and National Trust for 
Historic Preservation, in Support of Appellants'', Dine Citizens 
Against Ruining Our Environment, et al v. Ryan Zinke, et al, Civ. No. 
18-2089 (Sept. 7) (10th Cir. 2018). All Pueblo Council of Governors, 
amicus brief describing violations of the National Historic 
Preservation Act, and implementing regulations in failing to consult 
with Pueblo tribal governments during applications for permits to drill 
(``APDs''), in order to gather required information about potentially 
affected historic properties including traditional cultural properties 
(TCPs), and how approving the APDs would adversely affect Pueblo TCPs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Current Oil and Gas Development Issues

    Currently, oil and gas development is overwhelming this fragile and 
sacred landscape. The BLM Farmington Field Office, whose boundaries 
include the primary bulk of the New Mexico portions of the Greater 
Chaco Region, has exhausted nearly all available lands for leasing. Due 
to developments in oil and gas technology, previously inaccessible 
reaches of oil are now open, dangerously encroaching upon Chaco Canyon. 
This renewed interest by industry has spilled east into a portion of 
the neighboring BLM Rio Puerco Field Office that juts into the Greater 
Chaco Region.\2\ Under the guise of ``streamlining,'' \3\ the BLM 
issued Instruction Memorandum 2018-034, ``Updating Oil and Gas Leasing 
Reform--Land Use Planning and Lease Parcel Reviews'' which has made an 
already fraught situation worse by strictly adhering to a mandatory 
quarterly leasing schedule, dismantling many land management processes, 
and all but ensuring oil and gas leases are sold within in a minimum 
six month time frame. This rush to sell leads to incomplete and 
inadequate analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act and the 
National Historic Preservation Act.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ See Attachment 1 ``Map--BLM Lease Parcels Overview.''
    \3\ See BLM Instruction Memorandum 2018-034, ``Updating Oil and Gas 
Leasing Reform--Land Use Planning and Lease Parcel Reviews.''
    \4\ Under the National Historic Preservation Act (``NHPA''), 54 
U.S.C. Sec. 300101 et seq. and its implementing regulations, Pueblo 
cultural resources may be considered historic properties or traditional 
cultural properties under proper analysis and may be eligible for 
listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Under the NHPA 
when a federal undertaking takes place, a process, often referred to as 
the Section 106 process begins. Section 106 is a critical, step-driven 
process, meant to determine, in order, the 1) area of potential 
effects; 2) identification of historic properties; 3) the assessment of 
adverse effects; and 4) the resolution of adverse effects. The Section 
106 process is where meaningful tribal consultation is required to 
advise the agency on the identification and evaluation of historic 
properties, including those of traditional religious and cultural 
importance. The National Environmental Policy Act (``NEPA'') 
incorporates NHPA analysis into its environmental assessments and 
environmental impacts statements, requiring simultaneous analyses in 
order to assess the full impact of an undertaking.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. March 2018 Lease Sale (BLM Farmington Field Office)

    In March 2018, the Pueblo of Acoma protested the nomination of 
parcels in the Greater Chaco Region, some coming within 10-miles of the 
Chaco Culture National Historical Park (``CCNHP''). Acoma demanded site 
visits to view the parcels in order to determine the presence of Acoma 
cultural resources. In the single sample field investigation, Acoma, 
along with representatives from other Pueblos, observed features viewed 
by them as cultural resources. Many of these cultural resources were 
unaccounted for by the BLM. For example, Acoma representatives observed 
tracts with a type of ancestral agricultural land modification found 
throughout the core of Acoma's traditional homeland, to which they 
refer to as na baa'ma. Na baa'ma tracts are more than simply settings 
suitable for farming, rather these areas are integral in Acoma's age-
old cultural-historic traditions about how its people learned to 
interact with land and water resources to sustain their community over 
centuries. These locations are often associated with other cultural and 
archaeological resources which Acoma's representatives observed. With 
these observations, and limited tribal consultation thereafter, the 
Pueblo of Acoma, along with the All Pueblo Council of Governors 
(``APCG''), protested the lease sale. Subsequently, the Department of 
the Interior made the correct decision, by choosing to defer all leases 
in the BLM Farmington Field Office due to concerns about the adequacy 
of its cultural resource analysis.
    Citing concerns about the uncertainty of cultural impacts, then 
Secretary Ryan Zinke stated: ``I've always said there are places where 
it is appropriate to develop and where it's not. This area certainly 
deserves more study [.] . . . We understand the cultural importance of 
this area, and the need to gather additional information about this 
landscape before holding a lease sale.'' \5\ Since then, the BLM has 
not worked with the Pueblo of Acoma to address deficiencies in its 
cultural resource information, and the BLM has never offered another 
site visitation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ See BLM Press Release ``BLM Defers Oil and Gas Lease Sale in 
New Mexico'' available at: https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-
defers-oil-and-gas-lease-sale-parcels-new-mexico

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. December 2018 Lease Sale (BLM Farmington & Rio Puerco Field Offices)

    In December 2018 the BLM Farmington and Rio Puerco Field Offices 
nominated additional parcels in the Greater Chaco Region, with the BLM 
Farmington Field Office having parcels within 10-miles of the CCNHP. 
The Pueblo of Acoma, APCG, and individual Pueblos, protested, offering 
the same reasons cited during the protest of the March 2018 Lease 
Sale--the insufficiency of the agency's efforts to identify Acoma's 
cultural resources known to exist in the region. No sample field 
investigations were offered by either field office, despite the 
Pueblo's requests and offers to allow Acoma representatives into the 
field to assist the BLM in identifying critical cultural resources. 
Acoma and APCG protested the lease sale, resulting in the BLM 
Farmington Field Office deferring all of its parcels. However, the BLM 
Rio Puerco Field Offices chose to sell leases for all its parcels.
    This discrepancy baffled the Pueblo. Only divided by district 
boundaries, many of the parcels offered by the two offices were in the 
same vicinity, some less than \1/2\ mile from each other, and therefore 
suffering from the same lack of information concerning Pueblo cultural 
resources. The Pueblo of Acoma can only conclude that an arbitrary and 
capricious action occurred.

C. March 2019 Lease Sale (BLM Farmington & Rio Puerco Field Offices)

    Most recently, the BLM Farmington and Rio Puerco Field Offices 
nominated parcels in the BLM's March 2019 Oil and Gas Lease Sale. 
Again, the BLM Farmington Field Office nominated parcels in the Greater 
Chaco Region, with nine coming within 10-miles of CCNHP. In February, 
these nine parcels were withdrawn due to pressure from the Pueblos. 
However, the Farmington Field Office retained nearly 22 parcels in its 
lease sales, many just outside the 10-mile area surrounding CCNHP. 
Several of these parcels were adjacent to, or near, parcels previously 
deferred in March and December 2018 due to deficiencies in the agency's 
cultural resource analysis under NHPA and NEPA.
    The Pueblo of Acoma requested tribal consultation with both field 
offices through the BLM New Mexico State Office, at its earliest 
opportunity after the lapse in federal appropriations ended, but prior 
to the issuance of the draft environmental assessments. The lapse in 
federal appropriations had closed all communication with staff at 
district levels, including key tribal consultation coordinators.\6\ 
Despite the government shutdown, no delay in the leasing schedule 
occurred commensurate with the 35 days lost during the shutdown. 
Instead, Acoma only consulted with the Farmington Field Office about a 
week before the lease sale, and the Rio Puerco Field Office failed to 
meet with the Pueblo. Again, no sample field investigations occurred, 
despite Acoma's requests and offers to allow Acoma representatives into 
the field to assist the BLM in identifying cultural resources that the 
agency failed to identify in the previous lease sale analyses. To 
Acoma's knowledge, no additional or substantive work occurred that 
would correct the issue of BLM's inability to identify Acoma cultural 
resources. As a result, the BLM Farmington and Rio Puerco Field Offices 
moved forward and sold the remaining 30 leases in the March 2019 lease 
sale.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ See, Protest Letter from Aaron M. Sims, Chestnut Law Offices on 
behalf of the Pueblo of Acoma, to State Director, Bureau of Land 
Management--New Mexico State Office (Feb. 20, 2019) (on file with the 
Pueblo of Acoma and BLM NM Office).

D. BLM Farmington Field Office--Resource Management Plan Amendment and 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        draft Environmental Impact Statement

    In 2014, due to new developments in horizontal drilling and 
hydraulic fracturing technology, the BLM Farmington Field Office began 
the process of amending its 2003 Resource Management Plan. Due to the 
extent of tribal land within the jurisdiction of this field office, the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Regional Office, is also participating 
in this process as a co-lead agency. This Resource Management Plan 
Amendment (``RMPA''), would analyze the impact of this new technology 
in the Farmington Field Office planning area and its impact on 
previously inaccessible portions of the Greater Chaco Region (much of 
which comes to the north and east of CCNHP, which is now a high target 
for development). This guiding planning document is critical for 
appropriately regulating all BLM oil and gas activity in the Greater 
Chaco Region. Despite this important process to formulate appropriate 
land management policies, the BLM continues to move forward with oil 
and gas leasing and development, like those described above, as well as 
issuing permits to drill wells, and granting rights of way for related 
infrastructure. These backdoor processes mean new leases, like those in 
the December 2018 and March 2019 lease sales, and associated 
development will not be subject to the RMPA. Instead, these activities 
go forward without being subject to well-thought-out policies that 
Acoma, and other Pueblos and tribes, are attempting to address with the 
BLM and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the RMPA.
    Under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the federal law 
that guides the BLM in stewarding our public lands, the RMPA must 
strike a critical balance in addressing the needs of ongoing 
development in the Greater Chaco Region, and at the same time 
protecting its complex cultural and living landscape. This takes time. 
Our fear is that once all parties complete an adequate RMPA, there will 
be nothing left to save--as the BLM will have leased much of the 
remaining available land in the Greater Chaco Region.
III. Acoma Efforts

    The Pueblo of Acoma has never been uncooperative and/or 
unresponsive where these issues are concerned, in fact, the Pueblo has 
always, offered solutions to address the critical lack of information 
about Acoma's ties to Chaco Canyon, the Greater Chaco Region, and its 
cultural resources therein. In consultation, Acoma repeatedly 
underscored the need for a comprehensive ethnographic assessment and 
cultural landscape analyses by federal agencies to identify previously 
unidentified cultural resources, and has offer to assist agencies in 
reevaluating the archaeological sites it has identified. In particular, 
the BLM has repeatedly responded that it does not have the funding, 
resources, or frankly, the time, to conduct such studies.\7\ As such, 
our interpretation is that the agency is stating it does not have the 
time to comply with the clear mandates of federal law. As a result, the 
Pueblo of Acoma, alongside outside partners, is conducting a limited 
ethnographic assessment of Acoma's ties to the Greater Chaco Region. 
This important study to document Acoma's relationship with Chaco 
Canyon, provides critical information about the types of cultural 
resources expected to be found, information to analyze previously 
identified archaeological sites, and areas of critical importance to 
the Pueblo. Through the expense of Acoma's time and admittedly limited 
financial resources, our hope is that this work will inform the BLM's 
current data that we know to be insufficient and incomplete.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ This is despite duties under Section 106 during an undertaking 
to fill critical information gaps, when an agency does not have the 
information it needs. Or, despite the BLM's standing obligation under 
54 U.S.C. Section 306101, and its implementing regulations, requiring 
the agency to establish its own historic preservation programs for the 
identification, evaluation, and protection of historic properties in 
its control (this is often referred to as ``Section 110'' of the NHPA).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Requests

    Acoma has a number of requests for you that we believe together 
will help protect the cultural resources in the Greater Chaco Region.
    First, we request that you support the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area 
Protection Act, which would remove federal minerals in the designated 
withdrawal area from future oil and gas development.
    Second, we request that, until the legislation is passed, pressure 
be placed on the Department of the Interior (``DOI'') to prospectively 
deem the parcels within the withdrawal area unavailable for oil and gas 
development before DOI takes the step of including them in a lease 
sale. And, until DOI takes this prospective action, we ask that you 
mandate DOI to remove parcels within that area from each lease sale in 
which they are listed.
    Third, we request that pressure be placed on DOI for active 
collaboration with the Pueblos, to prospectively identify and analyze 
the cultural resources, in compliance with federal law, on proposed 
parcels for oil and gas leasing even outside the withdrawal area before 
listing the parcels in a lease sale. This is especially critical for 
parcels that fall just outside the withdrawal area boundary--similar to 
those sold in the most recent March 2019 lease sale. And, when DOI does 
list those parcels without sufficient study as required by law, we ask 
that you instruct DOI to remove them from the particular lease sale 
until the studies are conducted, just as Secretary Zinke did in March 
2018.
    Fourth, we request that you place pressure on DOI to rescind 
haphazard directives including BLM Instruction Memorandum 2018-034, 
that leads to forced development, insufficient analysis, and the likely 
destruction of our cultural resources in violation of federal law. We 
ask that directives like BLM Instruction Memorandum 2018-034 be 
rescinded, or exclude the BLM-New Mexico Office from its application, 
to allow for the RMPA to be developed and implemented without 
undermining by oil and gas leasing and permitting activities.
    Last, we request that you encourage DOI to work with Acoma, 
individual Pueblos, and the APCG to study the cultural resources in the 
Greater Chaco Region. APCG is currently in discussions with DOI on a 
proposed study of an area within the Greater Chaco Region. This study 
and studies of this type could serve to fill the critical gap in 
information about Pueblo cultural resources that the BLM currently 
suffers.

                                 *****

                              ATTACHMENT 1

                  ``Map--BLM Lease Parcels Overview''

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                                

           Greater Chaco Coalition Coordinating Group Members

                                   &

             Coalition Members and Supporting Organizations

                                                  July 13, 2023    

    Dear Secretary Haaland:

    We are writing to express our strong support for your efforts to 
protect the Greater Chaco region. This vast and culturally significant 
landscape spanning northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, 
southeastern Utah, and southwestern Colorado holds immense importance 
not only for the present generation but also for future generations to 
come.
    As a coalition of organizations and individuals committed to 
safeguarding the Greater Chaco region, we have long advocated for the 
Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management to take 
decisive action against unchecked fossil fuel development. The impact 
of oil and gas drilling, fracking, pipelines, processing facilities, 
and mining on the region's public lands, clean air and water, and 
community health cannot be ignored. Over the years, millions of voices 
have joined together, calling on you and other leaders to put an end to 
the costly and unsustainable industrial exploitation that jeopardizes 
this precious landscape. Federal courts have even ruled that the 
current levels of exploitation are unjustified and unlawful. The 
overwhelming support for safeguarding Greater Chaco has remained 
steadfast and resolute.
    We commend President Biden for launching the Honoring Chaco 
Initiative in 2021, which offers immense promise in delivering the 
necessary protections and paving the way for preserving this invaluable 
cultural landscape.
    Today, we urge you to recommit yourself to the protection of 
Greater Chaco, its communities, and the pursuit of a just and equitable 
transition. The Honoring Chaco Initiative provides an opportunity to 
establish a new paradigm for the management of public lands and 
resources in this region, one that prioritizes principles of health, 
justice, equity, and sustainability.
    While we appreciate the steps that have been taken to protect 
certain areas of Greater Chaco from industrial exploitation, we 
recognize that more needs to be done beyond mere buffer zones and lines 
on maps to truly safeguard the safety and well-being of this cultural 
landscape.

    Looking ahead, we call on you to ensure the Honoring Chaco 
Initiative continues to progress and advance the following core goals:

     Wind down and phase out fossil fuel exploitation in 
            Greater Chaco.

     Develop and implement Tribal co-management strategies for 
            the region's public lands and resources.

     Fully protect and restore the air quality, ground and 
            surface waters, and healthy lands of the region.

     Allocate resources to enable communities to achieve 
            economic security and sustainability.

    Now is the time to redouble our efforts in support of the Honoring 
Chaco Initiative. With the momentum built over the years in the fight 
to safeguard Greater Chaco, we must take decisive action to guide a 
just and equitable transition away from exploitation for this cherished 
landscape and its communities.
    The future of Greater Chaco lies in our collective hands, and we 
deeply appreciate and value your leadership in this crucial endeavor. 
We would also like to address the unacceptable attacks directed 
personally at you, Secretary Haaland. We strongly condemn such behavior 
and reaffirm our unwavering support for your dedication and commitment 
to fostering the first-of-its-kind Honoring Chaco Initiative.

    The Greater Chaco Coalition (Frack Off Chaco) stands united as a 
collaborative effort between Indigenous community leaders, Native 
organizations, nonprofits, and public lands and water protectors. 
Guided by the Jemez principles, the Coalition works together to advance 
the following platform:

     An end to sacrifice zones and further oil and gas 
            extraction across the Greater Chaco region.

     Meaningful Tribal and community consultation and consent 
            at every stage of decision-making.

     Consideration of cumulative impacts and the health and 
            holistic wellness of impacted communities.

     Advancement of environmental justice and just transitions 
            for the Greater Chaco region beyond extraction.

    The overwhelming support for this platform over the past decade and 
through three administrations highlights the depth and breadth of 
commitment to advancing these principles. Notable instances of support 
include:

     2013: Eastern Navajo Agency Council resolution calling for 
            a moratorium on horizontal fracking.

     2015: Resolutions from Torreon Chapter, Counselor Chapter, 
            and Ojo Encino Chapter on Navajo Nation calling for a 
            moratorium on horizontal fracking.

     2015-Present: The Greater Chaco Coalition's protests 
            against federal oil and gas lease sales in New Mexico, 
            including the Greater Chaco Landscape and the Permian 
            Basin, resulting in over 2 million individual protest 
            comments submitted.

     2016: Publication of an amended notice of intent that 
            includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) as a co-leading 
            agency with the BLM in the Farmington Resource Management 
            Plan Amendment (RMPA) process, marking the first 
            collaboration of its kind between the agencies. Impacted 
            community members provide over 1,000 in-person comments 
            during the RMPA public scoping process.

     2017: Joint statement from the All Pueblo Council of 
            Governors and Navajo Nation President and Vice President 
            opposing horizontal fracking in the Greater Chaco region.

     2017: Passage of a resolution by the National Congress of 
            American Indians to support a moratorium on leasing and 
            permitting in the Greater Chaco region.

     2017: Passage of House Memorial 70 to protect the Greater 
            Chaco Canyon Landscape by the New Mexico Legislature.

     2018: Rally with over 200 advocates at the BLM New Mexico 
            State Office protesting the oil and gas lease sale, 
            including 44,000 acres in the Greater Chaco region and 
            40,000 acres near Carlsbad Caverns National Park. 
            Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke deferred 
            the parcels in the Greater Chaco region to further analyze 
            over 5,000 cultural sites within the leasing area.

     2019: Delivery of over 33,000 protests by the Greater 
            Chaco Coalition opposing a BLM oil and gas lease sale in 
            Greater Chaco and Greater Carlsbad regions.

     2022: BLM and BIA host a series of public Q&A sessions and 
            a 90-day comment period on the proposed administrative 
            mineral withdrawal. Members of the Greater Chaco Coalition 
            delivered nearly 80,000 comments to the BLM New Mexico 
            State Office, urging broader landscape-level protections 
            beyond a 10-mile buffer and calling for the agencies to 
            `Truly Honor Chaco'. In response to widespread criticism of 
            the public engagement process and a request from the 
            leadership at the All Pueblo Council of Governors, the BLM 
            and BIA held additional public meetings, changed the format 
            to allow for public comment, and extended the comment 
            deadline by an additional 30 days.

     2023: Dine CARE, et al. v. Bureau of Land Mgmt., et al. 
            The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rejected 
            nearly 200 Trump-era approved drilling permits defended by 
            the Biden administration in favor of conservation groups. 
            The ruling found that the agency violated NEPA by failing 
            to account for the health impacts of toxic air pollution 
            from oil and gas activities and the carbon pollution 
            impacts to the climate. This marks the first time the 10th 
            Circuit has ruled in favor of citizen groups on these 
            issues, resulting in a halt to new drilling permits.

    Given this resounding support and the significant milestones 
achieved over the years, we urge you to continue championing the cause 
of Greater Chaco. The Honoring Chaco Initiative represents a beacon of 
hope for the preservation and protection of this cherished landscape.
    Thank you for your tireless dedication to safeguarding Greater 
Chaco, promoting justice and equity, and ensuring a sustainable future 
for all. We stand ready to support your efforts and work 
collaboratively to honor the legacy of this extraordinary cultural 
landscape.

            Sincerely,

Greater Chaco Coalition Coordinating Group Members:

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


Coalition Members and Supporting Organizations:

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                                                  July 11, 2023    

Committee on Natural Resources
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Re: H.R. 4374, Nullifying Public Land Order No. 7923, Withdrawing 
        Certain Land in San Juan County, New Mexico, from Mineral Entry

    Dear Chairman:

    I,             , Navajo Nation enrolled citizen and/or Allottee of   
          ,

thank the Committee for the opportunity to provide written testimony on 
the bill to nullify Public Land Order No. 7923, Withdrawing Certain 
Land in San Juan County, New Mexico, From Mineral Entry, H.R. 4374. The 
bill was introduced by Representative Elijah Crane, R-AZ-2. I write to 
express strong opposition to this legislation and request this 
Committee's solidarity to stand with front line Navajo community and 
Allottee members for permanent and broad protections of the Greater 
Chaco Landscape.

I. Background (Context)

    My name is             , I am an enrolled citizen of the Navajo 
Nation from

            . My community is approximately      miles away from Chaco 
Culture

National Historical Park (Chaco Canyon). As a Dine citizen who has 
experienced the harmful legacy of oil and gas development, I am 
uniquely qualified to speak upon the need for a 10-mile withdrawal area 
and the Department of the Interior's (DOI) administrative decision to 
withdraw federal lands and minerals surrounding Chaco Canyon from 
future mineral development for a 20-year term.

    Since time immemorial, my clan, family, and community have resided 
in
            . In adherence to our Dine Traditional Law, these teachings 
have

served to guide our existence on Mother Earth as stewards of her body 
and ecosystems. Unfortunately, the Navajo Nation, like many tribes, 
have been subject to impositions of colonialism, law, and policy 
designed to fracture our internal governance and responsibilities. 
During a painful period of Navajo history, the people sought to defend 
our sovereignty from the Dawes Act of 1887 and the beginning of the 
Federal Indian Boarding School era of 1890. Many Navajo community 
members from the Eastern Agency were provided individual allotment land 
when their children were removed from Dinetah (the ancestral homeland 
for Navajo). This era is partially responsible for the establishment of 
the checkerboard land parcels on the Eastern Navajo Agency that 
encompasses land in the state of New Mexico.

    Over the past one hundred years across federal, state, tribal, and 
allotment lands, the oil and gas development has encroached Chaco 
Canyon for petrochemical exploration and development. The legacy of 
extraction has harmed the land and the cultural landscape important to 
the Dine people, Pueblos, and Tribes who claim cultural affiliation to 
the sacred and irreplaceable landscape. Unfortunately, upwards of 90 
percent of available federal lands and minerals have been leased for 
development surrounding Chaco Canyon without sufficient cumulative 
environmental and ethnographic analyses. Furthermore, inadequate 
environmental analyses and measures have subjected our front line 
Navajo communities to severe negative health impacts and depletion of 
important water systems vital to livelihood, agriculture, and many 
cultural practices. The increased mineral development has brought 
immense challenges to my personal health and the future vitality of my 
community.

    Therefore, as a Dine citizen, I extend my strong support for the 
2023 public land order from the Department of the Interior (DOI) to 
administratively withdraw federal lands in an approximate 10-mile 
withdrawal area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park and 
including its outliers for a 20-year term. And, I strongly support the 
Honoring Chaco Initiative (HCI) as an ongoing effort to create better 
land co-management practices in the Greater Chaco Region. DOI's June 2, 
2023 administrative withdrawal decision comes after long standing 
Navajo Allottee and community calls to address legacy impacts of oil 
and gas leasing. This effort preserves Navajo Nation and Allottees 
rights to seek mineral development on their own land, and supports 
Navajo Nation resolutions from the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, 
Counselor Chapter, Ojo Encino Chapter, Dilkon Chapter, and Torreon/Star 
Lake Chapter. It supports the status quo of yearly Congressional 
appropriations moratorium language that prevents the Bureau of Land 
Management from utilizing resources to conduct mineral leasing on 
public lands within the withdrawal area, and finally supports Pueblo 
and Dine Solidarity. We ask that the Navajo Nation President and the 
Navajo Nation Council to uphold their original stewardship 
responsibilities.

II. Impacts

    Since 2013, local Navajo Chapter Houses have adopted Resolutions 
calling upon the federal government including Congress and DOI to 
initiate steps towards better land management and prevention of further 
leasing on Public Lands under certain conditions, including the support 
for Navajo Nation and Allottees to continue exploring options for oil 
and gas leases. These calls to action derived from community members 
experiencing declining air quality through venting and flaring of oil 
and gas development without much stewardship leading to thousands of 
abandoned oil wells, and increased vehicular traffic of industrial oil 
and gas semi-trucks. There is major concern that oil and gas wells are 
depleting and contaminating community aquifers by multistage hydraulic 
fracturing. These actions have brought forth a rise in health 
complications and illnesses like cancer and respiratory problems, which 
increased COVID deaths.

    The cumulative health and environmental impacts of oil and gas 
extraction are devastating. In 2016, the Counselor Health Impact 
Assessment--K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee began to account for 
the legacy of mineral development and assess the health complications 
and impacts for Dine communities. This work culminated in the 
completion of the study ``A Cultural, Spiritual and Health Impact 
Assessment Of Oil Drilling Operations in the Navajo Nation area of 
Counselor, Torreon and Ojo Encino Chapters'' in 2021. The research and 
findings of this study were approved by the Navajo Nation Human 
Research Review Board.

    The study's findings were numerous. Among them:

     Air monitoring conducted in Counselor Chapter in 2018 
            revealed levels of airborne formaldehyde that far exceeded 
            permissible exposure levels, levels of particulate matter 
            that routinely spiked to unhealthy and hazardous levels, as 
            well as the continuous presence of VOCs, all of which can 
            be harmful to human respiratory health, and in the case of 
            formaldehyde, lead to nose and throat cancer.

     Mapping of wells in Counselor Chapter in 2018 found that 
            most of Counselor's 700 residents live within a mile of at 
            least one oil and gas facility that emits pollutants.

     Among Counselor residents surveyed for the health impact 
            assessment portion of the study, 90% reported sinus 
            problems (discharge, obstruction and pain); 80% reported 
            coughs, headaches, itching/burning of eyes, joint pain, 
            fatigue and sleep disturbance; 70% reported nosebleeds and 
            wheezing (loud breathing); 60% reported shortness of 
            breath; and 42% reported itching of skin/rash. All these 
            symptoms are consistent with exposure to pollution from oil 
            and gas production.

     The study also found that local Dine community members 
            (including allotment owners) in Counselor, Ojo Encino, and 
            Torreon Chapters experience significant cultural, 
            spiritual, and social harms from oil and gas extraction. 
            These include: familial and community conflicts; 
            desecration of sacred sites; degradation of the land; 
            disrespect of tribal sovereignty by oil companies; concern 
            about being able to sustain a livelihood from the land; 
            disappearance of traditional herbs and medicines; feelings 
            of not being heard by federal, state, and tribal leaders.

     The study found that balance and harmony in these 
            communities bas been eroded by oil and gas drilling, deeply 
            affecting Dine lifeways.
III. History of Dine, Pueblo, and Cross-Organizational Engagement to 
        Support Greater Chaco Landscape Protections

    While our front line communities are well aware of the legacy 
health and landscape impacts, there has always been a strong 
understanding that Navajo Allottees rely on the economic benefits of 
mineral exploration. After numerous internal family discussions and 
community meetings, a consensus emerged that any calls for protections 
would incorporate the need to preserve Navajo Trust lands and Allotment 
lands to seek mineral development.

     Navajo Nation was originally a driving force behind the 
            Chaco withdrawal. At the urging of local Chapter Houses, 
            the Navajo Nation helped design a 10-mile withdrawal area 
            surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park 
            including its outliers and included in the Chaco Heritage 
            Area Protection Act bill language to preserve the rights of 
            Navajo and Allottees to develop on their land even within 
            this withdrawal area.

     President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland initiated 
            concurrent administrative efforts to protect Chaco Canyon 
            and Greater Chaco Region and improve land management 
            practices through the Honoring Chaco Initiative.

     Stated concerns regarding withdrawal of surrounding 
            federal land isolating or land-locking allotment parcels 
            and thereby making them less attractive to developers for 
            new development have largely been dispelled according to 
            DOI's Environmental Assessment on the effects of the 
            withdrawal.

     DOI conducted extensive consultation with former Navajo 
            President Nez and Council leadership and current leadership 
            at every stage of its proposed and contemplated 
            Administrative Withdrawal proceedings.

     DOI facilitated public comment opportunities at every 
            stage of the administrative withdrawal proceedings, 
            including the participation of Navajo community and 
            Allottee members to express their position.

IV. Request

    I request you to oppose H.R. 4374 the bill to nullify Public Land 
Order No. 7923, Withdrawing Certain Land in San Juan County, New 
Mexico, From Mineral Entry.

The above form letter was signed by the following Navajo Nation 
citizens:

        Virginia Brown,               Johnny Slim,
        Baca Prewitt                  Baca Prewitt

        Eloise Brown,                 Hazel James-Tohi,
        Tse Axinaozti'i, NM           Mex Springs, NM

        Verna Craig,                  Katey Vandever,
        Churchrock                    Baca Prewitt

        Edward Etcitty,               Obie Vandever,
        Gadiiahi Tokoi                Baca Prewitt

        Nathaniel Etcitty,            Ira Vandever,
        Greenwood Springs, AZ         Baca Prewitt

        Donna House,                  Joe Vandever,
        Oak Springs, AZ               Baca Prewitt

        Terry James,                  Daniel Vandever,
        Greasewood Springs            Baca Prewitt

        Kyle Jim,                     Stephanie Vicra,
        Shiprock, NM                  Tuba City, AZ
        George Nez,                   Virginia Washburn,
        Baca Prewitt                  Gadiiahi Tokoi

        Jennifer Nez,                 Valerie Wickstrom,
        Coyote Canyon                 Huerfano

        Bertha Nez,                   Linda Williams,
        Coyote Canyon                 ChurchRock

        Karen Noon,                   Althea Yazzie,
        Huerfano                      Twin Lakes

        Clorissa Pierce,              Chili Yazzie,
        Huerfano                      Shiprock, NM

        Michaela Pino,                Janene Yazzie,
        Pine Hill, NM                 Lupton, AZ

        Sharon Sandman,
        SheepSprings

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                          Dr. David J. Tsosie
                          Nahata Dziil Chapter
                     Enrolled Navajo Nation Citizen
                 Dine Centered Research and Evaluation

    Navajo Citizen and Medicine Man thanks the Committee for the 
opportunity to provide written testimony on the bill to nullify Public 
Land Order No. 7923, Withdrawing Certain Land in San Juan County, New 
Mexico, From Mineral Entry, H.R. 4374. The bill was introduced by 
Representative Elijah Crane, R-AZ-2. I write to express strong 
opposition to H R. 4374 and to express my strong support for the 
protection of the Greater Chaco Landscape, including Secretary 
Haaland's recent decision to withdraw federal minerals from future oil 
and gas leasing near Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
I. Background

    My name is David J. Tsosie. I am an enrolled citizen of the Navajo 
Nation from Nahata Dziil Chapter. I hold a Doctorate in Education from 
Arizona State University. I am a medicine man and a member of the Dine 
Hataalii Association. I am also a research consultant with Dine 
Centered Research and Evaluation (DCRE), a Navajo think-tank that uses 
Dine Traditional law and ways of knowing to address contemporary social 
and environmental problems. DCRE is a proud participant in the 
Department of the Interior's Honoring Chaco Initiative.
    In my role with DCRE, I served as the Principal Investigator for 
the study ``A Cultural, Spiritual and Health Impact Assessment of Oil 
Drilling Operations in the Navajo Nation area of Counselor, Torreon and 
Ojo Encino Chapters'', or the HIA-KBHIS study. The HIA-KBHIS was 
conceptualized by the Counselor Health Impact Assessment--K'e Bee 
Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee, composed of community members from the 
Greater Chaco region. The research and findings of the HIA-KBHIS were 
approved by the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board. Some of the 
findings were also published in the American Journal of Public Health. 
It was also presented to various standing committees of the Navajo 
Nation Council and Navajo Nation Departments having oversight authority 
over environmental issues.
    The HIA-KBHIS is a two-part study. The first part presents air 
monitoring and health survey data from residents in Counselor Chapter. 
The second part distills results of a survey about the cultural and 
spiritual impacts of oil and gas extraction in the three Chapters of 
Counselor, Ojo Encino and Torreon. Together, both parts of the study 
demonstrate that Dine people in the Greater Chaco Landscape are 
suffering health, environmental, social, and cultural harms from oil 
and gas extraction. The HIA-KBHIS is part of a large body of evidence 
that supports broad landscape-level protections for the Greater Chaco 
Landscape. Public Land Order No. 7923 is an important step toward 
achieving the protections for the Greater Chaco Landscape and frontline 
communities that many Indigenous communities, Tribes, Nations, and 
allied groups have long advocated for.
II. HIA-KBHIS Findings

    I want to highlight several findings of the HIA-KBHIS that support 
Public Land Order No. 7923 and additional actions to protect the 
Greater Chaco Landscape through co-management and cultural landscape-
level management.
Key Health and Air Monitoring and Survey Findings

  A.  Locally specific air monitoring conducted in Counselor Chapter 
            revealed levels of airborne formaldehyde that far exceeded 
            permissible exposure levels, levels of particulate matter 
            that routinely spiked to unhealthy and hazardous levels, as 
            well as the continuous presence of VOCs, all of which can 
            be harmful to human respiratory health, and in the case of 
            formaldehyde, lead to nose and throat cancer.

  B.  Most of Counselor's 700 residents live within a mile of one or 
            more oil and gas facility.

  C.  Among Counselor residents surveyed, 90% reported sinus problems 
            (discharge, obstruction and pain); 80% reported coughs, 
            headaches, itching/burning of eyes, joint pain, fatigue and 
            sleep disturbance; 70% reported nosebleeds and wheezing 
            (loud breathing); 60% reported shortness of breath; and 42% 
            reported itching of skin/rash. All these symptoms are 
            consistent with exposure to pollution from oil and gas 
            production.

Key Cultural and Spiritual Survey Findings


[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

III. Discussion and Request

    Recently, fossil fuel interests have promoted a narrative that 
local Dine communities in the Greater Chaco Landscape do not support 
actions to protect the land or transition to a clean energy future. 
However, the community-led and community-based research represented in 
the HIA-KBHIS shows that a majority of Dine citizens in this region are 
concerned about the health impacts and harms of oil and gas pollution 
and have experienced negative social and cultural harms from the influx 
of industry. There is great concern about what this means for their 
future.

    Dine people in Eastern Navajo Agency care about protecting sacred 
places, being able to practice Dine lifeways, and living in harmony 
with the land and one another. The oil and gas industry has created 
conflicts in Eastern Dine communities. These conflicts can make it 
difficult for some community members to speak up, but many of their 
voices come through clearly in these survey responses. I urge you to 
listen to their voices and oppose H.R. 4374.

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                            Cheyenne Antonio
                        Greater Chaco Coalition
             Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment

    On behalf of the Greater Chaco Coalition (Frack Off Chaco), I 
hereby submit this official testimony in response to the House Natural 
Resources Committee Hearing regarding H.R. 4374. I appreciate the 
committee's attention to the critical issues surrounding the protection 
of the Greater Chaco region and its cultural landscape.

    The Greater Chaco Coalition, a collaborative effort between 
Indigenous community leaders, Native organizations, nonprofits, and 
public lands and water protectors, is dedicated to advocating for 
greater protections for the Greater Chaco Landscape. Guided by the 
Jemez principles of democratic organizing, our coalition collectively 
pursues a platform that includes crucial goals such as:

     Putting an end to sacrifice zones and further oil and gas 
            extraction across the Greater Chaco region.

     Ensuring meaningful Tribal and community consultation and 
            consent at every stage of decision-making.

     Considering the cumulative impacts and the health and 
            holistic wellness of impacted communities.

     Advancing environmental justice and just transitions for 
            the Greater Chaco region beyond extraction.

    We express our unwavering support for the Department of the 
Interior and the Bureau of Land Management in their efforts to foster 
the groundbreaking Honoring Chaco Initiative. This initiative provides 
a crucial opportunity to address the legacy impacts of sacrifice zones 
across the Greater Chaco Landscape and prioritize the health, justice, 
equity, and sustainability of this culturally significant region.

    Throughout the past decade, the Greater Chaco Coalition has 
actively engaged in numerous actions to advocate for the protection of 
the Greater Chaco region, garnering overwhelming support from diverse 
stakeholders, including Indigenous communities, conservation 
organizations, and concerned citizens. Notable milestones in our 
collective efforts include:

     In 2013, the Eastern Navajo Agency Council passed a 
            resolution calling for a moratorium on horizontal 
            fracking.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Resolution No. ENAC 12-2013-03.

     Resolutions from the Navajo Nation Torreon Chapter, 
            Counselor Chapter, and Ojo Encino Chapter in 2015 also 
            called for a moratorium on horizontal fracking.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ See for example the Resolution of Torreon Star Lake Chapter 
passed on March 9, 2015; Counselor Chapter Resolution passed on March 
10, 2015; and Ojo Encino Chapter Resolution 03-09-15/002 passed on 
March 9, 2015.

     Since 2015, the Greater Chaco Coalition has actively 
            protested quarterly federal oil and gas lease sales in New 
            Mexico, resulting in over 2 million individual protest 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            comments.

     In 2016, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) joined the 
            Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as a co-leading agency in 
            the Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) process for 
            the Farmington Field Office (within the Greater Chaco 
            region), facilitating collaboration between the agencies. 
            The Greater Chaco Coalition mobilized impacted community 
            members to provide over 1,000 in-person comments during the 
            RMPA public scoping process.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ See Frack Off Chaco blog for lease sale actions and comments 
submitted: https://www.frackoffchaco.org/_blog#_blog

     A joint statement opposing horizontal fracking in the 
            Greater Chaco region was issued in 2017 by the All Pueblo 
            Council of Governors and the Navajo Nation President and 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Vice President.

     The National Congress of American Indians passed a 
            resolution in 2017 to support a moratorium on leasing and 
            permitting in the Greater Chaco region.

     In 2017, the New Mexico Legislature passed House Memorial 
            70 that reaffirmed the state's commitment to protecting and 
            preserving tribal, cultural, and historical sites and 
            resources in the Greater Chaco landscape.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ House Memorial 70, 2017 1st Regular Legislative Session, 
available at: https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/17%20Regular/final/
HM070.pdf

     In 2018, over 200 advocates rallied at the BLM New Mexico 
            State Office, leading to the deferral of parcels in the 
            Greater Chaco region for further analysis of cultural 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            sites.

     In 2019, the Greater Chaco Coalition delivered over 33,000 
            protests opposing a BLM oil and gas lease sale in the 
            Greater Chaco and Greater Carlsbad regions.

     The All Pueblo Council of Governors and Navajo Nation 
            Office of the President and Vice President held a historic 
            summit in 2019 to support protections for the Greater Chaco 
            Landscape.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ See press release from All Pueblo Council of Governors, 
available at: Historic Joint Convening between the All Pueblo Council 
of Governors and Navajo Nation 2019

     The New Mexico State Land Office issued Executive Order 
            2019-002, imposing a moratorium on new oil and gas and 
            mineral leasing within a roughly 12-mile area around Chaco 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Culture National Historical Park.

     The completion of the Counselor Health Impact Assessment--
            K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee (HIA/KBHIS) study in 
            2021, approved by the Navajo Human Research Review Board 
            which culminated from a health and cultural impact 
            assessment that began in 2016.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Assessment available at: Final HIA-KBHIS 
July 2021.pdf

     In 2021, during the Biden-Harris administration's first 
            White House Tribal Nations Summit, President Joe Biden and 
            Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced steps to protect 
            Chaco Canyon and the greater connected landscape, including 
            initiating a 20-year moratorium on new oil and gas 
            development on unleaded federal lands within a 10-mile 
            radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Secretary 
            Haaland also unveiled the Honoring Chaco Initiative.\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ See BLM's Honoring Chaco Initiative website at: Honoring Chaco 
Initiative/Bureau of Land Management

     In 2022, the BLM and BIA conducted public Q&A sessions and 
            extended the comment period on the proposed mineral 
            withdrawal. Members of the Greater Chaco Coalition 
            delivered nearly 80,000 in-person comments, emphasizing the 
            need for broader landscape-level protections and truly 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            honoring Chaco.

     In 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit 
            ruled in favor of conservation groups, rejecting nearly 200 
            Trump-era approved drilling permits defended by the Biden 
            administration, due to the Bureau of Land Management's 
            violation of NEPA.

    These milestones and the broad support they reflect underscore the 
urgent need to prioritize the protection of the Greater Chaco region. I 
call on the House Natural Resources Committee to champion the cause of 
Greater Chaco and support legislation that aligns with the goals 
outlined by the Greater Chaco Coalition.
    In conclusion, I express my deep appreciation to the committee for 
addressing this critical matter and providing an opportunity to submit 
our official testimony. We remain steadfast in our commitment to 
safeguarding the Greater Chaco region, advancing justice and equity, 
and ensuring a sustainable future for all.
    Thank you for your dedicated service, and I appreciate your 
consideration of our testimony. I am available for further information 
or clarification.

                                 ______
                                 
                               MEMORANDUM

                       23rd Navajo Nation Council
                  Honorable Lorenzo C. Bates, Speaker

TO: Resources & Development Committee

DATE: October 13, 2016

SUBJECT: Concerns of Tri-Chapters of Eastern Agency Regarding Sacred 
Sites

    First, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the 
Resources & Development Committee (RDC) for addressing numerous issues 
and considering many legislations that impact the Navajo Nation.

    With this in mind, concerns were brought to the attention of the 
Sacred Sites Task Force Sub- Committee by the Tri-Chapters consisting 
of Counselor, Ojo Encino, and Torreon regarding ongoing petroleum 
drilling activities occurring on identified areas of culturally and 
historically sacred areas. The three communities hosted a meeting in 
Counselor, NM on October 11, 2016 to provide information to the task 
force.

    The meeting resulted in additional concerns. These concerns include 
health issues, air quality, protection of sacred sites, road 
conditions, human rights, public safety, jurisdiction, lack of 
community consultation, and lack of communication. The task force took 
the initial approach on minimal information due to the proximity of the 
activities related to cultural and historical areas.

    In addition, a list of tasks were proposed in coordination with 
Division of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Department, and 
Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission on how to address the chapter's 
concerns. The following tasks were identified:

     Position Statement of the Navajo Nation

     Identify the issues as it applies to jurisdiction issues

     Describe the direction the Navajo Nation will take in 
            addressing community concerns

     Identify the role of BLM and BIA as it applies to 
            community concerns

    The task force recognized the complexities in addressing these 
concerns that involve potential violations of drilling related 
activities and the negative impact it places on the communities. One 
argument the Navajo Nation continues to encounter is the various 
jurisdictional issues as it relates to BLM boundaries, allotment 
boundaries, and trust boundaries. It is suggested a form of 
communication needs to be established to help determine the 
jurisdictional issues.

    Recognizing RDC as the oversight authority, it is able to address 
these concerns. With this, I recommend that Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(BIA) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to meet with RDC on this 
matter. In addition, I recommend the Tri-Chapters to present a thorough 
report to RDC. The Sacred Sites Task Force Sub-Committee can assist in 
arranging the meeting details, which should occur no later than 30 
days.

    It is important for players to come together to further discuss and 
attempt to identify solutions. BIA and BLM are vital in addressing the 
situation. Therefore, I am requesting your guidance in addressing these 
issues.

    Your consideration is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to 
contact Office of the Speaker at (928) 871-7160 if you have any 
questions or suggestions for the next meeting.

                                 ______
                                 

                    RESOLUTION OF COUNSELOR CHAPTER

                         COUNSELOR, NEW MEXICO

                      RESOLUTION #COUN-2015-03-   

Requesting the New Mexico Congressional Caucus to Intervene on behalf 
of their citizens regarding the actions of the Bureau of Land 
Management on the leasing of certain parcels of public lands for 
horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing by calling for a 
moratorium until the Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; 
and, To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
route of the proposed Pinon Pipeline; and, To implore the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise due diligence trust 
responsibility to assure that the trust status rights of the Navajo 
citizens who are allotees or are heirs of allotees are protected; and, 
related actions

WHEREAS;

Pursuant to Navajo Nation Code, Counselor Chapter is certified to plan, 
to oversee community development, and to govern for the benefit of the 
community residents; and

Counselor Chapter has the inherent right to position itself for the 
public interest, public safety and the general welfare of their 
community and its residents; and,

Counselor Chapter has steadfastly communicated, coordinated and 
cooperatively planned the regional development of the five most Eastern 
Chapters of the Navajo Nation; and,

Counselor Chapter reads that the 2003 Resource Management Plan for the 
Farmington BLM District does not sufficiently address the technological 
development of horizontal drilling and hydraulic tracking; and, at best 
had minimal input and participation in the drafting, development and 
finalization the Plan; and,

Counselor Chapter is keenly aware of the Bureau of Land Management's 
actions to lease the public lands for oil/gas exploration in a manner 
that precludes its multiple use to a singular use for energy 
development; and,

The Counselor Chapter and its residents have personal knowledge of the 
adverse impacts their relatives are experiencing with the declining air 
quality through the venting and flaring, the increased vehicular 
traffic, and the familial discord resulting from the bonus payments for 
the leasing of the allotments; and

As well, Counselor Chapter has knowledge that the Pinon Pipeline 
proposed by Saddle Butte Midstream, LLC is proceeding post haste absent 
a proper Environmental Impact Statement; and,

The Counselor Chapter has community voters who have allotments, are 
heirs and have an interest in the Mancos-Gallup shale formation areas, 
wherein Land Agents contracted by the many layered interests of the 
energy exploration corporations are leading the allotees to sign the 
leases without proper legal advisement; and, the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs have not held individual advisement and PUBLIC HEARINGS to 
ensure that the trust status of the allotees are protected; and

Counselor Chapter supports the rights identified in the United Nations 
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United 
Nations General Assembly in September 2007 and was supported by 
President Obama in December 2010 by issuing that the Declaration has 
both moral and political force must guide the policies and practices of 
all the agencies for the Federal government to assure the needs, 
interests and points regarding land use priorities, protection of 
culturally grounded ways of life and safe guarding the environment 
which are imbued in Articles 26, 27, 29 and 32 of the U.N. Declaration.

Above all concerns, Counselor Chapter positions itself to have the 
Federal agencies recognize the home sites, traditional and customary 
use areas to be protected as there is the living Navajo society and 
culture in place since before the agencies were authorized
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

Counselor Chapter requests the New Mexico Senators Tom Udall, Heinrich 
and Congressman Lujan to:

  1.  Intervene on behalf of their citizens regarding the actions of 
            the Bureau of Land Management on the leasing of certain 
            parcels of public lands for horizontal drilling and 
            hydraulic fracturing by calling for a moratorium until the 
            Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; and,

  2.  To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
            route of the proposed Pinon Pipeline; and,

  3.  To implore the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise 
            due diligence trust responsibility to assure that the trust 
            status rights of the Navajo citizens who are allotees or 
            are heirs of allotees are protected; and,

Furthermore, Counselor Chapter requests assistance to secure funding to 
conduct health impact assessments, baseline water and soil testing and 
air quality monitoring for the impacted areas.

                             CERTIFICATION

We hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was duly considered by 
the Counselor Chapter, Navajo Nation, in the State of New Mexico, at 
which a quorum was present and that same was passed by a vote of 13 in 
favor, 0 opposed and 3 abstained on this 10th day of March, 2015.

Harry J. Willeto, Chapter President

Laura C. Lopez, Vice President

Marlene Thomas, Chapter Secretary/Treasurer

Elizabeth Stoney, Land Board Member

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                             Daniel E. Tso
            Chair of the Counselor Health Impact Assessment
                  K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee

    My name is Daniel Tso and I am a citizen of the Navajo Nation. I 
was born in the Torreon/Starlake area near the headwaters of the Chaco 
Wash and currently reside in Flora Vista, New Mexico, in the Greater 
Chaco Landscape. I am the Chair of the Counselor Health Impact 
Assessment--K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee, which is a committee 
of researchers that monitors the public health, cultural, and spiritual 
impacts of fracking in the Navajo Nation Chapters of Counselor, Ojo 
Encino, and Torreon/Starlake, in the Greater Chaco Landscape. I have 
served as Council Delegate to the Navajo Nation Council from 1986-1995 
and from 2019-2023, representing Eastern Navajo communities in the 
Greater Chaco Landscape. I also hold shares in 14 allotments in the 
region, all within 10 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

    I am grateful for the opportunity to provide written testimony to 
the Subcommittee in support of landscape-level protections for the 
Greater Chaco region. I urge you to oppose House Resolution 4374 and 
direct the Department of the Interior to move forward with the Honoring 
Chaco Initiative.

    As a Dine person, a lifelong resident of the Greater Chaco 
Landscape, an allottee, and as a formal Council Delegate to the Navajo 
Nation Council, I hope to convey to this subcommittee the importance of 
protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape and people who live there. For 
too long, the American Federal Government has facilitated and benefited 
from the destruction of our sacred lands. I ask today that you uphold 
Secretary Haaland's important decision to protect a small part of our 
homelands so that our future generations may continue to revere our 
sacred places and practice our traditional ways.

    There are nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells across the Greater Chaco 
Landscape, and the vast majority of federal lands have already been 
leased for extraction. Over the years, I have experienced the 
devastating effects of oil and gas extraction on the land, air, water, 
sacred places, and the public health and wellbeing of our communities. 
I have watched our community roads get completely torn up by oil and 
gas traffic, endangering public safety. I have witnessed the ruinous 
aftermath of countless explosions, spills, and leaks at fracking sites 
that cause irreversible damage to our lands. I have suffered headaches 
and sore throats from breathing in the oil and gas fumes, and I have 
noticed an increase in health problems, like cancers and respiratory 
issues, among our community members. Children in my family who live in 
Counselor Chapter have had to make the difficult decision to attend 
school in Cuba, New Mexico, outside of their community, because the 
Lybrook Elementary School is surrounded by oil and gas wells.

    Sadly, the federal government did not disclose to our communities 
how oil and gas extraction on our homelands would cumulatively impact 
our wellbeing. Groups like Dine Citizens Caring for our Environment 
(Dine C.A.R.E.) have sued the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over oil 
and gas leasing in the Greater Chaco region, arguing that the BLM was 
signing off on oil and gas development without doing the proper 
analysis of the health impacts that we knew that we were experiencing. 
In February 2023, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this 
claim, and ordered the BLM to re-analyze the health impacts of oil and 
gas development in the region.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Dine C.A.R.E. vs. Haaland, 59 F.4th 1016 (8th Cir. 2023).

    Given the lack of attention paid to the concerns of Eastern Dine 
communities, the late Dr. Larry Emerson and I helped form the Counselor 
Health Impact Assessment--K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee (HIA-
KBHIS Committee), of which I am the Chair. The HIA-KBHIS Committee 
assembled community researchers and medicine people to examine the 
impacts of oil and gas through a Dine Lens, incorporating Dine 
traditional stories and teachings. Our study protocol was approved by 
the Navajo Nation Human Research Review Board, as was the final study, 
which was published in 2021.
    The results of the HIA-KBHIS were alarming. Air monitoring showed 
that Dine residents in Counselor Chapter are exposed to dangerous 
levels of hazardous air pollutants. Almost all residents surveyed 
reported health symptoms consistent with exposure to oil and gas 
pollution. For example, over 90% of residents suffer from a sore throat 
and sinus problems, while 80% reported coughs, headaches, itching or 
burning eyes, joint pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance.\2\ Residents 
are exposed regularly to volatile organic compounds (VOC) present at 
gas and oil wells. Short-term exposure to VOCs can cause eye and 
respiratory tract irritation, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, 
fatigue, loss of coordination, allergic skin reaction, nausea, and 
memory impairment or inability to concentrate. Long-term effects 
include loss of coordination and damage to the liver, kidney, and 
central nervous system.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ Tsosie et al. 2021; Atencio et al. 2022. Federal Statutes and 
Environmental Justice in the Navajo Nation: The Case of Fracking in the 
Greater Chaco Region. American Journal of Public Health. 112, 116-123, 
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306562
    \3\ Ibid.

    The HIA-KBHIS further found that community members in Counselor, 
Ojo Encino, and Torreon/Starlake Chapters have suffered significant 
cultural, spiritual, and social harms, which were exacerbated with the 
introduction of multi-staged horizontal fracturing, or fracking, 
beginning around 2010. Fracking has eroded balance and harmony in the 
community, deeply affecting Dine lifeways. Survey respondents reported 
experiencing familial and community conflicts due to oil and gas. They 
expressed concern that sacred sites had been desecrated, the land had 
been degraded, oil companies did not respect their sovereignty, and 
traditional medicines and herbs were disappearing. Community members 
also expressed fear that they would no longer be able to sustain a 
livelihood from the land if it continued to be degraded by oil and 
gas.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ Ibid.

    When fracking hit the Greater Chaco region, oil and gas companies 
began targeting allotment owners to lease their lands. Oil and gas 
companies sent representatives to Chapter Houses and into communities 
to encourage allotment holders to sign leases, incentivizing them with 
promises of lease bonuses and royalties. Lease contracts were always 
presented in English, a language not spoken or read by many of our 
elderly community members. Community members were not explained the 
terms of the agreements, the potential impacts of extraction, or how 
their allotments could be unitized with other parcels of different 
jurisdictions. Allottees were not informed that they could negotiate, 
as co-owners, on their royalty rates.\5\ In short, oil and gas 
companies took advantage of many allottees.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ The Bureau of Land Management Environmental Assessment on the 
Chaco Area Withdrawal (DOI-BLM-NM-F010-2022-0011) states that 
``Allotted lease royalty rates range from 2 percent to 20 percent of 
production with the most common active rates being 12.5 percent, 16.67 
percent, 16.7 percent, 18.75 percent, and 20 percent. These rates 
increase in complexity depending on whether the lease is a 
participating area in a communitization or unitization agreement. 
Rental rates vary from $1.25 to $11 with the current value being $7 per 
acre, such that the average rental for a standard 160-acre allotment is 
roughly $1,120 per year; however, it could be significantly more or 
less depending on the rental rate and acreage'' (4-15). Compare page 4-
7 for federal rates.

    It is important to understand that due to the fractionation of 
allotment land holdings, many allotments in the regions have hundreds 
of co-owners.\6\ Allotment tracts with 20 co-owners or more only 
require 51% of shareholder consensus to lease (25 C.F.R. 162.012). In 
our community, where economic opportunities are few, disagreements 
within families about whether or not to lease have caused deep 
divisions. Moreover, the extent of fractionation means that while some 
leased parcels yield significant payments for co-owners, others receive 
only pennies.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ Shoemaker, Jessica. 2016. ``Emulsified Property.'' Pepperdine 
Law Review 43 (945); ``Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments: And To 
Permit The Leasing of Oil and Gas Rights on Navajo Allotted Lands''. 
U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. S. HRG 106-282. 
Statement of Shenan Atcitty, Nordhaus Law Firm, for the Shii Shi Keyah 
Association. November 4, 1999

    Oil and gas is not the future of a thriving Eastern Navajo Agency. 
Instead, our communities need support investing in and developing non-
extractive economic opportunities and transitioning away from the 
fossil fuels that have harmed our health and lands for too long. 
Through Secretary Haaland's Honoring Chaco Initiative, we can 
collaborate with Tribes, Pueblos, impacted Indigenous community 
members, and other stakeholders to devise solutions that will ensure 
environmental and economic justice for our region.
    As a Dine person, my lifeways and spiritual ways are profoundly 
connected to the landscape. Like many members of my community, my 
cultural traditions depend on being able to visit sacred places in the 
Greater Chaco region and on being able to live in harmony and co-
existence with the land and animals. My community suffers a deep injury 
when the land, air, and water are degraded by oil and gas pollution.

    As evidenced by numerous resolutions and statements passed by 
Navajo Nation Chapters, the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, the Navajo 
Nation Office of the President and Vice President, the All Pueblo 
Council of Governors, the National Congress of American Indians, and 
other groups and advocates, there has been an outpouring of support and 
solidarity for the protection of the Greater Chaco Landscape over the 
last decade.\7\ I add my voice to this resounding call in support of 
broad landscape-level protections for this region and the people, of 
which Secretary Haaland's administrative withdrawal is a crucial first 
step.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ Resolution of Torreon Star Lake Chapter passed on March 9, 
2015; Counselor Chapter Resolution passed on March 10, 2015; and Ojo 
Encino Chapter Resolution 03-09-15/002 passed on March 9, 2015; OLC-7-
01. http://www.dineresourcesandinfocenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/
02/0025-17.pdf; Eastern Navajo Agency Council BLM Resolution. 
Resolution No. ENAC 12-2016-03; Begaye, Russel, and Jonathan Nez. 2017. 
``Re: Concerns Regarding Chaco Canyon Cultural Historic Park,'' 
February 6, 2017. https://www.sanjuancitizens.org/wp-content/uploads/
2017/03/NN-Moratorium-request-2017-02-23-.pdf; Navajo-Hopi Observer. 
2017. ``Fracking and drilling near Chaco Canyon challenged by Begaye, 
Nez''. Navajo-Hopi Observer. February 28, 2017. Accessed July 8, 2023. 
https://www.nhonews.com/news/2017/feb/28/fracking-and-drilling-near-
chaco-canyon-challenged/; Riley, Kurt, 2017, ``To Support Moratorium on 
Leasing and Permitting In Greater Chaco Region.'' Resolution,Cultural 
Protection & NAGPRA, Milwaukee: National Congress of American Indians, 
http://www.ncai.org/resources/resolutions/to-support-moratorium-on-
leasing-and-permitting-in-greater-chacoregion; Resolution of Counselor 
Chapter, #COUN-2019-02-001. All Pueblo Council of Governors, 2019, 
``Tribal Leaders Host Historic Summit to Support the Protection of the 
Greater Chaco Landscape,'' https://www.apcg.org/uncategorized/historic-
joint-convening-betweenthe-all-pueblo-council-of-governors-and-navajo-
nation-2019/.; Lizer, Myron. 2019. Testimony of Navajo Nation Vice 
President Myron Lizer for the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources 
Field Hearing on, ``Oil and Gas Development: Impacts on Air Pollution 
and Sacred Sites.'' Santa Fe. https://www.congress.gov/event/116th-
congress/house-event/LC63888/text?s=1&r=21410; New Mexico State Land 
Office Executive Order No. 2019-002, ``Moratorium on New Oil and Gas 
and Mineral Leasing in Greater Chaco Area'', April 27, 2019. https://
www.nmstatelands.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SLO_EO-2019-002.pdf; 
TSL #12/2019-35, passed December 8, 2019.

                                 ______
                                 

                 Dine Medicine Men's Association, Inc.

                               RESOLUTION

THE DINE MEDICINE MEN ASSOCIATION, INC. HEREBY PRESENTS THIS RESOLUTION 
TO SUPPORT THE DINE AND THE EASTERN NAVAJO AGENCY TO DISCONTINUE THE 
FRACKING AND DRILLING OF THE 31 CHAPTERS. THE OIL COMPANIES THAT ARE 
VIOLATING THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS RIGHTS BY DEVELOPING FRACKING AND 
DRILLING WITHOUT PRIOR NOTIFICATION WITH THE MEMBERS IN THE ABOVE AREA. 
THE FRACKING AND DRILLING IMPEDES THE LIFE STYLE OF THE DINE COMMUNITY 
MEMBERS WHERE ALL THE SACRED SITES ARE LOCATED.

WHEREAS:

  1.  The Dine Medicine Men's Association, Inc. is a non profit 
            organization incorporated with Navajo Nation Commerce and 
            has been in existence since the early 1970s. The 
            Association consists of members from the grass roots level 
            of traditional spiritual leaders (hataalii, cultural 
            educators and traditionalists, and holds a sacred trust 
            from the Holy people as a Dine Way of Life; and

  2.  On Dine tah and the Eastern Navajo Agency of 31 Chapters There 
            documented historic sacred sites recorded at the Navajo 
            Nation Historic Preservation Office. Dine traditional 
            stories (Hane') are documented as being related to the 
            Emergence, the White Shell Woman, the Water Monster and the 
            Sacred Mountains Offering sites. To the Dine people, The 
            sacred sites exist to Perpetuate life, and are revered 
            through offering of prayers for the wellness of self, 
            families and relatives on their land and in their 
            communities; and

  3.  The Dine Medicine Men's Association as Medicine People of the 
            Navajo Nation do hereby take a defensive position against 
            Fracking and Drilling and further development by the Oil 
            Companies in and around the Dine' tah in the Eastern Navajo 
            Agency's 31 Chapters; and

  4.  The Dine community members are spiritually and emotionally 
            threatened by the outsiders who do not understand the 
            significance of what is sacred to the Indigenous people who 
            are called Dine altse kee hatiinii, first inhabitants of 
            Dine land before the arrival of the European colonizers. It 
            is believed by many of our Dine people that the Fracking 
            and Drilling business is leading to damage and further 
            extinction of the Dine Way of life; and

  5.  Under some important expressions of international law and policy, 
            including the United Nations Declaration Rights of the 
            Indigenous Peoples (which the Navajo Nation helped develop 
            and officially supported), Indigenous Peoples have the 
            rights to: 1) protect and have private access to their 
            sacred places (Article 12); 2) strengthen their spiritual 
            relationships with traditionally used lands (Article 25); 
            and 3) determine their own development priorities and 
            strategies through free, prior, and informed consent 
            (Article 32); and

  6.  Under current laws, rules, and regulations, the U.S. Bureau of 
            Indian Affairs, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, The 
            State of New Mexico Department of Energy, Minerals, and 
            Natural Resources Oil Conservation Division, and the Navajo 
            Nation Historic Preservation Division should have 
            individually and collectively notified the Dine Medicine 
            Men's Association, Inc. and the Eastern Navajo Agency of 31 
            Chapters of the proximity to sacred sites in Dine tah of 
            the Fracking and Drilling locations. As well, these 
            governmental agencies should have performed the 
            inspections, hearings, and investigations required of them 
            under the laws of due process and equal protection.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

  1.  The Dine Medicine Men's Association, Inc. supports the Dine tah 
            and Eastern Navajo Agency 31 Chapters' request to stop the 
            Fracking and Drilling that is desecrating, defiling, and 
            despoiling the sacred sites in and around the area of the 
            Dine tah and in and on the Eastern Navajo Agency Chapters.

  2.  The Oil Companies' business development is threatening further 
            extinction of the Dine Way of Life by bringing disharmony 
            to the spirits on the sacred sites, and that development 
            impedes the rights of the traditional members to make their 
            ceremonial offerings at the sacred sites and where the 
            sacred Herbs grow and are picked for healing.

  3.  The Medicine People as leaders, are ethically and justly 
            obligated to protect, serve, and heal with ceremonies, and 
            to protect their people from all harm and danger on the 
            Dine land (Dine Bikeya). As such leaders, the Medicine 
            People demand that the BIA, the BLM, the New Mexico State 
            OCD, the New Mexico Counties and the New Mexico and Navajo 
            Nation Historic Preservation Departments perform the duties 
            required of them by law to assist the Eastern Navajo Agency 
            of 31 Chapters in safeguarding our sacred sites and Dine 
            way of life.

  4.  Therefore, let it be known that we, the members of the Dine 
            Medicine Men's Association are taking the position that 
            there must be an immediate and permanent moratorium issued 
            against all further extractive activities by commercial or 
            government energy entities in and around Dine tah and the 
            Eastern Navajo Agency of 31 Chapters; and we, as Medicine 
            People take this stance to safe guard the sacred sites with 
            our prayers for our present and future generations.

                              CERTIFICATE

We hereby certify that the foregoing resolution of the Dine Medicine 
Men's Association, Inc., was duly considered by the Association and 
Board of Directors at a duly called meeting at Huerfano Mesa, Dzilth-
na-o-dith-hle New Mexico, at which a quorum was present, and that the 
same was approved by the vote of 26 in favor, 0 0pposed on the 11th day 
of October 2015.

Johnson Dennison, President

Roland Begay, Vice President

Virginia L. Edgewater, Secretary/Treasurer

                                 *****

                     DINE MEDICINE MEN ASSOCIATION

                       RESOLUTION DMMA #111917-2

REQUESTING THE NAVAJO NATION OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE 
PRESIDENT, ALL PUEBLO COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS, AND GREATER CHACO COALITION 
AND PARTNERS TO CONSULT WITH DINE MEDICINE MEN ASSOCIATION FOR ANY 
POSITIONS TAKEN ON FRACKING AND HORIZONTAL DRILLING IN GREATER CHACO AS 
PART OF DINE FUNDAMENTAL LAW AND OUR CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL INHERENT 
RIGHTS.

WHEREAS:

  1.  The Dine Medicine Men Association, Inc. (Dine Bi Nahaga Yee 
            Da'ahota') is a non-profit organization incorporated with 
            the Navajo Nation Business Regulatory and has been in 
            existence since the early 1970s; and

  2.  Dine traditional medicine people always have the commitment to 
            teach, preserve, and protect the welfare of the Dine People 
            as well as the welfare of the Dine Nation through providing 
            exceptional protocol of the traditional knowledge of the 
            distinctive oral philosophy of Indigenous way of life based 
            on the Dine Infinite Oral Sacred Philosophy of the 
            Spiritual Belief foundation. Hence, it always has been the 
            moral principle that guided the ceremonial sacred songs and 
            prayers interwoven with intellectual oral planning and 
            teaching with dignity and integrity which is still the 
            effectual foundation of Dine Life Way since time 
            immemorial; and

  3.  Dine Medicine Men Association has always strongly advocated that 
            Dine People have sacred cultural and historical ties to the 
            Greater Chaco just like sacred cultural and historical ties 
            to the Dzilth-na-o-dith-hle Mesa which is near the Greater 
            Chaco; and

  4.  Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye joined forces with All 
            Pueblo Council of Governors to state their position on 
            tracking and horizontal drilling in Greater Chaco without 
            consulting with the Dine Medicine Men Association; and

  5.  Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye sent a letter dated 
            February 6, 2017 to Bureau of Land Management-Farmington 
            Field Office in reference to Concerns Regarding Chaco 
            Canyon Cultural which he didn't consult with Dine Medicine 
            Men Association before sending the letter; and

  6.  Dine Medicine Men Association strongly believes Navajo Nation 
            Office of President and Vice-President should be consulting 
            with Dine Medicine Men Association instead of outside 
            entities and partners on the fracking and horizontal 
            drilling in Greater Chaco; and

  7.  Dine Medicine Men Association is adamant that consultation be 
            provided by Dine Medicine Men Association on the fracking 
            and horizontal drilling in Greater Chaco due to the Dine 
            People having sacred cultural and historical ties to the 
            Greater Chaco.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

THE DINE MEDICINE MEN ASSOCIATION HEREBY REQUESTS NAVAJO NATION OFFICE 
OF THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT, ALL PUEBLO COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS, 
AND GREATER CHACO COALTION AND PARTNERS TO CONSULT WITH DINE MEDICINE 
MEN ASSOCIATION FOR ANY POSITIONS TAKEN ON FRACKING AND HORIZONTAL 
DRILLING IN GREATER CHACO

                             CERTIFICATION

I, hereby, certify that the following resolution was duly considered by 
the Dine Medicine Men Association at a duly called meeting in Nageezi 
Chapter, at which a quorum of membership was present and that the same 
was passed by a vote of 29 in favor, 0 opposed this 19 day of November 
2017.

Mr. Kenneth Maryboy, President

                                 ______
                                 
            State of New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands
                      Executive Order No. 2019-002
           Moratorium on New Oil and Gas and Mineral Leasing
                         in Greater Chaco Area

WHEREAS, the Commissioner of Public Lands has broad constitutional 
authority and statutory jurisdiction over the direction, control, care 
and disposition of state trust lands, in accordance with the acts of 
Congress relating thereto and such regulations as may be provided by 
law (see NM Const., art. XIII, Sec. 2 and NMSA 1978, Sec. 19-1-1); and

WHEREAS, the Commissioner is authorized to withhold any tracts of state 
trust lands from leasing for oil and gas or other purposes if in her 
opinion the best interests of the state land trust will be served by so 
doing (see NMSA 1978 Sec. Sec. 19-8-33 and 19-10-19; 19.2.100.31 NMAC); 
and

WHEREAS, the Commissioner and the State Land Office have a duty to 
exercise due caution to ensure that cultural properties on state trust 
lands are not inadvertently damaged or destroyed (see NMSA 1978 
Sec. 18-6A-5); and

WHEREAS, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a state, 
national and international treasure; and

WHEREAS, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park was designated a 
World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 and is one of only 23 World 
Heritage Sites in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park attracts tourists 
from around the world; and

WHEREAS, Chacoan roads and Great Houses are important archaeological 
resources, but also significant cultural resources to the Native 
American nations, tribes and pueblos of New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, many Native American nations, tribes and pueblos of New Mexico 
have an archaeological, historical and cultural connection to the Chaco 
Culture National Historical Park, and consider the national historical 
park and other areas within the greater Chaco landscape to be sacred 
sites; and

WHEREAS, the protection of Chaco Culture National Historical Park and 
other sites is essential to safeguard archaeological and cultural 
resources of the tribes, nations and pueblos, the State of New Mexico 
and the United States; and

WHEREAS, a moratorium on new oil and gas or mineral leasing in the 
greater Chaco landscape will enable the State Land Office to explore 
other land uses that are more consistent with the protection and 
preservation of the landscape; and

WHEREAS, a moratorium will provide an opportunity to engage Native 
American nations, tribes and pueblos of New Mexico as well as other 
interested stakeholders regarding the management of state trust lands 
within the greater Chaco region; and

WHEREAS, a moratorium will provide an opportunity to consult with the 
New Mexico Congressional Delegation and United States Bureau of Land 
Management about proposed federal legislation concerning leasing 
restrictions and overall landscape management practices in the region;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Stephanie Garcia Richard, Commissioner of Public 
Lands, do hereby order and direct that the state trust lands described 
in Appendix A shall be withheld from new leasing for oil and gas or 
mineral purposes until December 31, 2023; and

BE IT FURTHER ORDERED that the withdrawal from leasing ordered herein 
shall be recorded in the State Land Office oil and gas and minerals 
tract books by means of a land use restriction;

BE IT FURTHER ORDERED that nothing herein shall restrict the State Land 
Office from issuing permits, rights of way or business leases related 
to existing oil, gas or mineral leases within the area subject to the 
land use restriction; and
BE IT FURTHER ORDERED the State Land Office will convene a Chaco 
Working Group to make recommendations to the Commissioner of Public 
Lands regarding land management practices in the greater Chaco region 
as they relate to state trust lands.

SIGNED THIS 27 DAY OF April 2019.

Stephanie Garcia Richard

Commissioner of Public Lands

                                 *****

            STATE OF NEW MEXICO COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS

NEGATIVE MINERAL EASEMENT ON FUTURE DEVELOPMENT LAND USE RESTRICTION OR 
                               CONDITION

                             LURC No. 01-19

This Land Use Restriction or Condition (``LURC'') is executed by the 
Commissioner of Public Lands for the State of New Mexico (the 
``Commissioner''), Trustee for the State of New Mexico (the ``State'') 
under the Act of June 20, 1910, 36 stat. 557, ch. 310 (the ``Enabling 
Act''), and is effective as of the date of the Commissioner's 
signature.

  1.  Purpose. Pursuant to Executive Order 2019-002, the Commissioner 
            has issued a moratorium on new oil, gas and mineral leasing 
            on lands under her authority (``State Trust Lands'') within 
            the Chaco Canyon landscape to safeguard archaeological and 
            cultural resources of the tribes, nations and pueblos, the 
            State of New Mexico and the United States.

  2.  Mineral Rights. The Commissioner, as manager of the trust 
            established by the Enabling Act, and specifically of 
            mineral rights on State Trust Lands, is executing this LURC 
            on behalf of the State, which retains ownership of and has 
            reserved the rights to, all minerals of whatsoever kind, 
            including oil and gas, in these lands, and to it, or 
            persons authorized by it, the right to prospect for, mine, 
            produce and remove the same, and perform any and all acts 
            necessary in connection therewith, upon compliance with the 
            conditions and subject to the limitations of the laws of 
            the State of New Mexico.

  3.  Property. The Property covered by this LURC (the ``Property'') is 
            approximately 72,776 subsurface acres as described in the 
            Exhibit A (a table identifying the relevant State Trust 
            Lands, with an accompanying map).

  4.  Term. This LURC shall be effective as of the date of the 
            Commissioner's signature and shall terminate December 31, 
            2023.

  5.  Restriction on Future Use; Right to Develop Mineral Rights from 
            Other Land.

          a.   Restriction on Use. The Commissioner shall not execute 
        new leases on the Property for the purpose of conducting 
        activities with respect to exercising mineral rights. For the 
        term of this LURC, the Commissioner shall not issue any new 
        mineral leases to exercise the right to engage in or permit 
        exploration for, mining, exploitation or extraction of minerals 
        of whatsoever kind on or under the Property, including but not 
        limited to oil and natural gas, geothermal resources, helium, 
        carbon dioxide, coal and lignite, uranium, saline, brine, 
        copper, iron, lead, talc, barite, gold and silver, precious and 
        semi-precious stones, caliche, building stones, shale, clay, 
        sand, gravel and rock for crushing. Nothing in this LURC shall 
        limit the rights, privileges, and obligations contained in 
        leases that came into effect prior to the execution of this 
        LURC.

          b.   Right to Develop Mineral Rights from Other Land. This 
        LURC shall not be construed as a waiver of the right of the 
        State to explore for, develop, mine, or produce the mineral 
        rights, including without limitation, oil and gas with wells 
        drilled on the surface of land other than the Property, 
        including, but not limited to, directional wells bottomed 
        beneath or drilled through any part (other than the surface) of 
        the Property, or by pooling its oil, gas and other mineral 
        interests with lands adjoining the Property in accordance with 
        the laws and regulations of the State, so long as no activity 
        takes place between the surface and a depth of five hundred 
        feet (500').

          c.   Reservations. The Commissioner reserves the right to 
        grant rights-of-way, easements, permits, or business leases 
        over, upon, or across the Property for uses related to existing 
        oil, gas or mineral leases within the area subject to this 
        LURC. Reserved uses related to existing oil, gas or mineral 
        leases include, but are not limited to, pipelines and ingress 
        and egress across the Property that may be necessary for 
        mineral development or production authorized through existing 
        leases.

  6.  No Waiver, Release, or Relinquishment of Rights. Nothing herein 
            shall be construed as waiving, releasing or relinquishing 
            any right, title or interest of the State of New Mexico in 
            and to any rights with respect to the Property, including 
            mineral rights in and under, and that may be produced from, 
            the Property.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Commissioner has executed this Land Use 
Restriction or Condition effective as of the date of her signature 
below.

STATE OF NEW MEXICO COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS

Stephanie Garcia Richard

Commissioner of Public Lands

Date: 4-27-19


[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]                                 

                    Gadii'ahi-To'koi, Navajo Nation

                                                  July 11, 2023    

Hon. Pete Stauber, Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
House Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Re: Opposition to H.R. 4374, the ``Energy Opportunities for All Act''

    Dear Chairman Stauber:

    I am an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and a New Mexico San 
Juan County resident where my family and I hold the ``Notah Sosa'' 
allotment with the listed track number 23N 8W 36 in the Betonnie Tsosie 
Wash Unit. This is located south of the Nageezi Chapter House above the 
Escavado Wash and outside of the 10-mile protected radius (buffer zone) 
around Chaco Culture National Historical Park (CCNHP). Since my 
childhood I have always been told that we are from Chaco Canyon. My 
late mother Rita Cason always talked to me about our five times great 
maternal grandfather and grandmother who were forced at gunpoint by the 
United States Government to walk over 400 miles to Fort Sumner in what 
is known as the Long Walk. After the signing of the Treaty of 1868 my 
grandparents returned to their homeland ``Dine Bikeyah'' located within 
our Four Sacred Mountains. When they returned from Hweeldi ``Bosque 
Redondo'' the United States Government only gave them a section of the 
land that today my family and I hold ownership of surface and mineral 
rights in a checkerboard region of different land status jurisdictions.
    Today, we receive royalty payments from DJR Energy, a private 
upstream oil and gas company. These payments are never the same and are 
always different. Also, we have known that some Navajo Allottees 
receive substantial amounts of royalties, we are far from that and have 
always talked about building a house and a farm on our land there. We 
also understand that the allotment has a special land status and gives 
us allottees a unique relationship with the Secretary of the Department 
of Interior (DOI) who holds this land into Trust for us and future 
generations. About 10 years ago the Navajo Nation pursued to get all of 
these allotment lands through the federal ``Land Buy Back Program''. My 
family was offered a low market value that we would receive a one time 
payment for giving up our ownership. Many of my relatives came to the 
consensus to Not sell their land but to hold on to it. It was around 
this time that my family became aware about discussions between the 
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), DOI, Navajo Nation, and the All Pueblo 
Council of Governors (APCG) about establishing a mineral withdrawal for 
future oil and gas development around Chaco Canyon. Through numerous 
family gatherings this topic of a ``buffer zone'' came up and we talked 
through about where we stand on it. We all had our different reasons 
but we have had a consensus to support the land protection designation 
of a 10-mile ``buffer zone''.
    Furthermore, I have shared information to my family about 
Representative Crane Legislation H.R. 4374 the ``Energy Opportunities 
for All Act'' and I stand in solidarity with my family to oppose this 
legislation. My aunt Annie C. Begay told me ``there have been many 
different oil and gas companies taking from the land but if you look 
around we have nothing in our community to show for it''. I carry her 
reason as well as many other Navajo Tribal members that we want to have 
a thriving community like other oil and gas producing communities. We 
have a once in a generation opportunity to make meaningful investments 
in communities like Nageezi to build homes and community centers. A 
library or even a laundromat to help give hope to many people. The 
opportunities that leadership of all levels should be working toward is 
securing energy democracy for all Navajos to ensure every house is 
electrified and has running water.

            Ahehee',

                                       Joseph F. Hernandez,
                                                Community Organizer

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                              Kendra Pinto
                    Counselor Chapter Navajo Nation
                             July 13, 2023

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide this letter of opposition 
to H.R. 4374, legislation that would prevent Public Lands Order No. 
7923, known as the Chaco Area mineral withdrawal. My name is Kendra 
Pinto, I live in the Counselor Chapter of Navajo Nation, within the 
Greater Chaco landscape and what is now known as the San Juan Basin. My 
family and I are Dine and have lived and worked on our ancestral lands 
for generations. Our home and ancestral lands are now surrounded by oil 
and gas development with at least 5 active well sites within a mile of 
me.
    Over the last decade, truck traffic, well sites, compressor 
stations, and related infrastructure have blighted our landscape 
disturbing wild trees, wild grasses, dwindling rare cacti, and plants 
used for medicinal purposes. These drastic changes to our natural 
environment have also impacted our human environment. The influx of 
unfamiliar oil field workers has corresponded with more violence, drug, 
and alcohol abuse in my community, leaving me in fear for my own 
safety. Women in the community are told to be alert of their 
surroundings, a common suggestion in recent years with the hydraulic 
fracturing boom, with workers that typically do not live in or reside 
in the Chaco region. Due to our location in a remote area, emergency 
services for people who live in the Chaco Canyon are limited and may be 
significantly delayed if weather is a factor.
    In July 2021, I became a certified optical gas imaging (OGI) 
thermographer. As staff for Earthworks, a national nonprofit dedicated 
to protecting communities and the environment from mineral development, 
I operate a specialized infrared camera, used by industry and 
regulators, that can see otherwise invisible methane and other volatile 
organic compounds (VOC) generated by oil and gas facilities. In April 
2022, I filmed OGI videos detecting these emissions over the course of 
two days in and near the 10 mile buffer of the Chaco Area mineral 
withdrawal, and subsequently found one facility within the buffer zone 
and two facilities on the outskirt of the zone that were emitting. 
Three complaints were filed with the New Mexico Environment Department 
(NMED).\1\ Since 2018, I have filed more than 50 complaints to NMED 
regarding methane and VOC emissions from oil and gas facilities in the 
Four Corners region. These complaints document how oil and gas 
development has damaged my air quality, ancestral lands, traditional 
resources, and quality of life.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ The YouTube links to the OGI videos are available here: 
Morrison SWD #2, San Juan County, NM (April 2022) and Federal 21-6-28 
SWD #33, Sandoval County, NM (April 2022) and Federal 21-6-29 #2 
Sandoval County, NM (April 2022)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Over 90% of the public lands surrounding me and my family have been 
leased for mineral resource exploration and development, and it has not 
been entirely beneficial to all who live in this area. Public health 
and public safety are major concerns for local residents who are living 
with the impacts of development. The Chaco Area mineral withdrawal will 
ensure me and my family have a future and the lands surrounding us will 
have the potential to remain pristine and livable. I request you oppose 
H.R. 4374. Thank you for your consideration.

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                              Myron Lizer
                      Navajo Nation Vice President
    Thank you Chairman Lowenthal, Representative Grijalva, 
Representative Haaland, and Representative Lujan. My name is Myron 
Lizer and I am the Vice President of the Navajo Nation. I appreciate 
the opportunity to testify today at this field hearing on the impacts 
of oil and gas development for air pollution and sacred sites. Oil and 
gas development has provided sustained income for the tribal government 
and provided jobs for the Navajo Nation, which has about 42% 
unemployment. In the past, the Navajo Nation has used its carbon-based 
natural resources to provide energy to the United States. However, the 
ability for the Navajo Nation to determine where oil and gas 
development occurs and the ability to regulate oil and gas development 
is fundamental to providing a clean environment and protecting Native 
American sacred sites.
    While oil and gas development on the Navajo Nation has provided 
royalties to the Navajo Nation for government services and general 
funds, we are also looking toward the future and alternative sources of 
energy to provide revenue for the Nation. Most recently, Navajo Nation 
President Jonathan Nez and myself issued the ``Navajo Hayoolkaal 
Proclamation'' or the ``Navajo Sunrise Proclamation'' to diversify the 
Navajo Nation energy portfolio from carbon-based energy to renewable 
energy development, and to restore the environment, provide electricity 
to rural homes, and support new community and utility-scale renewable 
energy projects to provide power to the Navajo Nation and the Western 
United States. By setting this direction for the Navajo Nation, we look 
to be the leader in the clean energy market.
    With regards to oil and gas development, we are sensitive to the 
location of these facilities near our sacred and cultural sites. This 
is dictated by our Navajo culture and tradition to respect our 
relatives who have come before us. This is the reason we continue to 
support the protection of the Chaco Canyon area from mineral mining and 
development and the long-awaited Chaco Cultural Heritage Area 
Protection Act that Senator Udall introduced.
    Although we are not direct descendants of the pueblo who inhabited 
Chaco, our people have long settled in the area and many of our 
traditional stories are connected to the Chaco area and the surrounding 
region. As native people, we are connected to the land and it is 
important to preserve and protect the dwellings and the belongings of 
ancestral Native people from disturbance. This is not only a Navajo 
teaching but an acknowledgement of a way of life for all indigenous 
peoples.
    The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has postponed oil and gas lease 
sales near Chaco Canyon to allow for the further review of the cultural 
impacts. With regards to BLM's development of a management plan for the 
area, the Navajo Nation supports the BLM's development of a sustainable 
management plan that would prevent federal oil and gas extraction in a 
10-mile radius or Protection Zone from the epicenter of the Chaco 
Cultural National Historical Park.
    If there is increased oil and gas development in the Chaco region 
there will be increased risk for disturbance of the structures and 
artifacts. Waste from oil and gas extraction can further contaminate 
the region. Increased truck traffic as well as gas powered machinery 
can also negatively impact air quality. Oil and gas development 
activities will also contribute to an increase in emissions such as 
particulate matter (PM), methane, VOCs and other greenhouse gases. Over 
time, emissions can damage the sensitive structures and cultural 
artifacts within the Chaco region.
    Ambient air quality on the Navajo Nation is classified by the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) as attainment/unclassifiable 
of all monitored air pollutants except for a portion of Coconino 
County, Arizona located within 50-km of Navajo Generating Station, 
which has been designated unclassifiable with the 2010 SO2 
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The NAAQS consists of 
six (6) criteria pollutants for which the Navajo Nation currently 
monitors four (4) of these criteria pollutants: particulate matter 2.5 
(PM2.5, or airborne particles 2.5 microns in diameter and 
smaller), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and 
nitrogen dioxide (NO2). In the case of the designated non-
attainment area, the applicable threshold for a proposed source or 
modification is determined based on the designation where the source is 
or would be located. If the source straddles the two areas, the more 
stringent thresholds apply.
    The U.S. EPA regulates criteria pollutants using the NAAQS, which 
establish ambient levels for each criteria pollutant using health and 
welfare-based criteria. There are two series of standards. As per the 
CAA Sec. 109(b), the ``primary'' standards are designed to provide an 
adequate margin of safety that is essential to protecting public 
health. The ``secondary'' standards are intended to protect public 
welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects associated with 
the presence of a criteria pollutant in the ambient air. The primary 
standards protect public health and secondary standards protect public 
welfare by preventing damage to property such as farm crops and 
buildings, visibility impairment in national parks and wilderness 
areas, and the protection of ecosystems (U.S. EPA NAAQS Table).
    The Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency (NNEPA) has some 
of the most advanced tribal environmental programs in the country. The 
NNEPA holds primacy over air and water quality standards and conducts 
permitting for water programs. The Nation has received delegation 
approval for a Part 71 Operating Permit Program (also known as Title V) 
from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IX on October 
13, 2004 and March 21, 2006. This authority allows the NNEPA to 
administer a Title V air program under the Clean Air Act. Under this 
delegation, fourteen (14) major sources with potential to emit 
pollutants over 100 tons per year, are regulated.
    The Navajo Nation has proposed a rule to establish a minor source 
permitting program under the Navajo Nation Clean Air Act. Under the 
proposed Navajo Nation Minor Source Permit Regulations, the Nation will 
provide air pollution permits for minor sources to help reduce methane 
and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. As proposed, minor 
sources must not emit more than 5 tpy (tons per year) of VOCs in an 
attainment area. Also, under the proposed rule, if the Navajo Nation 
were to become designated as non-attainment, the applicable threshold 
for a proposed source or modification will be determined based on the 
designation where the source is or would be located. If the source 
straddles the two areas, the more stringent thresholds would apply.
    Methane emissions not only have an economic impact but also can 
have an impact on the environment. Methane is a greenhouse gas that 
contributes to climate change by increasing the atmospheric 
temperature. The Navajo Nation's proposed minor source rule will help 
reduce methane emissions by identifying oil and gas facilities on the 
Navajo Nation through a permitting process. Tracking oil and gas 
emissions from wells, monitoring the types of oil and gas wells and 
retaining location information of oil and gas wells will provide a 
foundation for future assessments and recommendations on reducing 
emissions, including planning for regulatory initiatives to further 
reduce emissions from applicable sources. The Navajo Nation then can 
provide recommendations to industrial sources such as oil and gas 
facilities, agriculture, and businesses and homes to lessen emissions.
    The ``Tribal Minor New Source Review Program for Indian Country'', 
(76 Fed. Reg. 38784 (July 1, 2011), 40 C.F.R. Sec. Sec. 49.151-161), 
currently regulates minor sources on the Navajo Nation. After the 
Navajo Nation issues its own Minor Source Program regulations, NNAQCP 
will seek to implement this program in place of the federal government. 
The NNAQCP implementation will give the Navajo Nation greater control 
over its air resources, and will allow the Navajo Nation to regulate 
emissions of air pollution that may impact the environment, public 
health and welfare, and cultural and religious resources. The proposed 
rule also would impose fees to cover the costs of administering the 
minor source program, including permit application, revision and 
renewal fees, annual emissions fees, fees for coverage under general 
permits, and registration fees.
    On September 28, 2018, finalized the DOI BLM Waste Prevention, 
Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation rule for 
methane (83 Fed. Reg. 49184). The Navajo Nation provided comments on 
the proposed rule and requested tribal consultation.
    The Navajo Nation also fears that there will be an increase in the 
already high number of oil spills from broken pipes, particularly 
during the winter when pipes freeze and break. Given our limited 
resources, remoteness of Chaco, and, in some cases, authority, the 
Navajo Nation is severely limited to responding to spills. If a spill 
were to occur, we would have to call upon US EPA who then notifies its 
On-Scene Coordinator, who then oversees the process and shares 
information with us. In the past our OSC representatives would come 
from California or Nevada, further delaying response times. While a 
spill eventually gets addressed, we have concerns with response time 
and oversight given the limiting factors.
    With that said, I also want to address uranium mining and make 
clear that we do not support development of any uranium mining. Uranium 
mining has been detrimental to the Navajo people for many decades and I 
want to make sure that it does not harm any family again. Navajo law 
also supports a moratorium on uranium mining and processing activity in 
Navajo Indian Country.
    In summary, the Navajo Nation is looking to diversify its energy 
portfolio to combat climate change and provide clean energy to the 
Navajo Nation and the Western United States. I appreciate the 
committee's invitation to testify.
                                 ______
                                 

                           OJO ENCINO CHAPTER

                      RESOLUTION OJOE-03-09-15/002

Requesting the New Mexico Congressional caucus to Intervene on behalf 
of their citizens regarding the actions of the Bureau of Land 
Management on the leasing of certain parcels of public lands for 
horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing by calling for a 
moratorium until the Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; 
and, To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
route of the proposed Pinon Pipeline; and, To implore the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise due diligence trust 
responsibility to assure that the trust status rights of the Navajo 
citizens who are allotees or are heirs of allotees are protected; and, 
related actions

WHEREAS:

Pursuant to Navajo Nation Code, Ojo Encino Chapter is certified to 
plan, to oversee community development, and to govern for the benefit 
of the community residents; and

Ojo Encino Chapter has the inherent right to position itself for the 
public interest, public safety and the general welfare of their 
community and its residents; and,

Ojo Encino Chapter has steadfastly communicated, coordinated and 
cooperatively planned the regional development of the five most Eastern 
Chapters of the Navajo Nation; and,

Ojo Encino Chapter reads that the 2003 Resource Management Plan for the 
Farmington BLM District does not sufficiently address the technological 
development of horizontal drilling and hydraulic tracking; and,

Ojo Encino Chapter is keenly aware of the Bureau of Land Management's 
actions to lease the public lands for oil/gas exploration in a manner 
that precludes its multiple use to a singular use for energy 
development; and,

Ojo Encino Chapter and its residents have personal knowledge of the 
adverse impacts their relatives are experiencing with the declining air 
quality through the venting and flaring, the increased vehicular 
traffic, and the familial discord resulting from the bonus payments for 
the leasing of the allotments; and

Ojo Encino Chapter is expressly concerned that the wells supplying the 
Ojo Encino-Torreon-Rincon Marquis community water system will be 
adversely impacted by the horizontal drilling and hydraulic tracking 
explorations near the Ojo Encino aquifer; Moreover, Torreon/Starlake 
Chapter knows that the Water system supplying Pueblo Pintado and 
Whitehorse Lake communities has wells using the Ojo Encino aquifer as a 
source; and,

As well, Ojo Encino Chapter has knowledge that the Pinon Pipeline 
proposed by Saddle Butte Midstream, LLC is proceeding post haste where 
a proper Environmental Impact Statement is warranted; and,

Ojo Encino Chapter has community voters who have allotments, are heirs 
and have an interest in the Mancos-Gallup shale formation area wherein 
Land Agents contracted by the many layered interests of the energy 
exploration corporations are leading the allotees to sign the leases 
without proper legal advisement; and, the Bureau of Indian Affairs have 
not held PUBLIC HEARINGS to ensure that the trust status of the 
allotees are protected; and

Ojo Encino Chapter supports the rights identified in the United Nations 
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the United 
Nations General Assembly in September 2007 and was supported by 
President Obama in December 2010 by issuing that the Declaration has 
both moral and political force must guide the policies and practices of 
all the agencies for the Federal government to assure the needs, 
interests and points regarding land use priorities, protection of 
culturally grounded ways of life and safe guarding the environment 
which are imbued in Articles 26, 27, 29 and 32 of the U.N. Declaration.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

Ojo Encino Chapter requests the New Mexico Senators Tom Udall, Heinrich 
and Congressman Lujan to:

  1.  Intervene on behalf of their citizens regarding the actions of 
            the Bureau of Land Management on the leasing of certain 
            parcels of public lands for horizontal drilling and 
            hydraulic fracturing by calling for a moratorium until the 
            Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; and,

  2.  To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
            route of the proposed Pinon Pipeline; and,

  3.  To implore the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise 
            due diligence trust responsibility to assure that the trust 
            status rights of the Navajo citizens who are allotees or 
            are--heirs of allotees are protected; and,

Ojo Encino Chapter requests assistance to secure funding to conduct 
health impact assessments, baseline water and soil testing and air 
quality monitoring for the impacted areas.

                             CERTIFICATION

WE HEREBY CERTIFY the foregoing resolution was duly considered by the 
Ojo Encino Chapter at a duly called meeting at Ojo Encino Chapter, 
Navajo Nation, (New Mexico) at which a quorum was present and that same 
was passed with a vote of 13 in favor, 0 opposed this 9 day of March 
2015.

George Werito Jr., President

Jeanette Vice, Vice President

Brandon Sam, Secretary/Treasurer

                                 ______
                                 

                           THE NAVAJO NATION

                            Window Rock, AZ

                                                August 22, 2018    

Hon. Lisa Murkowski, Chairwoman
Hon. Maria Cantwell, Ranking Member
Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Hon. Mike Lee, Chairman
Hon. Ron Wyden, Ranking Member
Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forest & Mining
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Re: Support for S. 2907, The Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection 
        Act of 2018

    Dear Senators Murkowski, Cantwell, Lee and Wyden:

    I write to you as President of the Navajo Nation to express our 
support and request yours for the passage of S. 2907, the Chaco 
Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2018, which was introduced by 
Senator Udall and Senator Heinrich. This bill will help protect the 
sacred and cultural Native American sites and artifacts within the 
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park from further mineral development on 
federal land while maintaining the rights of the owners of trust and 
tribal allotments.

    The Navajo Nation has a strong interest in this legislation as the 
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park sits within our borders, and we 
have deep ties to the land. We believe in protecting our native 
cultural resources because they are invaluable, historical, 
irreplaceable and embody a strong spiritual significance for the Indian 
tribes in the region. As such, we consider any further disturbance to 
this area as culturally and morally unacceptable. S. 2907 reflects 
hundreds of public comments and is supported by the All Pueblo Council 
of Governors, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the Wilderness 
Society, and Southwest Native Cultures. Therefore, I urge the Senate 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to move the bill forward to 
the full Senate for passage. Thank you.

            Sincerely,

                                            Russell Begaye,
                                                          President

                                 ______
                                 

                           THE NAVAJO NATION

              RESOLUTION OF DILKON CHAPTER DIL-07-075-15 

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS TO INTERVENE ON BEHALF 
OF THEIR CITIZENS REGARDING THE ACTIONS OF THE BUREAU OF LAND 
MANAGEMENT ON THE LEASING OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF PUBLIC LANDS FOR 
HORIZONTAL DRILLING AND HYDRAULIC FRACTURING BY CALLING FOR A 
MORATORIUM UNTIL THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN IS REVISED OR AMENDED; 
AND TO CALL FOR AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDY TO BE CONDUCTED ON THE 
ROUTE OF THE PROPOSED PINON PIPELINE; AND TO IMPLORE THE BUREAU OF 
INDIAN AFFAIRS NAVAJO REGION EXERCISE DUE DILIGENCE TRUST 
RESPONSIBILITY TO ASSURE THAT THE TRUST STATUS RIGHTS OF THE NAVAJOS 
CITIZENS WHO ARE ALLOTEES OR ARE HEIR OF ALLOTEES ARE PROTECTED; AND 
RELATED ACTIONS.

WHEREAS:

  1.  Dilkon Chapter is a certified chapter of the Navajo Nation in 
            accordance to Navajo Tribal Council resolution CJ-20-55, 
            and further recognized as a local governmental entity with 
            the responsibility and authority to implement community 
            projects that will benefit the Dilkon Community; and

  2.  By Navajo Nation Council resolution CAP-34-98, also known as the 
            Local Governance Act, the Navajo Nation Council authorized 
            Chapters ``[to] make decisions over local matters, ``within 
            the Chapter area''; and

  3.  Dilkon Chapter supports the regional development of the five most 
            Eastern Chapters of the Navajo Nation--said chapters have 
            steadfastly communicated, coordinated and cooperatively 
            planned; and

  4.  Dilkon Chapter understands that the 2003 Resource Management Plan 
            for the Farmington (NM) Bureau of Land Management District 
            does not sufficiently address the technological development 
            of horizontal drilling and hydraulic tracking; and

  5.  Dilkon Chapter is aware of the Bureau of Land Management's 
            actions to lease the public lands for oil and gas 
            exploration in a manner that precludes its multiple use to 
            a singular use for energy development; and

  6.  Dilkon Chapter is further aware of the adverse impacts 
            experienced by those who reside within the affected area--
            declining air quality through the venting and fracturing 
            flares, the increased vehicular traffic, and the familial 
            discord resulting from the bonus payments for allotment 
            leasing; and

  7.  Dilkon Chapter is expressly concerned that the wells supplying 
            the impacted area--Ojo Encino, Rorreon, Rincon Marquesis--
            community water system will be adversely impacted by the 
            horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking exploration near 
            the Ojo Encino aquifer; moreover, Roreron/Starlake Chapter 
            issues that the water system supplying the Pueblo Pintado 
            and Whitehorse Lake communities has wells using the Ojo 
            Encino aquifer as a source; and

  8.  Dilkon has learned from Ojo Encino community members that they 
            have knowledge that the Pinon Pipeline proposed by the 
            Saddle-Butte Midstream, LLC is proceeding with great 
            immediacy where a proper Environmental Impact Statement is 
            warranted; and

  9.  Dilkon Chapter is aware that the impacted area has community 
            members who have allotments, are heirs an interest in the 
            Mancos-Gallup shale formation area wherein Land Agent 
            contracted by the many layered interest of the energy 
            exploration are encouraging the allotees to sign the leases 
            without proper legal advisement, and the Bureau of Indian 
            Affairs have not held PUBLIC HEARINGS to ensure that the 
            trust status of the allotees are protected; and

10.    Dilkon Chapter supports the rights identified in the United 
            Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 
            adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 
            2007 and was supported by President Obama in December 2010 
            by issuing that the Declaration has both moral and 
            political force must guide the policies and practices of 
            all the agencies for the federal government to ensure the 
            needs, interests and points regarding land use priorities, 
            protection of culturally grounded ways of life and safe 
            guarding the environment which are imbued in Articles 26, 
            27, 29 and 32 of the United Nations Declaration.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED

Dilkon Chapter requests the New Mexico Senators Tom Udall, Heinrich and 
Congressman Lujan to:

  1.  Intervene on behalf of their citizens regarding the actions of 
            the Bureau of Land Management on the leasing of certain 
            parcels of public lands for horizontal drilling and 
            hydraulic fracturing by calling for a moratorium until the 
            Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; and,

  2.  To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
            route of the proposed pinon Pipeline; and

  3.  To implore the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise 
            due diligence trust responsibility to assure that the trust 
            status rights of the Navajo citizens who are allotees or 
            are heirs are protected; and

  4.  Dilkon Chapter requests assistance to secure funding to conduct 
            health impact assessments, baseline water and soil testing 
            and air quality monitoring for the impacted areas.

                             CERTIFICATION

I hereby certify, the forgoing resolution was duly considered by the 
Dilkon Chapter at a duly called meeting at the Dilkon Chapter, Navajo 
Nation, (Arizona) at which a quorum was present and that same was 
passed with a vote of 26 in favor, 0 opposed on this July 13, 2015.

Lorenzo Lee, Sr., President

Dilkon Chapter

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                              Samuel Sage
                     Enrolled Navajo Nation Citizen
                             July 11, 2023

    I Samuel Sage, Navajo Nation enrolled citizen, thank the Committee 
for the opportunity to provide written testimony on House Resolution 
H.R. 4374. The bill was introduced by Representative Elijah Crane, R-
AZ-2. I write to express strong opposition to this legislation and 
request this Committee's solidarity to stand with front line Navajo 
community and Allottee members for permanent and broad protections of 
the Greater Chaco Landscape.

I. Background (Context)

    My name is Samuel Sage, I am an enrolled citizen of the Navajo 
Nation from Counselor, NM. My community is approximately 34 miles away 
from Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Chaco Canyon). As a Dine 
citizen who has experienced the harmful legacy of oil and gas 
development, I am uniquely qualified to speak upon the need for a 10-
mile withdrawal area and the Department of the Interior's (DOI) 
administrative decision to withdraw federal lands and minerals 
surrounding Chaco Canyon from future mineral development for a 20-year 
term.

    Since time immemorial, my clan, family, and community have resided 
in Counselor, NM. In adherence to our Dine Traditional Law, these 
teachings have served to guide our existence on Mother Earth as 
stewards of her body and ecosystems. Unfortunately, the Navajo Nation, 
like many tribes, have been subject to impositions of colonialism, law, 
and policy designed to fracture our internal governance and 
responsibilities. During a painful period of Navajo history, the people 
sought to defend our sovereignty from the Dawes Act of 1887 and the 
beginning of the Federal Indian Boarding School era of 1890. Many 
Navajo community members from the Eastern Agency were provided 
individual allotment land when their children were removed from Dinetah 
(the ancestral homeland for Navajo). This era is partially responsible 
for the establishment of the checkerboard land parcels on the Eastern 
Navajo Agency that encompasses land in the state of New Mexico.

    Over the past one hundred years across federal, state, tribal, and 
allotment lands, the oil and gas development has encroached Chaco 
Canyon for petrochemical exploration and development. The legacy of 
extraction has harmed the land and the cultural landscape important to 
the Dine people, Pueblos, and Tribes who claim cultural affiliation to 
the sacred and irreplaceable landscape. Unfortunately, upwards of 90 
percent of available federal lands and minerals have been leased for 
development surrounding Chaco Canyon without sufficient cumulative 
environmental and ethnographic analyses. Furthermore, inadequate 
environmental analyses and measures have subjected our front line 
Navajo communities to severe negative health impacts and depletion of 
important water systems vital to livelihood, agriculture, and many 
cultural practices. The increased mineral development has brought 
immense challenges to my personal health and the future vitality of my 
community.

    Therefore, as a Dine citizen, I extend my strong support for the 
2023 public land order from the Department of the Interior (DOI) to 
administratively withdraw federal lands in an approximate 10-mile 
withdrawal area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park and 
including its outliers for a 20-year term. And, I strongly support the 
Honoring Chaco Initiative (HCI) as an ongoing effort to create better 
land co-management practices in the Greater Chaco Region. DOI's June 2, 
2023 administrative withdrawal decision comes after long standing 
Navajo Allottee and community calls to address legacy impacts of oil 
and gas leasing. This effort preserves Navajo Nation and Allottees 
rights to seek mineral development on their own land, and supports 
Navajo Nation resolutions from the Eastern Navajo Agency Council, 
Counselor Chapter, Ojo Encino Chapter, Dilkon Chapter, and Torreon/Star 
Lake Chapter. It supports the status quo of yearly Congressional 
appropriations moratorium language that prevents the Bureau of Land 
Management from utilizing resources to conduct mineral leasing on 
public lands within the withdrawal area, and finally supports Pueblo 
and Dine Solidarity. We ask that the Navajo Nation President and the 
Navajo Nation Council to uphold their original stewardship 
responsibilities.
II. Impacts

    Since 2013, local Navajo Chapter Houses have adopted Resolutions 
calling upon the federal government including Congress and DOI to 
initiate steps toward better land management and prevention of further 
leasing on Public Lands under certain conditions, including the support 
for Navajo Nation and Allottees to continue exploring options for oil 
and gas leases. These calls to action derived from community members 
experiencing declining air quality through venting and flaring of oil 
and gas development without much stewardship leading to thousands of 
abandoned oil wells, and increased vehicular traffic of industrial oil 
and gas semi-trucks. There is major concern that oil and gas wells are 
depleting and contaminating community aquifers by multistage hydraulic 
fracturing. These actions have brought forth a rise in health 
complications and illnesses like cancer and respiratory problems, which 
increased COVID deaths.

    The cumulative health and environmental impacts of oil and gas 
extraction are devastating. In 2016, the Counselor Health Impact 
Assessment--K'e Bee Hozhoogo Iina Sila Committee began to account for 
the legacy of mineral development and assess the health complications 
and impacts for Dine communities. This work culminated in the 
completion of the study ``A Cultural, Spiritual and Health Impact 
Assessment Of Oil Drilling Operations in the Navajo Nation area of 
Counselor, Torreon and Ojo Encino Chapters'' in 2021. The research and 
findings of this study were approved by the Navajo Nation Human 
Research Review Board.

    The study's findings were numerous. Among them:

     Air monitoring conducted in Counselor Chapter in 2018 
            revealed levels of airborne formaldehyde that far exceeded 
            permissible exposure levels, levels of particulate matter 
            that routinely spiked to unhealthy and hazardous levels, as 
            well as the continuous presence of VOCs, all of which can 
            be harmful to human respiratory health, and in the case of 
            formaldehyde, lead to nose and throat cancer.

     Mapping of wells in Counselor Chapter in 2018 found that 
            most of Counselor's 700 residents live within a mile of at 
            least one oil and gas facility that emits pollutants.

     Among Counselor residents surveyed for the health impact 
            assessment portion of the study, 90% reported sinus 
            problems (discharge, obstruction and pain); 80% reported 
            coughs, headaches, itching/burning of eyes, joint pain, 
            fatigue and sleep disturbance; 70% reported nosebleeds and 
            wheezing (loud breathing); 60% reported shortness of 
            breath; and 42% reported itching of skin/rash. All these 
            symptoms are consistent with exposure to pollution from oil 
            and gas production.

     The study also found that local Dine community members 
            (including allotment owners) in Counselor, Ojo Encino, and 
            Torreon Chapters experience significant cultural, 
            spiritual, and social harms from oil and gas extraction. 
            These include: familial and community conflicts; 
            desecration of sacred sites; degradation of the land; 
            disrespect of tribal sovereignty by oil companies; concern 
            about being able to sustain a livelihood from the land; 
            disappearance of traditional herbs and medicines; feelings 
            of not being heard by federal, state, and tribal leaders.

     The study found that balance and harmony in these 
            communities has been eroded by oil and gas drilling, deeply 
            affecting Dine lifeways.

III. History of Dine, Pueblo, and Cross-Organizational Engagement to 
        Support Greater Chaco Landscape Protections

    There is a long history of inter-Tribal and public engagement in 
support of protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape. For example, in 
2013, the Eastern Navajo Agency Council called for a moratorium on 
hydraulic fracturing in the region. This was followed by the passage of 
multiple Navajo Nation Chapter resolutions supporting the protection of 
the landscape from oil and gas extraction. In 2017, the All Pueblo 
Council of Governors and Navajo Nation President and Vice President 
issued a joint statement opposing horizontal fracking in Greater Chaco, 
and the National Congress of American Indians passed a resolution to 
support a moratorium on leasing and permitting in the region. In 2019, 
the New Mexico State Land Office issued Executive Order 2019-002 
Moratorium on New Oil and Gas and Mineral Leasing within a 12-mile area 
around Chaco Culture National Historical Park and convened a Chaco 
Working Group to make recommendations regarding land management 
practices in the Greater Chaco region. In 2019, APCG and the Navajo 
Nation met in a historic summit to support the protection of the 
Greater Chaco Landscape.

    While our front line communities are well aware of the legacy 
health and landscape impacts, there has always been a strong 
understanding that some Navajo Allottees currently rely on the economic 
benefits of mineral exploration due to lack of other opportunities in 
the area. After numerous internal family discussions and community 
meetings, a consensus emerged that any calls for protections would 
incorporate the option to preserve Navajo Trust lands and Allotment 
lands to seek mineral development.

    Since 2016, over 2 million public comments have been submitted to 
federal agencies in support of protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape 
from oil and gas extraction.

    In 2021, President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland initiated 
concurrent administrative efforts to protect Chaco Canyon and 
theGreater Chaco Region and improve land management practices through 
the Honoring Chaco Initiative.

IV. Request

    I request you to oppose H.R. 4374 the bill to nullify public land 
order No. 7923, Withdrawing Certain Land in San Juan County, New 
Mexico, From Mineral Entry.

                                 ______
                                 

                 National Congress of American Indians

                         Resolution #MKE-17-008

TITLE: To Support Moratorium on Leasing and Permitting In Greater Chaco 
Region

WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians 
of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon 
our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our 
descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights 
secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, 
and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the 
laws and Constitution of the United States and the United Nations 
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to enlighten the 
public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve 
Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and 
welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the 
following resolution; and

WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was 
established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization 
of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and

WHEREAS, the protection of each tribe's traditional cultural properties 
and sacred sites is necessary to each tribe's cultural preservation now 
and into the future; and

WHEREAS, preserving the traditional cultural properties and sacred 
sites that exist in the Greater Chaco Region, including, but not 
limited to, the Great North Road, the West Road, and Pierre's Site, 
along with protection of the night skies, soundscapes, view shed and 
sight-lines within and surrounding Chaco Canyon is essential to the 
cultures and traditions of tribes in the region; and

WHEREAS, in 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt created the 36,000-acre 
Chaco Culture National Historical Park to protect significant ancient 
ruins for future generations but thousands of traditional cultural 
properties and sacred sites are located throughout the Greater Chaco 
Canyon Region and are unprotected; and

WHEREAS, the Greater Chaco Canyon Region was historically a center of 
tribal culture and economic life where Native people over thousands of 
years built great houses, astronomical observation sites, and 
ceremonial kivas, and these areas continue to be places of prayer, 
pilgrimage and living connections to their ancestors; and

WHEREAS, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other sites in 
the Greater Chaco Canyon Region, administered by the Federal Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), have been 
designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and

WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of a federal agency to make the 
determination of whether a traditional cultural property exists prior 
to taking federal action; and

WHEREAS, the BLM and BIA have not initiated any ethnographic work with 
tribes in the region to determine whether cultural landscapes in the 
Greater Chaco Region/San Juan Basin exist that qualify as a traditional 
cultural property, but are proposing leasing of lands and considering 
the issuance of permits for development at this time; and

WHEREAS, oil and gas drilling and related infrastructure in the Greater 
Chaco Canyon Region harm tribal traditional cultural properties and 
sacred sites and degrade and impair the cultural landscape(s) that 
include these traditional cultural properties and sacred sites; and

WHEREAS, the oil and gas industry has developed new extraction 
technologies by combining horizontal drilling with industrialized 
hydraulic fracturing (``fracking''), creating increased industry 
interest in the Mancos shale in the Greater Chaco Canyon Region; and

WHEREAS, the BLM and the BIA acknowledge that the agencies have not 
analyzed the impacts of fracking in the Greater Chaco Canyon Region and 
yet have approved over 400 fracking wells since 2013, which have 
already harmed the cultural landscape(s) in the region; and

WHEREAS, the BLM and the BIA are working jointly to amend the BLM's 
2003 Resource Management Plan to include consideration of the impacts 
of fracking in the Greater Chaco Canyon Region and further agreed to 
halt all leases within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Canyon until it 
finished amending its Resource Management Plan, which it expects to 
issue in late 2018, and until completion of tribal consultations and 
community outreach; and

WHEREAS, in January 2017, over the opposition of the tribes in the 
region, the BLM issued leases on 843 acres of public lands for fracking 
activities within 19 miles of Chaco Culture National Historical Park; 
and

WHEREAS, despite its previous agreement not to do so, and without 
completion of any ethnographic study to determine the existence of one, 
if not more, traditional cultural landscapes within the Greater Chaco 
Region, the BLM and BIA have been issuing permits and recently began a 
process to lease areas adjacent to the 10-mile radius of Chaco Canyon 
Culture National Historical Park, and in close proximity to known sites 
of importance on the Great North Road; and

WHEREAS, the continuation of permitting and leasing of public lands by 
the BLM and the BIA for fracking activities in increasingly closer 
proximity to Chaco Culture National Historical Park threatens 
irreparable harm to Chaco Canyon and traditional cultural properties 
and sacred sites, including existing traditional cultural landscapes in 
the Greater Chaco Region; and

WHEREAS, NCAI has in the past called for moratoria on development of 
lands that would threaten tribal interests in lands and cultural 
resources, including by passing Resolution #PHX-08-020, To Support 
Moratorium on Exploration for Oil and Gas Drilling in the Galisteo 
Basin of New Mexico.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Congress of American 
Indians (NCAI) calls upon the Department of the Interior, acting 
through the BLM and the BIA, to immediately issue a moratorium on all 
oil and gas permitting and leasing in the Greater Chaco Canyon Region 
to protect traditional cultural properties and sacred sites in the 
region until the BLM and BIA initiate and complete an ethnographic 
study of cultural landscape(s) within the Greater Chaco Region and the 
Farmington Field Office Resource Management Plan Amendment and 
Environmental Impact Statement for the Mancos-Gallup Formations 2003 
Regional Management Plan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI supports the creation of a protection 
zone around Chaco Canyon where the Department of the Interior will 
prioritize the protection of traditional cultural properties and sacred 
sites, including, but not limited to, the Great North Road, the West 
Road, and Pierre's Site; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NCAI calls upon the Department of the 
Interior, including the BLM, BIA, and the National Park Service, 
pursuant to their authorities and responsibilities under the National 
Historic Preservation Act, the Archeological Resources Protection Act, 
the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, 
and Executive Orders 12898 and 13007, formally adopt and cooperate on 
the management of the aforesaid protection zone and conduct meaningful 
government-to-government consultations with the tribes in the region; 
and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of 
NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.

                             CERTIFICATION

The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 
2017 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held 
at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, WI, Oct 15, 2017-Oct 20, 2017, 
with a quorum present.

Jefferson Keel, President

ATTEST:

Juana Majel Dixon, Recording Secretary

                                 ______
                                 

                       TORREON/STAR LAKE CHAPTER

                               RESOLUTION

Requesting the New Mexico Congressional Caucus to Intervene on behalf 
of their citizens regarding the actions of the Bureau of Land 
Management on the leasing of certain parcels of public lands for 
horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing by calling for a 
moratorium until the Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; 
and, To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
route of the proposed Pinon Pipeline; and, To implore the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise due diligence trust 
responsibility to assure that the trust status rights of the Navajo 
citizens who are allotees or are heirs of allotees are protected; and, 
related actions

WHEREAS:

Pursuant to Navajo Nation Code; Torreon/Starlake Chapter is certified 
to plan, to oversee community development, and to govern for the 
benefit of the community residents; and

Torreon/Star lake Chapter has the inherent right to position itself for 
the public interest, public safety and the general welfare of their 
community and its residents; and,

Torreon/Star lake Chapter has steadfastly communicated, coordinated and 
cooperatively planned the regional development of the five most Eastern 
Chapters of the Navajo Nation; and,

Torreon/Star lake Chapter reads that the 2003 Resource Management Plan 
for the Farmington BLM District does not sufficiently address the 
technological development of horizontal drilling and hydraulic 
fracking; and,

Torreon/Star lake Chapter is keenly aware of the Bureau of Land 
Management's actions to lease the public lands for oil/gas exploration 
in a manner that precludes its multiple use to a singular use for 
energy development; and,

The Torreon/Star lake Chapter and its residents have personal knowledge 
of the adverse impacts their relatives are experiencing with the 
declining air quality through the venting and flaring, the increased 
vehicular traffic, and the familial discord resulting from the bonus 
payments for the leasing of the allotments; and

The Torreon/Star lake Chapter is expressly concerned that the wells 
supplying the Ojo Encino-Torreon-Rincon Marquis community water system 
will be adversely impacted by the horizontal drilling and hydraulic 
fracking explorations near the Ojo Encino aquifer; Moreover, Torreon/
Star lake Chapter knows that the Water system supplying Pueblo Pintado 
and Whitehorse Lake communities has wells using the Ojo Encino aquifer 
as a source; and,

As well, Torreon/Star lake Chapter has knowledge that the Pinon 
Pipeline proposed by Saddle Butte Midstream, LLC is proceeding post 
haste absent a proper Environmental Impact Statement; and,

The Torreon/Star lake Chapter has community voters who have allotments, 
are heirs and have an interest in the Mancos-Gallup shale formation 
area wherein Land Agents contracted by the many layered interests of 
the energy exploration corporations are leading the allotees to sign 
the leases without proper legal advisement; and, the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs have not held PUBLIC HEARINGS to ensure that the trust status 
of the allotees are protected; and

Torreon/Star lake Chapter supports the rights identified in the United 
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the 
United Nations General Assembly in September 2007 and was supported by 
President Obama in December 2010 by issuing that the Declaration has 
both moral and political force must guide the policies and practices of 
all the agencies for the Federal government to assure the needs, 
interests and points regarding land use priorities, protection of 
culturally grounded ways of life and safe guarding the environment 
which are imbued in Articles 26, 27, 29 and 32 of the U.N. Declaration.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

Torreon/Star lake Chapter requests the New Mexico Senators Tom Udall, 
Heinrich and Congressman Lujan to:


  1.  Intervene on behalf of their citizens regarding the actions of 
            the Bureau of Land Management on the leasing of certain 
            parcels of public lands for horizontal drilling and 
            hydraulic fracturing by calling for a moratorium until the 
            Resource Management Plan is revised or amended; and,

  2.  To call for an Environmental Impact Study to be conducted on the 
            route of the proposed Pinon Pipeline; and,

  3.  To implore the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Region exercise 
            due diligence trust responsibility to assure that the trust 
            status rights of the Navajo citizens who are allotees or 
            are heirs of allotees are protected; and,

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter requests assistance to secure funding to 
conduct health impact assessments, baseline water arid soil testing and 
air quality monitoring for the impacted areas.

                             CERTIFICATION

WE HEREBY CERTIFY the foregoing resolution was duly considered by the 
Torreon/Star lake Chapter at a duly called meeting at Torreon/Star lake 
Chapter, Navajo Nation, (New Mexico) at which a quorum was present and 
that same was passed with a vote of 36 in favor, 0 opposed this 9th day 
of March 2015.

David Rico, President

Joe L. Cayaditto, Jr., Vice President

Evangeline Tachine, Secretary/Treasurer

                                 ______
                                 

                       TORREON/STAR LAKE CHAPTER

                       RESOLUTION TSL 04/2016-027

OPPOSING THE MASTER LEASING PLAN AS PROPOSED BY CERTAIN GROUPS; TO 
IMPLORE THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM), THE BUREAU OF INDIAN 
AFFAIRS (BIA), TO PRIORITIZE THE NAVAJO COMMUNITY CONCERNS ON HEALTH 
IMPACTS, AIR QUALITY FACTORS, SAFETY CONCERNS, INCLUDING BUT NOT 
LIMITED TO THE SCHOOL BUS ROUTES, AS AN INTEGRAL FACET OF THE PROPOSED 
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN--AMENDMENT (RMP-A) AND RELATED ACTIONS.

WHEREAS:

  1.  Torreon/Star Lake Chapter is a certified unit of Navajo Nation 
            Government having the authority to enact certain provisions 
            regarding the quality of life factors of its community 
            residents, and;

  2.  The Torreon/Star Lake Chapter has many community residents as 
            their voting constituents who have inheritance rights in 
            BLM Farmington District Field Office Resource Management 
            area, and;

  3.  The Torreon/Star Lake Chapter's area has more than 85,000 acres 
            within its Chapter area of which the western chapter area 
            is part of the BLM Farmington Field Office, and;

  4.  South West Archeologists and Nature Trust, among other groups, 
            are purporting to pursue a Master Leasing Plan as has been 
            used in other Field Offices in other States, and;

  5.  The Master Leasing Plan maps for the BLM Field Office resource 
            management area shared by BLM does not, in proper detail, 
            show the community area and residences,

  6.  The organizations pushing the Master Leasing Plan have not 
            approached the affected community Chapters, much less the 
            allotment landowners with respect to the written aspects of 
            their proposed Master Leasing Plan, and;

  7.  The Master Leasing Plan proponents, the Bureau of Land 
            Management, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have not 
            adhered to the Tribal Consultation process prior to making 
            public the MLP concept and to which are included in written 
            documents circulated at certain BLM meetings, and:

  8.  The Bureau of Land Management, at its December 05, 2015 meeting, 
            distributed a fact sheet which named the Master Leasing 
            plan as the only alternative;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

The Torreon Star Lake Chapter hereby opposes the inclusion of the 
Master Leasing Plan and its maps for which the affected Chapters have 
not been informed, consulted and have not consented to, and;

The Torreon-Star Lake Chapter hereby implores the Bureau of Land 
Management to Prioritize the Community concerns regarding the 
deteriorating air quality, the health impacts and safety factors, 
including but not limited to the School bus routes, as an integral part 
of the 2015 Resource Management Plan-Amendment.

                             CERTIFlCATION

WE HEREBY CERTIFY the forgoing resolution was duly considered by the 
Torreon/Star Lake Chapter at a duly called meeting at Torreon/Star Lake 
Chapter, Navajo Nation, (New Mexico) at which a quorum was present and 
that same was passed with a vote of 32 in favor, 0 opposed this 4th day 
of April 2016.

David Rico, President

Joe L. Cayaditto, Jr., Vice President

Evangeline Tachine, Secretary/Treasurer

                                 *****

                       TORREON/STAR LAKE CHAPTER

                       RESOLUTION TSL 04/2016-026

SUPPORTING THE APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 
AND THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT PROPOSAL ON AMENDING THE METHANE 
RULES REGARDING THE NEW AND EXISTING OIL/GAS FACILITIES SITUATED 
THROUGHOUT THE CHAPTER AREAS OF TORREON, OJO ENCINO AND COUNSELORS; 
AND, REQUESTING THE NM CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO EXERCISE CAUTION AND 
PRUDENCE IN THE FACE OF THE POSITIONS OF THE COUNTIES AND 
MUNICIPALITIES; AND, RELATED ACTIONS.

WHEREAS:

Pursuant to Navajo Nation Code, Torreon/Star Lake Chapter is certified 
to plan, to oversee community development, and to govern for the 
benefit of the community residents; and

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter has the inherent right to position itself for 
the public interest, public safety and the general welfare of their 
community and its residents; and,

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter has steadfastly communicated, coordinated and 
cooperatively planned the regional development of the five most Eastern 
Chapters of the Navajo Nation; and,

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter reads that the 2003 Resource Management Plan 
for the Farmington BLM District does not sufficiently address the 
technological development of horizontal drilling and hydraulic 
fracking; and,

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter is keenly aware of the Bureau of Land 
Management's actions to lease the public lands for oil/gas exploration 
in a manner that precludes its multiple use to a singular use for 
energy development; and,

The Torreon/Star Lake Chapter and its residents have personal knowledge 
of the adverse impacts their relatives are experiencing with the 
declining air quality through the venting and flaring, the increased 
vehicular traffic, and the familial discord resulting from the bonus 
payments for the leasing of the allotments; and

The Torreon/Star Lake Chapter is expressly concerned that the wells 
supplying the Ojo Encino-Torreon-Rincon Marquis community water system 
will be adversely impacted by the horizontal drilling and hydraulic 
fracking explorations near the Ojo Encino aquifer; Moreover, Torreon/
Star Lake Chapter knows that the Water system supplying Pueblo Pintado 
and Whitehorse Lake communities has wells using the Ojo Encino aquifer 
as a source; and,

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter is keenly aware of the meetings of the 
Environmental Protection Agency where there are proposed Rules applying 
to new oil and gas facilities to reduce the methane emissions; and,

The Torreon/Star Lake Chapter has informed knowledge that the Bureau of 
Land Management has proposed rules to effect the existing oil and gas 
facilities wherein the reduction of Methane emissions will be reduced; 
and

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter is aware that the Municipal governing council 
are pressuring the NM Congressional Delegation to push back on the 
proposed rules; and, These councils are taking the oil and gas 
industry's word at face value and do not have a keen awareness on the 
facilities in the remote and less populated areas of the Counties; and,

Torreon/Star lake Chapter has heard in meetings that the Bureau of land 
Management and the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division do not have 
sufficient personnel to conduct oil and gas site inspections--They are 
understaffed; and,

Torreon/Star Lake Chapter supports the rights identified in the United 
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the 
United Nations General Assembly in September 2007 and was supported by 
President Obama in December 2010 by issuing that the Declaration has 
both moral and political force must guide the policies and practices of 
all the agencies for the Federal government to assure the needs, 
interests and points regarding land use priorities, protection of 
culturally grounded ways of life and safe guarding the environment 
which are imbued in Articles 26, 27, 29 and 32 of the U.N. Declaration.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

Torreon/Star lake Chapter hereby supports the adoption of the Methane 
rules as they apply to the new and existing facilities of the oil and 
gas facilities as proposed by the Bureau of Land Management and the 
Environmental Protection Agency.

Torreon/Star lake Chapter hereby requests the New Mexico Congressional 
Delegation to exercise Caution and Prudence in adopting as proposed by 
the City municipalities.

                             CERTIFICATION

WE HEREBY CERTIFY the foregoing resolution was duly considered by the 
Torreon/Star Lake Chapter at a duly called meeting at Torreon/Star lake 
Chapter, Navajo Nation, (New Mexico) at which a quorum was present and 
that same was passed with a vote of 32 in favor, 0 opposed this 4th day 
of April 2016.

David Rico, President

Joe L. Cayaditto, Jr., Vice President

Evangeline Tachine, Secretary/Treasurer

                                 ______
                                 
                        Statement for the Record
                             Wendy Atcitty
                     Navajo Nation Enrolled Citizen

    I am Wendy Atcitty, Navajo Nation enrolled citizen. Thank you to 
the Committee for the opportunity to provide written testimony on the 
bill to nullify public land order No. 7923, Withdrawing Certain Land in 
San Juan County, New Mexico, From Mineral Entry, H.R. 4374. 
Representative Elijah Crane, R-AZ-2, introduced the bill. I strongly 
oppose the legislation and request this Committee's solidarity to stand 
with the front-line Navajo community and Allottee members for permanent 
and broad protection of the Greater Chaco Landscape.

    I am a registered voter from Huerfano, approximately 50 miles from 
the Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Chaco Canyon), and an 
enrolled Navajo Nation citizen. Our family has resided in the region 
during the development and experienced the harmful legacy of oil and 
gas development within our homesite. I am uniquely qualified to speak 
upon the need for a 10-mile withdrawal area and the Department of 
Interior's (DOI) administrative decision to withdraw federal lands and 
minerals surrounding Chaco Canyon from future mineral development for a 
20-year term.

    There is an era partially responsible for establishing checkerboard 
land parcels on the Eastern Navajo Agency that encompasses land in New 
Mexico. However, since time immemorial, my clan, family, and community 
have resided in Huerfano. We adhere to Dine Traditional Law, which has 
teachings to guide our existence on Mother Earth as stewards of her 
body and ecosystems.

    It cannot be denied that petrochemical exploration and development 
have encroached on and harmed land and cultural landscapes important to 
Dine people, Pueblos, and Tribes who have had cultural affiliation 
since time immemorial. Chaco Canyon has had 90 percent of federal land 
and minerals leased to oil and gas development without sufficient 
cumulative environmental and ethnographic analyses. Our health and 
ecological impact are real for front-line Dine communities as there is 
a connection to the fracked water systems used in oil and gas and the 
emissions. In 2016, a health study began to account for health 
complications that impact Dine communities from mineral development. It 
is called Counselor Health Impact Assessment. It culminated in another 
critical research in 2021, ``A Cultural, Spiritual and Health Impact 
Assessment of Oil Drilling Operations in the Navajo Nation area of 
Counselor, Torreon, and Ojo Encino Chapters.''

    As a Dine citizen, I strongly support the 2023 public land order 
from the DOI to administratively withdraw federal lands in an 
approximate 10-mile withdrawal area surrounding the Chaco National 
Historical Park and its outliers for a 20-year term. I also support the 
Honoring Chaco Initiative (HCI) ongoing effort to create better land 
co-management practices in the Greater Chaco Region.

    The region encompasses the impacts of oil and gas leasing. Several 
local Chapter resolutions supported the Navajo Allottee and community 
efforts to preserve the Navajo Nation and Allottees' rights for mineral 
development on their land. It supports a status quo of yearly 
Congressional appropriations moratorium language to prevent the Bureau 
of Land Management from using resources to conduct mineral leasing on 
public lands within the withdrawal area.

    For 10 years, there have been resolutions by Navajo Chapter Houses 
to have the federal government implement better land management and 
prevention of further leasing on Public lands, with conditions to 
explore options for oil and gas leases that support the Navajo Nation 
and Allottees. It also carries a timeline of inter-Tribal and public 
engagement in support of protecting the Greater Chaco landscape.

     2013--The Eastern Navajo Agency Council called for a 
            moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the region. It was 
            followed by the passage of multiple Navajo Nation Chapter 
            resolutions supporting the protection of the landscape from 
            oil and gas extraction.

     2016--Over 2 million public comments have been submitted 
            to federal agencies in support of protecting the Greater 
            Chaco Landscape from oil and gas extraction.

     2017--The All Pueblo Council of Governors and Navajo 
            Nation President and Vice President issued a joint 
            statement opposing horizontal fracking in Greater Chaco, 
            and the National Congress of American Indians passed a 
            resolution to support a moratorium on leasing and 
            permitting in the region.

     2019--The New Mexico State Land Office issued Executive 
            Order 2019-002 Moratorium on New Oil and Gas and Mineral 
            Leasing within a 12-mile area around Chaco Culture National 
            Historical Park. It convened a Chaco Working Group to make 
            recommendations regarding land management practices in the 
            Greater Chaco region.

     2019--APCG and the Navajo Nation met in a historic summit 
            to support the protection of the Greater Chaco Landscape.

     2021--President Biden and Interior Secretary Haaland 
            initiated concurrent administrative efforts to protect 
            Chaco Canyon and the Greater Chaco Region and improve land 
            management practices through the HCI.

    There are numerous internal family and community meetings where a 
consensus emerged on protections that would incorporate the option to 
preserve Navajo Trust lands and Allotment lands to seek mineral 
development for economic benefits as there is a lack of opportunities 
in economic development.

    I request you to oppose H.R. 4374, the bill to nullify public land 
order No. 7923, Withdrawing Certain Land in San Juan County, New 
Mexico, From Mineral Entry.

                              [all]`