BLM opens comments on Chaco Canyon mineral leasing proposal

The Bureau of Land Management opened a 14-day public comment period on a proposal that could reopen about 336,000 acres near Chaco Canyon to mineral leasing, giving San Juan County residents, tribal communities and nearby mineral-rights interests a chance to weigh in before any final federal decision. The project is listed as the Evaluation of Potential Revocation of Chaco Withdrawal in BLM’s ePlanning system, under project ID D949F582-402D-F111-8341-001DD804183B.

The land at issue sits around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, one of New Mexico’s most important archaeological and historical landscapes and a sacred ancestral place for many Native communities. Another description of the proposal puts the affected area at more than 300,000 acres and says the land could be reopened for mining and oil drilling, a change that would directly affect the wider Four Corners region, where energy development, cultural preservation and public-land use often collide.

People can submit comments through BLM’s ePlanning system, and the public has until July 29 to do so. That comment window now becomes the main venue for arguments over whether leasing should resume near Chaco, where drilling, traffic, noise and industrial development have long been weighed against protection of the landscape, air quality, habitat and cultural sites.

The proposal comes after a 2023 Biden administration action created a 20-year mineral withdrawal around a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard separately extended a state moratorium on new oil, gas and mineral leasing in the Greater Chaco area through Dec. 31, 2043, keeping state-owned acreage off the table even as the federal review moves ahead.

The decision has already drawn opposition from elected officials and preservation advocates. In April, U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, along with Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández and Melanie Stansbury, denounced what they called a rush to allow drilling in Chaco Canyon. Santa Fe County commissioners unanimously approved a letter to BLM on April 7 opposing the proposed revocation of the Chaco withdrawal, and groups including the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Archaeology Southwest have urged people to speak up for Greater Chaco.

For San Juan County, the outcome could shape both the region’s economy and the future of a landscape many communities consider irreplaceable. If the withdrawal is revoked, federal leasing could return near Chaco Canyon; if public opposition holds, the existing protections remain in place for now.