Familiar story, different century. The federal government overreached in not respecting the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation and its mineral owners. This happened with the recently imposed Public Land Order 7923, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s land withdrawal, and ban on oil and gas leasing in the 10-mile buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
Paths to renewable energy are essential; they must be immediate. Seen from space, a 2,500-square-mile methane cloud hovers over northwestern New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, to include Chaco. Like that atmospheric stamp of methane waste, it’s tough to get out from under the love-hate, codependent relationship the Southwest has with the fossil fuel industry.
Also critical, though, is having meaningful consultations with those most vulnerable, most hurt by DOI’s decision – the more than 5,000 Navajo mineral owners, many living in poverty, who rely on royalties from energy development. On July 13 in testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said no substantive government-to-government dialogue happened, despite DOI’s claims.The Navajo Nation had proposed a 5-mile buffer, now off the table.
Like Nygren, we’re asking for more discussions. The common goal should be safeguarding Chaco without putting undue financial burdens on Navajo allottees, who earned about $1,135 each in 2022. This may not seem like much, but it’s significant to many on the outskirts of Chaco. The trap that is poverty and its connection to the fossil-fuel economy can’t be ignored – this is a larger conversation. But erasing royalties that buy food and other necessities without a firm, new plan in place isn’t helping. And it’s not winning over nonbelievers to green energy and the potential jobs it could provide.
Don’t eliminate income without providing an alternative.
Between the two nations, productive communication is necessary about a transition strategy with renewable energy jobs that might include solar fields.
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland likely understands this after protesters blocked her entrance to the park on June 11. In her work as a New Mexico congresswoman, Haaland rallied for additional protections for sacred sites and national treasures threatened by extraction that would “scar our land, contaminate our air and water, and create health risks for our community.” We are right with her. But we can’t move forward without bringing along local people adversely affected, however temporarily or in ways that seem small.
In Washington, D.C., Nygren spoke in support of H.R. 4374, the Energy Opportunities for All Act, which has potential to nullify the Interior Department’s decision.
Too bad it’s come to this. We’d rather not have more extraction or legislation. The Southwest has a long – and literally dirty – history of Indigenous communities compromised for the money from fossil fuel development, coal mining and uranium extraction. Between 1944 and 1989, about 30 million tons of uranium were extracted from the Navajo Nation, leaving polluted lands and water, a weakened economic, and environmental and health hazards.
Thankfully, on July 17, executive order 04-2023 was signed to address the impacts of abandoned uranium mines and advocate for immediate remediation, giving Nygren authority to coordinate actions.
There’s much to clean up and maneuver in this new world of energy transition. Positive measures are already in place, including from 2013, the Navajo Nation Energy Policy to develop renewable energy projects.
This business of broken promises reminds us of the time in history, specifically June 1, 1868, when the Navajo Nation Treaty was signed, reuniting the Navajo with land the U.S. took from them. Minerals were allotted to Navajo ancestors a long, long time ago. How can the U.S. match in clean energy, jobs and opportunities what the allottees are expected to lose in revenue?
At Chaco, buildings by ancestral Pueblo people showcase their organizational and engineering abilities. They inspire us to believe we can counter climate change, while protecting these sacred and historic sites, and create green jobs.
We’re calling on the DOI and the Biden administration – offer something better in return as royalties are lost. Negotiate with an emphasis on the Navajo concept of k’é, the system of kinship with importance placed on listening, compromising and working well together.
