San Juan Basin should be protected from exploitation

BLM needs to carry out obligation to protect land

It’s time for New Mexico to keep the beast out of the garden by stopping the Bureau of Land Management from exploiting the Chaco Canyon area.

The $3 million BLM sale of drilling permits for 843 acres surrounding Chaco Canyon aims to unlock access to a holy part of the San Juan Basin, the oil-rich region that also holds the nation’s largest natural gas field.

But because Pueblo Indian nations maintain a millennia-old relationship with this architectural wonder and surrounding environment, any destruction or pollution to the area will cause permanent harm with no possible redress.

The BLM Farmington Field Office advances a suspect history. Current office manager Rick Fields says that “improving” industry partnerships and “streamlining” procedures are a top priority, a dog whistle for serving extractive interests.

The office refuses to update the 2003 Mancos-Gallup Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. Because the 2003 versions do not account for hydrologic fracturing and associated consequences, corporations are effectively operating without accurate oversight. Lack of transparency, willful ignorance and expediting complex decisions is not future-focused land management.

The Chaco Canyon affair fits with the Trump administration’s effort to install a free-form regulatory system and to allow the petroleum industry to experience a windfall at the expense of public and tribal lands and waters.

For example, the administration stayed the Consolidated Federal Oil & Gas and Federal & Indian Coal Valuation Reform Final Rule, which was set to raise the royalty rates corporations pay to the federal government, Indian Nations and individual Indians for oil, gas and coal extraction.

Also, the administration (delayed for two years) the Methane and Natural Gas Waste Prevention Rule, which requires corporations to lower the amount of flaring, venting and leaking of natural gas from operations on public and tribal lands. The rule is smart because it is estimated that over $100 million is lost annually from public and tribal lands in New Mexico solely because of wasted natural gas.

Because San Juan Basin extraction accounts for over 14.5 percent of total U.S. methane emissions, a massive methane “hot spot” hovers over the Four Corners.

Yet the extractive industry is signaling an increase in San Juan Basin activity. For example, in December 2016 BP announced that it is moving its Lower 48 regional headquarters to Denver, closer to its growing Colorado and New Mexico investments, as part of its “commitment to the San Juan Basin.”

It is apparent that the BLM has a lot of deference in its decision-making because 91 percent of federal lands surrounding Chaco Canyon are already leased for oil, gas and mineral operation. But deference does not mean abdication; the BLM must carry out its legal obligation to protect our lands and waters.

Ultimately, we must hold the BLM and extractive corporations accountable, and fight the finalization and release of the drilling permits because Chaco Canyon deserves to last forever.