President Joe Biden on Nov. 15 announced a step toward prohibiting oil and gas development outside the boundaries of a major Native American park in the Southwestern U.S. as part of a tribal summit he is hosting.
Biden also signed an executive order aimed at improving public safety and justice for Native Americans. Representatives from 570 tribes are expected to participate in the event, which is being held virtually because of the pandemic.
“In the coming weeks, the Department of the Interior will initiate consideration of a 20-year withdrawal of federal lands within a 10-mile (16-km) radius around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, protecting the area from new federal oil and gas leasing and development,” the White House said in a statement.
The proposed action would not apply to individual Native American allotments or to minerals within the area, it said.
Tribes have long called on U.S. officials to ban drilling in the area, a center of ancestral Pueblo culture.
Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation have been pressuring U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to take steps to ban oil and gas development outside the boundaries of the park, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The executive order on safety will direct the Departments of Justice, Interior, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services to “create a strategy to improve public safety and justice for Native Americans and to address the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous peoples,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Homicide is the third-leading cause of death among Native women who are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average, according to federal data.
The ancient Native American sites in Chaco include monumental public and ceremonial buildings and distinctive architecture, according to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency.
Investigations into violence against Native peoples have been underfunded for decades, with murders and missing persons cases often unsolved and unaddressed, according to Haaland, the first Native American to hold the position. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which runs law enforcement on Indian lands, is part of Interior.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden are to address the summit on Nov. 15 and Vice President Kamala Harris will make remarks on Nov. 16. The tribal summit is the first of its kind since 2016. There were none during the presidency of Republican Donald Trump.
Recommended Reading
TotalEnergies Entering, OMV Exiting SapuraOMV JV
2024-01-31 - TotalEnergies aims to deepen its presence in Malaysia through the $903 million deal to acquire OMV’s interest in the SapuraOMV Upstream joint venture.
TotalEnergies, Vanguard Renewables Form RNG JV in US
2024-04-24 - Total Energies and Vanguard Renewable’s equally owned joint venture initially aims to advance 10 RNG projects into construction during the next 12 months.
California Resources Corp., Aera Energy to Combine in $2.1B Merger
2024-02-07 - The announced combination between California Resources and Aera Energy comes one year after Exxon and Shell closed the sale of Aera to a German asset manager for $4 billion.
TotalEnergies Buys Majority Stake in Ecoslops Provence JV
2024-03-01 - TotalEnergies bought out its joint venture partner to become the sole shareholder in cleantech venture Ecoslops Provence.
Permian Activity in ‘Low-to-no-growth’ Mode for First Half
2024-02-22 - After multiple M&A moves in 2023 and continued E&P adherence to capital discipline, Permian Basin service company ProPetro sees the play holding steady.