• Land

House of Representatives Votes To Protect Sacred Sites and Iconic Landscapes from Mining

• Chaco Canyon
• Grand Canyon
• oil and gas
• uranium

The Grand Canyon National Park and Chaco Culture National Park both are under threat from nearby mining and drilling developments being advanced by the Trump Administration.  The House of Representatives voted by comfortable margins on Wednesday to protect both Parks from contamination by banning nearby extraction activities, but there is no companion legislation in the Senate so these measures will likely stall now.  

Why This Matters:  The Trump Team is trying to “camouflage” its plans to expand mining near the Grand Canyon as a national security imperative and then pad the pockets of the developers by having the government buy the uranium.  The Grand Canyon is one of the most iconic U.S. Parks and a natural wonder — it is hard to imagine the public would support uranium mining adjacent to the Park — it is a national treasure.  

• People

Heroes of the Week: The Cathedral Savers

• Chaco Canyon
• Fire
• Notre Dame
• oil and gas drilling
• Pueblo Indians
• UNESCO World Heritage Site

This week the tragic fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral was juxtaposed with the House Resources Committee field hearing on the damage oil and gas drilling is doing to our own priceless American cultural heritage in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.  At Notre Dame, the stories of the heroism shown by Father Jean-Marc Fournier who guided […]

• Air

Oil and Gas Drilling In New Mexico Scrutinized, Methane Leaks Soar

• air pollution
• Chaco Canyon
• federal land
• House Natural Resources Committee
• methane
• moratorium
• oil and gas drilling
• sacred sites

A surge in oil and gas drilling in the Permian Basin of New Mexico is causing a dramatic increase in methane emissions according to a new study by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).  The Associated Press reports that the EDF analysis showed that in 2018 statewide methane gas emissions from oil and natural gas production is five times higher than what the petroleum companies are reporting to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and more than twice what EDF estimated these emissions to be two years ago.