Oil and gas leasing will be halted for one year near Chaco Canyon, a group of archaeological sites in northwestern New Mexico, according to Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
The decision cuts against the Trump administration’s broader efforts to issue new oil and gas leases in the landscape around the canyon.
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt agreed to the moratorium after touring the Chaco Culture National Historical Park with Heinrich. It gives the Bureau of Land Management to draft a blueprint for mineral extraction in Chaco Canyon that takes environmental concerns into account, known as a resource management plan, ...
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