Interior Extends Comment Period on Chaco Canyon Drilling Plan

The Interior Department will give the public four more months to comment on a plan to expand oil and gas development near New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

The extension announced Thursday heeds calls from the Navajo Nation, activists, and Congressional Democrats to allow Navajos living near Chaco Canyon, hard-hit by the coronavirus crisis, to have more time to react to the proposal.

The Bureau of Land Management, part of Interior, expanded the comment period for 120 days, to Sept. 25. BLM officials offered no explanation for the extension, and bureau spokesman Derrick Henry didn’t immediately respond to a ...