Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Bureau of Land Management office in Santa Fe on July 29 to speak out against a proposal that could remove protections from more than 330,000 acres around Chaco Canyon, KOAT reports. Chanting "Protect sacred sites! Protect Chaco Canyon!" they decried the agency’s plan to roll back Biden-era protections against oil, gas and mining projects in the area.
Protester Antonia Ruiz argued the changes would harm water supplies and residents’ health. "We should all be enraged because it’s impacting our communities’ health, it’s impacting our waters, [and] it’s impacting the sovereignty of our communities," she told KOAT. Protesters said the agency should do more than hold off on revoking protections, and Ruiz said it should expand them and deal with inactive wells and cleanup.
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Cheyenne Antonio, who grew up near Chaco Canyon, said the land is part of who she is and called the bureau’s two-week comment period unfair. She said she has put her sweat and tears into caring for the land and wants to see her people succeed in the area.
In San Juan County, commissioners voted July 28 to support removing the protections. Earlier in July, Bureau of Land Management Director Steve Pearce said it is difficult to balance cultural preservation with economic needs, and he pointed out that some Navajo families had lost income they once got from energy development there.
About This Story
Daily Reports is Brant.One’s news roundup. Each day we gather the New Mexico stories worth knowing from newsrooms across the state, sum them up and point you to the source. This one comes from KOAT’s reporting, and their original story has the interviews and full details.
Editor’s note: Updated Oct. 31, 2026. This story is now part of Daily Reports, our New Mexico news roundup, and was revised to credit KOAT’s original reporting. Learn how Daily Reports works in our editorial standards.
