Pueblo of Acoma Governor Charles Riley said during a Thursday press call that his community held a public meeting and went door to door to mobilize opposition to the Bureau of Land Management's proposal to open up land in the Chaco Canyon area to mining and oil and gas drilling. Those actions allowed community members without internet access to submit comments online during a seven-day comment period that ended Tuesday.
"Chaco is not an abstract policy issue for us," Riley said. "It is a living cultural landscape that is central to who we are as Pueblo people. However, it should not take extraordinary measures by a tribal community to make a federal process accessible."
U.S Representative Teresa Leger-Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico, hosted the call. Her legislation to permanently protect the Chaco area and the Pecos Watershed is currently stalled in the House, but she remains optimistic.
"We will move that bill if—I'm going to say when—Democrats reclaim the speakership in the House, which we anticipate we will do next year."
In the meantime, Leger-Fernandez wants the public to stay engaged by reaching out to their representatives.
Riley thinks that if Trump administration officials experienced places like Chaco firsthand, they may be less willing to lift protections. Riley last visited Chaco on the summer solstice when the rising sun aligns perfectly with a window in the site's ancient architecture.
"When the sun hits the the horizon, that rectangular light fits right in a nicho right at daybreak. There's no words for that, and that's only one feature throughout that whole landscape."
Riley offered to personally take Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to see the sacred alignment during this year's summer solstice.
