Opposition to selling off Greater Chaco to the oil and gas industry continues to increase. Now, the Bureau of Land Management has received an unprecedented number of administrative appeals—also known as “protests”—in response to its plans to auction 4,400 acres of Greater Chaco for fracking this March.
The BLM received 120 protests opposing some or all of the 25 parcels offered for auction in the upcoming sale. By contrast, a January 2017 auction of lands in Greater Chaco received only seven protests. Protests for the March sale came from Navajo and Pueblo Tribes; nonprofits; local businesses; and rural landowners, including ranchers and farmers.
It’s a clear sign that the Bureau of Land Management has no regard for the concerns of the public and that, despite its efforts, the Trump administration can’t erase the “public” from our “public lands”.
Read the press release.
