WASHINGTON — A group of Diné allotment shareholders and community leaders called Wednesday for the Bureau of Land Management to continue enforcing oil and gas restrictions near New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

The delegation, gathered in front of the U.S. Department of the Interior headquarters that also houses BLM leadership offices, called on the agency to maintain a 2023 order that placed a 20-year ban on oil and gas extraction in public areas surrounding Chaco Canyon.

The order applies to over 338,000 acres of federally managed lands that extend 10 miles beyond the park itself, creating a buffer zone around the site that holds great cultural and spiritual significance for Diné, Pueblo and other indigenous tribes. 

“It’s a beautiful area,” said Hazel James-Tohe, one of the community leaders who led Wednesday’s press conference. “It has so much history … everything that we hold sacred to us.” 

Revoking protected status 

For more than a year, the Trump administration has moved to potentially reverse the Biden-era BLM order and clear the way for mineral leasing in the Greater Chaco region. 

The BLM on July 15 opened a two-week public comment window on a draft environmental assessment of the proposal.

According to the draft assessment, “the purpose and need for the proposed withdrawal revocation is to restore discretion over mineral leasing to the BLM and facilitate mineral development to meet the policies established by” a 2025 Trump executive order aimed at increasing U.S. mineral production. 

In an email late Wednesday, a BLM spokesperson said the agency was reviewing public comment on the proposal.

“The BLM welcomes input from stakeholders as we analyze the environmental effects of revoking the withdrawal of public lands surrounding Chaco Canyon National Historical Park,” the spokesperson wrote. “Gathering and considering these perspectives is a vital part of our process and central to our mission of managing public lands for the benefit of all Americans.”

Tribal leaders from the Greater Chaco region, along with advocates and New Mexico lawmakers, have organized on numerous occasions to protest the proposal to revoke the withdrawal. 

Effects of oil and gas development   

Standing under the hot afternoon sun outside of the Interior building, the visiting delegation opened Wednesday’s press conference with a prayer before launching into their calls. 

“We came over here to Washington, D.C., to tell the leaders that we want to keep the buffer zone in place,” Diné allotment shareholder Mario Atencio said. “That’s what we’re here to do, to yell at buildings and yell at pictures of Donald Trump to tell them, ‘don’t frack around Chaco. It affects public health.”’ 

Nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells dot the Greater Chaco landscape, meaning the Diné people living in the region are already disproportionately exposed to environmental harms such as air pollution, oil spills, industrial traffic and land degradation even with the buffer zone in place, according to a press release from the group that organized Wednesday’s event. 

“The pollution does not recognize boundaries–it moves through air we breathe and water we depend on, placing the greatest burden on our elders, children,” said Wendy Atcitty, a member of the Eastern Navajo Huerfano community, in a separate release shared following the press conference. 

Atcitty and her fellow Diné representatives told firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live near oil development.

Growing up, she said, all she saw were “the different types of equipment scattered across the landscape,” and the sound of machinery was “louder than the birds.” 

Diné allotment shareholder and former Navajo National Council Delegate Daniel Tso also talked about witnessing large liquid waste leaks and exposure to methane gas in areas outside the protected withdrawal zone.

“What you do to the land, you do to the people,” he said on Wednesday, quoting an old cultural saying. 

In a press release, he added that energy companies were “running amok” and he feared they would destroy the area’s land, air, water and sacred places.

People who live near active mines often suffer from respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, Atcitty said. 

Lawmakers respond 

After BLM announced the public comment window on July 15, members of New Mexico’s U.S. congressional delegation sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum urging him to extend the commentary period and condemning the Trump administration’s lack of communication with those who live in the Greater Chaco region. 

The administration has “been abdicating its responsibility for meaningful and complete Tribal consultation and continues to railroad communities through arbitrary deadlines and rushed decision-making,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said in a July 16 press release. 

“Proposing to fully revoke protections for Chaco Canyon and only allowing 14 days to comment on this development is wrong, shameful, and a slap in the face to Tribes,” he added. 

Heinrich is the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Diné and Pueblo community advocates, tribal members and allied organizations also conducted their own analysis of BLM’s draft environmental assessment. The document was shared with States Newsroom Wednesday. 

Among its findings, the analysis determined that “revoking the Chaco buffer zone would produce minimal additional energy production while imposing severe and irreversible harm on Indigenous communities, sacred cultural landscapes, and the environment.”

The Diné group on Wednesday urged BLM to correct its environmental assessment. 

On the night of Jan. 2, there was an explosion on a well pad in eastern Ohio’s Guernsey County. In shaky Facebook videos, the volunteer fire department chief warned off “looky-loos,” as a burning tank fed dark, billowing clouds of smoke off in the distance.

The accident happened at the Groh well pad which is operated by Gulfport Engergy. No one was injured in the blast and first responders determined the safest course of action was to let the fire burn itself out. Guernsey County Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation notice within half a mile of the well pad. The agency lifted its advisory about 14 hours later.

In a statement, Ohio Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Karina Cheung said the agency is still investigating the cause of the fire and assessing damage.

“Preliminary findings indicate that one containment tank was affected,” she said. “All produced fluids have been safely removed. There was no release of fluids into the environment and the well pad remains shut down and inactive.”

“There were no reported injuries, no reported impacts to wildlife, and no reported impacts to water,” she added.

Context and track record

But to some, the incident highlights concerns they’ve been raising for years about oil and gas drilling — particularly as exploration expands to state lands.

The Groh well pad sits about five miles from Salt Fork State Park. While the site doesn’t draw from within the park, the accident is a reminder that Salt Fork was recently opened to oil and gas exploration thanks to a 2022 law signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.

Those leases don’t allow well pads within the boundaries of state land, but opponents argue more exploration means more accidents. And with drilling infrastructure creeping closer, they contend, it’s a matter of time before those accidents affect public land.

“These are accidents that have great potential to cause people serious breathing and respiratory illnesses from air emissions alone,” Melinda Zemper from the organization Save Ohio Parks said.

Although she’s quick to note the difference in scale, Zemper compared the accident to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine.

“Sometimes when you have explosions,” she added, “you don’t know what chemicals are going to be released into the soil and the water nearby the well pad.”

The group has organized opposition to drilling leases on public land since state officials began awarding them through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Oil and Gas Land Management Commission.

Gulfport Energy has been awarded seven of those leases in Belmont and Monroe Counties.

Save Ohio Parks argues the recent Groh well pad fire isn’t an isolated incident.

In 2020, Gulfport agreed to a $3.7 million settlement with the U.S. EPA over its operations in Ohio. The company faced $1.7 million in penalties and was directed to invest $2 million in upgrades to reduce emissions at its facilities. The company has also had several accidents in Ohio, primarily related to spilling brine or other drilling fluid. In 2013, state officials fined the company a quarter million dollars over leaks at seven well pads in Belmont and Harrison Counties.

Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Gulfport Energy but got no response.

Accidents and reporting

Taking a step back, the organization FracTracker argued the Groh well pad explosion is a symptom of a broader problem. In an analysis of incident records from 2015 to 2023, Gwen Klenke found at least 1,900 well-related incidents reported in Ohio.

“I think the larger context is just that this industry is prone to accidents,” she said, “and that there will be accidents as we start to frack and extract on state lands — not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”

The bulk of incidents Klenke documented have to do with release or discharge — of gas, brine or other chemicals involved in drilling. Nearly 160 of those incidents are classified as explosions or fires, but only two reference injury or property damage. Under ODNR designations, only three incidents are classified as major or severe since 2018.

Ohio Oil and Gas Association President Rob Rob Brundrett points to the lack of major incidents as “a testament to the industry’s rigorous safety standards and practices.”

“Considering that only .004 percent of ALL Ohio oil and gas operations have had a major reportable incident during that timeframe, I have, and will continue to, put our industry’s safety numbers against any other labor-intensive industry in Ohio,” he added.

But Klenke argues that low number of major incidents points to shortcomings in reporting and classification rather than a strong safety record. Kathiann Kowalski from the Energy News Network highlighted ODNR’s classification system in a 2023 report as well.

The agency relies on a matrix to determine the severity of an incident, but its criteria are subjective and complex. Does the burned-out tank at the Groh well pad constitute “moderate” or “major” on-site equipment damage? If the fire burned for at least 14 hours, does that push it into the category of a major incident (12-24 hours to control impact) or does the apparent lack of off-site spillage ratchet it down to a minor incident?

In her report, Klenke points to two other incidents involving explosions at homes that involved injuries. Because the reporting system allows just one category, they were listed as “explosion/fire,” but they could’ve also been listed as “injury” or “property damage” among other designations.

Klenke explained neither incident was listed as “major” or “severe” under ODNR’s designations.

“They were calling those moderate or minor explosions,” she said, “when those should really be considered major if they’re damaging property, they’re damaging folks’ health.”

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com.

Well pad explosion raises concerns about drilling on Ohio public land is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.