SENATE MEMORIAL 27

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2022

INTRODUCED BY

Benny Shendo, Jr. And Shannon D. Pinto and

Antoinette Sedillo Lopez

A MEMORIAL

AFFIRMING NEW MEXICO'S COMMITMENT TO ADDRESSING CULTURAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS IN THE GREATER CHACO CANYON LANDSCAPE.

     WHEREAS, the greater Chaco canyon landscape, located in the San Juan basin in northwestern New Mexico, is an important ancestral landscape of the twenty pueblos of New Mexico and Texas and is an important ancestral landscape and current place of residence of the Navajo Nation; and

     WHEREAS, portions of the greater Chaco canyon landscape are considered in the United States department of the interior bureau of land management's and bureau of Indian affairs' decision area for the Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment and its associated environmental impact statement and National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 process; and

     WHEREAS, the Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment is being prepared due to changing oil and gas development patterns, including horizontal drilling technology and multistage hydraulic fracturing, resulting in more oil and gas wells and surface disturbances and impacts than were analyzed in the 2003 resource management plan; and

     WHEREAS, one million eight hundred thousand acres of land have already been leased for oil and gas development within the Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment's decision area; and

     WHEREAS, as of February 8, 2020, the draft Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment counts an existing twenty-seven thousand seventy-four vertical and horizontal wells, with an additional estimated two thousand two hundred wells projected over the life of the resource management plan amendment; and

     WHEREAS, the potential impacts to the environment, human health, air quality, water quality and traditional cultural ways of life from oil and gas leasing and development are experienced by Indian nations, tribes and pueblos that interact with the greater Chaco canyon landscape by virtue of their residence, ancestry, customs, traditions and cultural practices; and

     WHEREAS, the Navajo Nation chapter residents of Counselor, Torreon and Ojo Encino who reside in the greater Chaco canyon landscape and in the Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment's decision area have been impacted by ongoing health and environmental effects as well as cultural impacts caused by extensive oil and gas development; and

     WHEREAS, the Counselor health impact assessment committee's July 20, 2021 report, titled A Cultural, Spiritual, and Health Impact Assessment of Oil Drilling Operations in the Navajo Nation area of Counselor, Torreon, and Ojo Encino Chapters, determined that significant increases in emissions from over four hundred oil and gas wells contributed significantly to respiratory health impacts of residents; and

     WHEREAS, the all pueblo council of governors, representing the twenty governors of the sovereign nations of New Mexico and Texas, in comments provided on the draft Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment and its environmental impact statement, said that oil and gas development impacts on cultural resources and traditional practices directly impact the physical and mental health of pueblo members; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico legislature has recognized and called for the protection and preservation of the greater Chaco canyon landscape's cultural sites and resources through House Memorial 70, titled "a memorial reaffirming New Mexico's commitment to protecting and preserving tribal, cultural and historical sites and resources in the greater Chaco canyon landscape", passed during the 2017 regular legislative session; and

     WHEREAS, many federal laws, including the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the federal Clean Air Act, are designed to require consideration of the environmental and health effects of federal actions; and

     WHEREAS, Article 20, Section 21 of the constitution of New Mexico declares "protection of the state's healthful environment" to be of "fundamental importance to the public interest, health, safety and the general welfare"; and

     WHEREAS, President Joe Biden's Executive Order 14008 formalized the president's and vice president's commitment to ensuring that all federal agencies develop programs, policies and activities to address the disproportionately high and adverse health, environmental, climate and other cumulative impacts on communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution; and

     WHEREAS, the department of environment's environmental justice policy promotes fair treatment as meaning no group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, governmental or commercial operations or policies; and

     WHEREAS, greater action is needed in New Mexico from the United States department of the interior to better regulate oil and gas leasing and development to ensure environmental and health impacts to New Mexico's Indian nations, tribes and pueblos are minimized in the greater Chaco canyon landscape;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that New Mexico's commitment to addressing cultural, environmental and health impacts in the greater Chaco canyon landscape be affirmed; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States department of the interior's bureau of land management and the oil, gas and minerals division of the state land office be requested to comply with federal law by fully considering and addressing the effects of oil and gas development on the environment and health concerns of frontline communities described in the Farmington Mancos-Gallup resource management plan amendment and the accompanying environmental impact statement; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States department of the interior bureau of land management and the oil, gas and minerals division of the state land office be requested to refrain from any oil and gas leasing, issuance of drilling permits or development without adequate environmental and human health protections in place that are created in consultation with potentially impacted communities, including the Navajo Nation chapters of Torreon, Counselor and Ojo Encino; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the United States department of the interior bureau of land management and the bureau of Indian affairs, the secretary of cultural affairs, the secretary of Indian affairs, the secretary of environment, the governor and the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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