CHACO CANYON 13 SEC. 430. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to accept a nomination for oil and gas leasing under 43 CFR 3120.3 et seq, or to offer for oil and gas leasing, any Federal lands within the withdrawal area identified on the map of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park prepared by the Bureau of Land Management and dated April 2, 2019, prior to the completion of the cultural resources investigation identified in the explanatory statement described in section 4 (in the matter preceding division A of this consolidated Act).

"13 Sec. 430" is attached to the many pages that detail the Bureau of Land Management's budget for the coming year. Specifically, the language means "they cannot spend any money to offer or process any O&G lease sales within the Chaco 'protection zone' designated in the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act (roughly a 10-mile buffer surrounding the park and major outlying sites), until a comprehensive ethnographic study and cultural resources inventory is completed," explained Ernie Atencio, NPCA's Southwest regional director.

The spending prohibition runs for a year, or shorter if the study is completed in less than a year, he said.

"We are very happy to see this provision in the omnibus package as a stopgap measure to protect the communities, sacred cultural landscape and globally important archaeological sites surrounding Chaco Canyon, and hope that the president will sign this critically important bipartisan bill," Atencio said Wednesday via email. "But we can't just keep kicking this can down the road. The best permanent solution to oil and gas threats around Chaco is a permanent legislative withdrawal of all leasing in the landscape surrounding the park. We urge the incoming Congress to hear the consistent calls from the tribes and the majority of the public to prioritize this permanent protection as soon as possible." 

Staff at the Natural Resources Defense Council agreed.

"This will protect sacred cultural resources near Chaco Culture National Historical Park from drilling for another year," Alison Kelly, NRDC's senior attorney, Lands Nature Program, said in an email Tuesday. "The Greater Chaco region as a whole has deep cultural significance, and yet 90 percent of its lands have been already been leased for oil and gas drilling. 

"We look forward to working with the incoming Secretary of the Interior and Congress to enact permanent protections for this treasured region that will address concerns expressed by the most affected communities," she said.