Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2025
- house
- senate
- president
Last progress April 10, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on April 10, 2025 by Teresa Leger Fernandez
House Votes
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Last progress April 10, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on April 10, 2025 by Teresa Leger Fernandez
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
This bill protects certain federal land in New Mexico near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It blocks new mining, oil and gas leasing, and geothermal development on these lands, as shown on a Bureau of Land Management map that will be available for public inspection, to safeguard sacred sites, ancient roads, dark skies, and nearby communities in the Greater Chaco region . It honors existing rights, but any federal oil and gas leases in the area that aren’t producing end automatically and can’t be extended; if those leases end or are given up, the land stays off-limits to new leasing or mining. The bill does not change Tribal mineral rights on trust or allotment lands, and still allows rights-of-way for water, power, utilities, and roads to help local communities. It also lets the government transfer or exchange certain federal land with Indian Tribes under existing land-use plans.
Key points