{"id":385228,"date":"2017-07-09T16:27:17","date_gmt":"2017-07-09T22:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=385228"},"modified":"2017-07-09T16:27:17","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T22:27:17","slug":"fracking-boom-leads-to-tension-in-navajo-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/07\/fracking-boom-leads-to-tension-in-navajo-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Fracking boom leads to tension in Navajo communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_385246\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-385246\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/marie-chavez-768x432.jpg\" alt=\"Marie Herbert-Chavez speaks at Navajo Nation Council listening session at Counselor Chapter.\" width=\"771\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/marie-chavez-768x432.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/marie-chavez-768x432-336x189.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/marie-chavez-768x432-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Melorie Begay \/ New Mexico In Depth<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marie Herbert-Chavez speaks at Navajo Nation Council listening session at Counselor Chapter.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>On a windy Monday morning in May, residents packed the Counselor Chapter House. Some sat in plastic folding chairs, while others leaned against the wall, all paying attention to the speakers.<\/p>\n<p>Coming to the front of the chapter house, Marie Herbert-Chavez introduced herself in the Navajo language.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m going to talk real fast OK,\u201d she said as she took the microphone to talk about fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, in her community near Chaco Canyon.<\/p>\n<p>Four members of the Navajo Nation Council, Speaker LoRenzo Bates, Councilor Amber Kanazbah Crotty, Councilor Davis Filfred and Councilor Leonard Tsosie, who represents Counselor as well as nearby chapters, had come to hear testimony from area residents.<\/p>\n<p>The listening session, which lasted about five hours, provided a glimpse into tensions in several small Navajo communities near Chaco Canyon over an uptick in fracking\u00a0in recent years, pitting those who worry about the public health hazards it poses against government agencies who authorize it, as well as some of their neighbors who benefit \u00a0economically from\u00a0leasing their land to oil and gas companies.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/07\/07\/fracking-boom-leads-to-tension-in-navajo-communities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>While the packed chapter house included environmental activists and Navajo Nation oil and gas company representatives, members of the community, like Chavez, made their presence felt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have an oil drill right behind my own backyard,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cIn fact there\u2019s almost two [or] three of them.\u201d\u00a0Chavez moved back to Nageezi, a neighboring chapter, two years ago after living in California for several years.<\/p>\n<p>What she moved back to is a hotbed of fracking activity in New Mexico spurred by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bia.gov\/cs\/groups\/xieed\/documents\/document\/idc1-026005.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the discovery of a new \u201coil play\u201d<\/a>\u00a0about four years ago. Infrastructure for drilling, pumping and storing oil is scattered throughout the rural landscape sometimes referred to as the \u201cgreater Chaco\u201d area. About 20 miles south is Chaco Cultural National Historical Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.<\/p>\n<p>Fracking involves drilling outward horizontally from a wellhead that was drilled vertically deep within the earth. Industry literature characterizes it as more environmentally friendly than traditional vertical drilling because fewer wells are needed to remove\u00a0the same amount of oil. But critics say the method is known to create earthquakes and that it poses threats to groundwater.<\/p>\n<p>Oil and gas extraction in the area has been ongoing since 1911, but technological improvements have led recently to a dramatic rise\u00a0in fracking for oil in and around these rural communities. One company, WPX Energy, has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wpx-extranet-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/205164\/sjb-fact-sheet-2016.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">drilled 100 new wells<\/a>\u00a0in the area since about 2013.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not uncommon for the fracking sites to be close to homes in the Counselor area. They can be as close as 400 feet. Pipelines snake along the sides of roadways, crossing driveways.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>At the meeting, community members throughout the day questioned whether living near the fracking sites is healthy or safe. Industrial oil and gas trucks continually wend through the landscape kicking up dust on the unpaved roads. All of the activity \u2014\u00a0the drilling, the pumping, the trucks crisscrossing the landscape \u2014\u00a0creates noise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI tell people it\u2019s not an eight-to-five job, it doesn\u2019t quit just like that. It\u2019s always happening around here, always. Now we hear all these humming noises, from the compressors I\u2019m guessing. And that\u2019s loud. That was never there before,\u201d\u00a0said resident Kendra Pinto.<\/p>\n<p>The rural nature of the area means emergency services aren\u2019t right around the corner, which numerous community members mentioned when talking about a fire that occurred last year.<\/p>\n<p>On July 11, 2016, an explosion rocked the surrounding area around 10 p.m. at a new fracking site containing six wells, sending a large plume of black smoke into the air, engulfing\u00a0the community. The company that owns the facility, WPX Energy, says an equipment malfunction caused the fire that burned over three days, destroying 36 storage tanks containing oil and water.<\/p>\n<p>WPX states it helped area residents, paying for their food and lodging temporarily in nearby towns as the fire burned out. But that was challenged at the May meeting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the explosion happened, I was there, 24\/7,\u201d Chavez said. \u201cNobody, nobody, came to my house after the fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chavez called\u00a0for health studies so residents have data they need to understand whether there are health impacts from\u00a0the explosion.<\/p>\n<p>Chavez also took aim at the issue of fairness, saying some people are receiving money from leasing their land to oil companies while others are not.<\/p>\n<p>In a rural place where unemployment is high, the ability of some Navajo families to lease the\u00a0land they obtained through an allotment process administered by the federal government in the early 20th Century is a significant opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>But others who live on Navajo land and aren\u2019t able to lease to companies still feel the impacts of the oil operations.<\/p>\n<p>Pinto emphasized the point.\u00a0\u201cNot everyone is an allottee, so remember that,\u201d\u00a0she urged the audience.<\/p>\n<p>WPX Energy alone says it paid $35.8 million in 2015 royalties for \u201cSan Juan Basin wells on federal, state and Indian lands,\u201d $21.6 million in severance and ad valorem taxes, and $10.1 million to private landowners.<\/p>\n<p>Counselor and neighboring Torreon, Huerfano and Nageezi Chapters are within what is commonly referred to as the \u201ccheckerboard region\u201d of New Mexico, where land is divided among a maze of different owners \u2014 federal, state, and Indian lands as well as some privately held land.<\/p>\n<p>The conflict between Navajo Nation residents who\u2019ve leased their land and those who haven\u2019t was evident throughout the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>While residents\u00a0like Chavez are critical, others say the activity has brought important resources to their families and communities through lease payments and royalties.<\/p>\n<p>One woman who has leased her property came to voice her support for oil and gas drilling in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinancially, this whole leasing thing, I benefitted from it,\u201d Delora Hesuse said.<\/p>\n<p>Hesuse said she and her family have been leasing their land for various purposes for generations. She used to be a caretaker for the elderly, but lost her job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt helped me to put my daughter through school,\u201d said Hesuse of her family\u2019s lease. Her sister was able to send her sons to college as well.<\/p>\n<p>Of the potential safety risks, Hesuse said she educated herself by taking a tour of a fracking site and regularly requests water samples and testing.<\/p>\n<p>Hesuse said the Navajo Nation should step up and address public health issues on the nation, as WPX Energy took care of her family in the aftermath of the explosion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow come they (the Navajo Nation) haven\u2019t stepped up their laws to deal with anything,\u201d Hesuse asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, my cousin, Marie she lives right there, right where it was,\u201d Hesuse said about Chavez. \u201cIt\u2019s just that nobody thought anything like that was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She said she was speaking up in support of the leases because others who\u2019ve benefited were too scared to talk and were tired of being guilted for trying to support their families.<\/p>\n<p>But not all such residents are as supportive of oil operations as Hesuse.<\/p>\n<p>One community member who benefits from leasing spoke out about misunderstanding the impact the oil and gas industry would have on the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis place is worse than it is now than when I left from here because of the roads, because of the air, because of dishonesty,\u201d Harold Sam said. Sam left the area 40 years ago and now lives in Farmington.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSure I get money from these oil people, it felt good,\u201d Sam said. \u201c\u2026 but yet I was never told [that] because of the drilling \u2026 it\u2019s going to cause health problems, it\u2019s going to damage the water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sam says that oil companies don\u2019t warn residents about potential risks and instead use money to distract them. \u201cWhere is the honesty,\u201d Sam asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsent has never happened here,\u201d Cheyenne Antonio said during her five minutes at the front of the chapter. \u201cMy grandma, she gets benefits, yes she gets oil and gas money, yes, yes we know. But what she doesn\u2019t know are what are all these chemicals that they\u2019re using.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Antonio\u2019s from the Pueblo Pintado area, but she and her family moved\u00a0to Albuquerque. Her grandmother leased her land for oil operations, but Antonio questioned the information her grandmother relied on when making the decision.<\/p>\n<p>While Antonio said it\u2019s too late for her grandma to change her decision, they are still hoping to educate others.<\/p>\n<p>Health impacts are a serious concern, Antonio said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince this boom has happened, my little brother has been diagnosed with cancer \u2026 and it has been an ongoing struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some community members are conducting their own health assessment in an attempt to understand the impact fracking may have already caused in the area.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/commongroundrising.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/HNDA-at-Counselor-Chapter-10.27.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">H\u00f3zh\u00f3\u00f3g\u00f3 na\u2019ad\u00e1 Assessment<\/a>\u00a0is being prepared by Herbert Benally, Ph.D, and Larry W. Emerson, Ph.D. An initial report that relies on a small sample of residents for information suggests a need for better communication and cultural understanding between the companies, the government, and the community itself.<\/p>\n<p>Government officials who listened throughout the day seemed to agree.<\/p>\n<p>Navajo Nation Council Speaker Bates acknowledged the difficulties faced by the community, but stressed that all entities involved will have to compromise with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Bates cited the need for different government agencies to work better together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of moving pieces dealing with the situation \u2026 this government (has) slow moving gears, but it moves,\u201d Bates said in remarks at the end of the day.<\/p>\n<p>Others at the meeting noted the economic benefit of oil and gas leasing to the Navajo Nation, and attempted to reassure community members of its safety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are acutely aware of not only economic, but environmental safety and health, cultural and social aspects of oil and gas operations,\u201d\u00a0said William McCabe, a consultant for Navajo Nation Oil and Gas Co., which is owned by the Navajo Nation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose studies that have come to bear have shown that there\u2019s very little impact at least on the water standpoint, from hydraulic fracturing and oil and gas activity,\u201d McCabe said.<\/p>\n<p>Both McCabe and Bates said energy development is important to the future of the Navajo Nation, with oil and gas becoming more important as the future of coal becomes increasingly uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>The Navajo Nation is grappling with looming revenue shortages due to a planned closure of the Navajo Generating Station in 2019. It currently relies on lease agreements, royalties and other payments tied to the NGS and Kayenta coal mine that supplies it for 20 percent of its operating revenue. That revenue is in addition to over 3,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye in a March 2017 opinion piece. In the face of uncertainty related to coal revenue, hydraulic fracturing is one solution the Nation is looking toward, McCabe said.<\/p>\n<p>Bates echoed an assertion by McCabe that the Navajo Nation is an \u201cenergy nation.\u201d A decline in coal puts the Navajo Nation in a tough position, he said, but it has the means to develop its economy through oil and gas operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can provide, it does provide, it has provided, but you have on the other side the challenges associated with each,\u201d\u00a0Bates said.<\/p>\n<p><em>Melorie Begay\u00a0holds New Mexico In Depth\u2019s reporting fellowship at the University of New Mexico for the academic year 2017\/2018.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent listening session provided a glimpse into tensions in several small Navajo communities near Chaco Canyon over an uptick in fracking in recent years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":385246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[119,147,709,3586],"class_list":["post-385228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-energy-policy","tag-environment","tag-native-americans","tag-navajo-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}