On Sunday, the Biden administration sent a representative to New Mexico to celebrate the “green deal” they imposed on the Navajo people by revoking the Indian tribe’s right to lease their land to gas and oil companies.
Members of the Navajo nation stood up against Biden’s overreach and blocked access to the planned celebration location. The nation held signs in protest saying “Our Land, Our Resources, Our Jobs, Our Children’s Future.”
Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was forced to move to a different location, as the Navajo nation yelled “go home” to the Biden administrator and blocked her access to Chaco Canyon.
Today, @SecDebHaaland was supposed to celebrate at Chaco Canyon with tribal, state and federal leaders about the new ban on oil and gas leases in the area. Navajo allottees blocked off the entrance in protest.
More to come for @source_nm pic.twitter.com/D1S2VTku5U
— Megan Gleason (@fabflutist2716) June 11, 2023
Chairs and a podium set up for the day’s festivities were empty, and the event was canceled and rescheduled. Haaland met with other leaders at the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office located in Albuquerque on Sunday evening to talk about the new 20-year land protections.
Navajo President Nygren spoke out, saying, “To totally disregard those local communities — it’s unfair. There’s no need to celebrate putting people into poverty, to celebrate undermining the Navajo Nation’s sovereignty, undermining everything that comes into working with tribes, in this case, Navajo Nation.”
The tribe is considering suing Haaland to overturn the ban that they estimate will cost the tribe millions of dollars in revenue.
According to Free Beacon, the Navajo Nation leaders claim Haaland did not adequately consult with them before issuing the 20-year oil and gas ban. It also appears Haaland may lack impartiality. In issuing the ban, she helped her daughter’s leftist green initiative Pueblo Action Alliance, which works to end both oil and gas production as well as “imperial capitalism,” score a victory at the cost of the Navajo people.
The move has prompted House Republicans on the Natural Resources Committee to issue an ethics investigation of Haaland over her relationship with her daughter’s group.
Energy advocacy group Power the Future’s founder and director Daniel Turner issued a statement saying an investigation is overdue,
“For more than two years, the Biden Administration has acted without any serious congressional oversight, and we have all suffered the disastrous consequences. Secretary Haaland’s relentless crusade against American energy producers knows no limits, and the public deserves to know about any financial connections she stood to gain from her family employment.”