5.5K

followers

1483

following

EcoFlight educates and advocates for the protection of remaining wild lands and wildlife habitat using small aircraft. Join us, give the land a voice!

Out now in TROUT: My take on what's at stake for the Bitterroot and its headwaters amid a surge in mineral exploration and development proposals across the West.

Download

Groups appeal largest coal mine ever permitted in the US, calling its approval on Navajo land ‘disturbing’ in light of coal’s downward economic spiral
•
FARMINGTON, N.M. – Navajo and New Mexico grassroots community groups have appealed a federal permit for the expansion of a coal mine on the Navajo Nation that would dig up more than 500 million tons over the next 110 years – the largest coal mine ever permitted in the United States – despite the fact the mining company’s only customer is scheduled to retire in the next decade.
•
The appeal by Navajo community group Tó Nizhóní Ání (TNA) and Four Corners-based San Juan Citizens Alliance (SJCA) asks the U.S. Dept. of the Interior to vacate the permit issued by the Federal Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement for the so-called No Name Mine.
•
Read the full press release at the 🔗 in @tonizhoniani’s bio
•
📸 Photo courtesy of @ecoflight, a nonprofit that provides overflights to educate and advocate for the environment.
•
#NoMineExpansion

448

Download

$It’s one thing to see the Chaco Buffer Zone from the ground. It’s another entirely to see it from the air. The contrast is stark. Outside the buffer zone, there is a constant criss-cross of energy development on the landscape. Single-lane dirt roads. Pipeline scars. Pumpjacks and drill pads. As soon as you cross over into the Chaco Buffer Zone, 90% of that infrastructure disappears. There’s the occasional road or private residence, but it’s largely open and undeveloped. But it definitely isn’t empty. There are more than 4000 artifacts and structures that are known to exist in the Chaco Buffer Zone—and that’s with only a fraction of the landscape having been surveyed for archeological resources. The Chaco Buffer Zone was created in 2023. It withdrew a ten-mile radius around Chaco Culture National Historic Park from new oil and gas development on Bureau of Land Management land only. It didn’t touch existing leases. It didn’t touch state land. It didn’t touch tribal land. It was done to protect the vast number of archeological resources and cultural heritage sites that are out there. We haven’t had a chance to excavate and study them yet. We’ll never have that chance if they’re destroyed by increased energy development. The Buffer Zone was put in place after extensive tribal consultation, 110,000 public comments, and years of tedious process. It was not a quick, unilateral decision. That stands in contrast to the current effort to undo the Chaco Buffer Zone. The Trump administration gave notice to the tribes associated with Chaco last fall. In April, there was a meager seven-day scoping period. In July, just a fourteen-day public comment period. For reference, the original public comment period that put the buffer in place lasted more than 90 days. This is a landscape that needs to be protected. What is out there cannot be recovered once it is destroyed. We can help protect it by speaking vocally and on the record when we have the chance. We can also advocate for the passage of the Chaco Culture Heritage Protection Act, which would make the Buffer Zone permanent. Thanks to all who have already spoken on behalf of this$

805

597

130

658

218

187

144

161

EcoFlight ✈

@ecoflight