Don't Pave the Chaco Road: February 12 Meeting

February 12 Meeting

A meeting (Stakeholder Workshop) is being held near Chaco Canyon this coming Tuesday, February 12, to provide input into possible alternatives to the paving of the road, such as leaving as-is, chip-sealing, engineering changes, and increased maintenance and signage.

URS Corporation and Taschek Environmental Consulting have been retained by San Juan County and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to lead a study under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The consultants apparently plan to incorporate the input from the meeting into an environmental document.

Anson Wright, coordinator for the Chaco Alliance, is attending. I will provide updates as I get them, and you can also check the Chaco Alliance website or the San Juan Citizens Alliance (SJCA) website.

The Chaco Alliance is now one of the organizations with official Consulting Party status, granted under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), so is kept informed of any actions, and gets invited to the meetings. The San Juan Citizens Alliance and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club also advocate road improvements rather than paving, to help Chaco retain its character as an important World Heritage Site.

Some Background (mostly from the San Juan Citizens Alliance website)

San Juan County has already chip sealed the first four miles of CR 7950 which raises issues including NEPA compliance, impacts to archeological resources, and the failure to consult with tribal entities. Despite San Juan County claims that they used no Federal money in the chip-sealing of the first four miles of CR 7950, it is becoming increasingly evident that they failed to comply with NEPA and NHPA and that New Mexico Department of Transportation failed to properly oversee the project.

The National Park Service is currently conducting a “carrying capacity” study at the park to determine funding and infrastructure requirements in association with visitation. The Chaco Alliance and SJCA believe that any impact analysis associated with the environmental document for CR 7950 needs to include potential impacts to Chaco Culture NHP as a connected action and should incorporate the conclusions of the “carrying capacity” study being conducted at the park.

In addition, “reasonably foreseeable development” of natural gas and coal resources in the Chaco Culture NHP area needs to be fully evaluated as a potential result of paving CR 7950. The significance of proposed actions and cumulative impacts associated with the analysis of CR 7950 warrants an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

A subsequent post will include information about how you can write emails to help.