Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Chairman, as we heard, Chaco Canyon is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the reason it is listed this way is because it is a place of magic and history. Anyone who has slept there under the stars, as I have, and as I would urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do, knows what a special and unique place this is and why it must be protected.

But there are many ways one can damage an historic site. Obviously, you can damage the very soil that it sits on. But you can also damage the air quality that the visitors to this site find every year.

Oil and gas development produces smog and gas flares that harm animals, vegetation, and people who live nearby. It also undermines the park's pristine night skies that attract thousands of visitors every year. It emits methane that leads to harmful ground-level ozone pollution, and it is just not worth destroying this precious treasure.

I support reasonable oil and gas development throughout the West in my State, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and so many places. But just because we should have oil and gas development in appropriate places doesn't mean we should have it everywhere, certainly not near or in Chaco Canyon. That is why I support this legislation, Mr. Chairman, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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