The Trump administration is considering a complete or partial reversal of a 20-year federal mineral ban on new oil and gas leasing that protects New Mexico's Greater Chaco Region, and time for public comment is running out.

The Department of the Interior says revoking protections on a landscape that holds cultural importance for Indigenous people could boost oil production by more than 2 million barrels over the next 20 years.

The New Mexico Wildlife Federation's Executive Director Jesse Deubel said despite the importance of oil and gas to New Mexicans' livelihoods and the state's economy, some things are priceless.

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"It's really important to understand that there are some places where it is absolutely inappropriate to risk destruction of sacred sites for the idea that there might be some amount of oil and gas underneath that mineral estate," Deubel said.

The administration is looking at three options — keep a current 10-mile buffer in place, cut it to 5 miles, or revoke it entirely, which could destroy artifacts and architecture. The administration argues maximizing fossil fuel production through increased drilling could lower utility and fuel costs and bolster national security.

The public has until Wednesday, July 29, to comment online through the Bureau of Land Management's NEPA webpage.

The Federation's Andrew Black, a public lands field director in New Mexico, said there's a good reason Chaco is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site — one of only 24 such sites in the U.S.

"Nineteenth to 13th-century complex Pueblo cultural settlements with multi-story houses, sacred sites. The architecture is truly unbelievable; just from that perspective alone it is remarkable," Black said.

Last week, the New Mexico Congressional Delegation called on Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to extend the public comment period to 90 days, conduct tribal consultation, and allow extensive public engagement before making a decision.

Black says it's the least that should be done.

"That buffer zone was not arbitrary. After various archaeological surveys and studies, that area was determined to have the greatest amount of cultural resources within it, and more study and more examination and more analysis needed to be done within that buffer zone," Black said.

The buffer zone is home to bobcats, pronghorn, elk and deer, coyotes, bald eagles, small mammals and various reptiles.

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, calls on the Interior Department to reconsider its oil and gas proposal and honor the Public Land Order approved by the Biden administration in 2023.