Oil and Gas Drilling at Ancient Sites in New Mexico, Texas

Think Progress recently posted a feature worth reading, and deserving a lot more research, about the prospects of oil and gas drilling in national parks. It turns out, it's happening, and in the West, the iron grasshoppers are nodding their way through layers protected for their archaeological value.

A FOIA request to the National Park Service yielded documents showing that 12 territories under NPS control are currently hosting active oil and gas operations, and 3 of them are on our turf (meaning both Western and archaeological).

Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument (NPS/AGarcia)

New Mexico's Aztec Ruins NP (I really hate that name) is among them, as well as the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument and the neighboring Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, both in the Texas Panhandle.

Aztec Ruins I'm sure you know about, and why any site linked to North America's great ancient civilization would be considered fair game for drilling is unclear to me. But Alibates is somewhat more obscure, although it boasts an equally rich history. Humans have been harvesting flint from hand-hewn quarries cut into its hills for 13,000 years. Whole villages were based there and persisted for centuries, inhabited by the ancestors of today's Pawnee and Wichita.

But it would seem there's noplace else in West Texas where oil companies could find a place to sink their bits.

Unfortunately, Think Progress' post is shy with details, offering just enough to disturb but not enough to inform. So I'll be looking into it, and you do the same.