Oil and Gas Industry Group Sues BLM for Taking the Time to Preserve the Chaco Landscape

Oil and Gas Industry Group Sues BLM for Taking the Time to Preserve the Chaco Landscape
Representatives of the oil and gas industry are upset with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for not holding quarterly lease sales for drilling on public lands. On Thursday, the Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based pro-industry group, filed suit, challenging the agency to follow the federal statutory law — provisions in the Mineral Leasing Act — that mandates that lease sales for oil and gas development be held four times a year. Kathleen Sgamma, Western Energy Alliance’s vice president of government and public affairs, said in a press release that the impact of legal pressure from environmentalist groups and the agency’s own dysfunction are causing the problem. http://bit.ly/2b9hfJC – Farmington Daily Times

Colorado Developers Complain about Environmental and Archaeological Compliance
Montezuma County commissioners aired grievances about the federal government to the sympathetic ear of Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton during a meeting Wednesday in county chambers. Topics ranged from eagles and roads, to federal land policy and burdensome archaeology studies. http://bit.ly/2aT12Yb – Cortez Journal

New Study on Paleolithic Migration Routes Argues for a Coastal Route into the Western Continents
The established theory about the route by which Ice Age peoples first reached the present-day United States has been challenged by an unprecedented study which concludes that their supposed entry route was “biologically unviable.” http://bit.ly/2bsE1jl – Popular Archaeology

David Abbott Honored for Contributions to Southwestern Archaeology
David Abbott, associate professor at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, received not one, but two distinguishing awards this summer for his archaeological work in Arizona: the Arizona Archaeological Society’s 2016 Professional Archaeologist Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Governor’s Archaeological Advisory Commission. Abbott, who specializes in researching the Hohokam who inhabited Arizona (including the area of ASU’s Tempe campus) until around 1450, is recognized not only for his many years of dedication to the field, but also for his method for sourcing ceramics, which revolutionized the study of ancient pottery in the desert Southwest. http://bit.ly/2aSzan8 – Arizona State University

Small Cell Phone Antennas and Other Devices Will No Longer Require Historic Review Process
The Federal Communications Commission is easing requirements for wireless company review of the historical significance of potential sites before building small-cell and distributed antenna system wireless infrastructure. Small cells and DAS use small devices to deliver wireless connectivity across small geographic areas, including inside buildings. Dense networks comprising units using these—and similar—small-antenna technologies are widely seen as vital to the development of next-generation, high-speed wireless networks. http://bit.ly/2br3xDL – Bloomberg Legal

Mexican Sword Tip Discovered at Alamo Excavations
Archaeologists working near the Alamo discovered a unique military artifact, the broken tip of a sword believed to be owned by a Mexican non-commissioned officer. http://bit.ly/2aMoaMS – The Gilmer Mirror

Honor Your Favorite Public Archaeologist with a Nomination for the Public Education Award at the 2017 SAA Meetings
Award for Excellence in Public Education — This award recognizes excellence in the sharing of archaeological information with the general public and is designed to encourage outstanding achievements in public engagement. The 2017 award will be presented in the Media and Information Technology category; the award will emphasize how nominees used print and/or online media to educate and increase public awareness. This category recognizes outstanding programs or products that reflect collaborative initiatives that engage diverse communities. Potential applications and nominees who feel their work is eligible should contact the committee in early November to solicit guidance. For more information about how to submit a nomination packet, please email Jayur Mehta at jmehta@tulane.edu

Lecture Opportunity: Blanding
On Saturday, August 27, 2016, at 2:00 p.m., Edge of the Cedars Museum will host a lecture by Dr. Laurie Webster, an anthropologist and specialist in Southwestern perishable artifacts. Dr. Webster is a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona (Tucson), and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History (New York) and at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Laurie makes her home in Mancos, Colorado. Dr. Webster will present Re-Excavating Ancient Textiles, Baskets, Wood, and Hides from Southeastern Utah. In this presentation, she will discuss the project’s latest work at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and what these artifacts reveal about the ingenuity and daily lives of Basketmaker and ancestral Pueblo peoples of the Four Corners region. Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum is located at 660 W. 400 N. Blanding, Utah 84511, tel. 435.678.2238. Admission for the lecture is FREE.