Pat Lyons’ view: ‘We must find a balance’ between preservation and development of Otero Mesa

Note: This is a guest column that was solicited from both candidates in the land commissioner race.

By Pat Lyons
Republican candidate for commissioner of public lands, and the incumbent

Most of the visitors to the area have been sportsmen like me who go to the area to hunt. The few full time occupants are families that have lived in the area for generations and are primarily engaged in cattle ranching.

If you scan through the official New Mexico Vacation Guide put out by the New Mexico Tourism Department you will find scant reference to Otero Mesa as a destination for any activity.

It is important to digest some history to comprehend the present battle over oil and gas development.

Lost in the discussion is the fact that wildcatters have been looking for the “big find” for many years dating back to before the 1950s, and the Bureau of Land Management has documented on the order of 100 wells that have been drilled in the area.

Descriptions of the area as “pristine” ignore the fact that Otero Mesa contains an active bombing range, hundreds of miles of roads, an oil pipeline that traverses through the area, numerous homes, power lines and a very large broadcasting antenna.

The ownership of Otero Mesa is primarily federal. The United States government owns approximately 2 million acres, and the state Land Office owns about 450,000 acres. The remaining acreage falls under private ownership.

Under the current proposal for development by the BLM, only 1,600 acres of surface estate would be disturbed, which is less than 1/10 of 1% of their total acreage.

Back in 1997 and 1998, the previous commissioner (Ray Powell) issued 80,000 acres of oil and gas leases. Payments made to the Land Office for bonus and rentals on its leases have been approximately $700,000, but the economic impact is much more significant than that. The BLM study of the effects of oil and gas development estimate there would be approximately 381 jobs during the exploration/development phase and 99 jobs during the production phase.

The regional economic impact would be over $30 million per year. The estimate for state royalty using current prices for oil and gas would be over $3 million per year, with a production life of approximately 20 years. These royalty figures are only for production on state trust lands and do not include any estimates for federal royalties or taxes that would be paid to the state.

The other potentially valuable resource in the area is the Salt Basin water which underlies part of Otero Mesa. The significant drought that has affected New Mexico in recent years has reemphasized that all water resources are precious and must be protected.

Much has been said that any oil and gas development would harm the Salt Basin water source, but this is more hype than fact. The New Mexico Oil Conservation Division approves thousands of new oil and gas wells every year in New Mexico, and each one is approved with the mandate that water resources shall be protected. We owe it to all our citizens to protect their sources for fresh water. If we cannot do that, then the OCD should not approve the drilling of wells anywhere in the state, much less at Otero Mesa.

As to the question of whether we preserve or drill at Otero Mesa, we must find a balance that preserves the character of the area and develops the resources in a sustainable way.

The current BLM plan calls for very limited development – 141 wells and 1,600 acres of disturbed surface, close monitoring of oil and gas activity and protection of the Salt Basin water resource. It is sustainable development in a time when we have critical need for reasonably priced energy supplies.

The calls for alternative energy and conservation are important factors in our future energy needs. I approved the first wind power turbines ever located on Land Office property and recently signed a lease that will bring the biggest solar energy facility in the world to New Mexico.

But we have to recognize that current demands for energy require finding new sources of supply. There were two significant discoveries of wells in the 1990s on Otero Mesa that have yet to produce an mcf of natural gas for consumers. There is a plan for development at Otero Mesa that does not sacrifice the environment or our energy needs.