McCamley wants commission to support drilling delay

Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley wants his peers to approve a resolution supporting the postponement of oil and gas drilling on the Otero Mesa until a study of the water underneath it is complete.

The delay has the support of three of New Mexico’s elected officials in Washington – Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep. Tom Udall and Republican Sen. Pete Domenici – who have all asked the Bush Administration to put off leasing the land.

U.S. Rep. and Hobbs oilman Steve Pearce, R-N.M., whose district includes the Otero Mesa, has thus far been silent on the issue.

McCamley, a Democrat, is vying for the right to take on Pearce next year, but so is Al Kissling. McCamley said the resolution, which commissioners will consider on Tuesday, is not politically motivated. He said it’s about ensuring that Southern New Mexico, which is growing rapidly, has enough water for the future.

“This issue is all about water,” he said. “There is a whole lot of both fresh and brackish water located under the Otero Mesa. Sen. Domenici is in on this, so it’s not even a partisan issue.”

According to a fact sheet provided by the Southwest Environmental Center, a 2006 federal study estimated that there could be more than 57 million acre-feet of groundwater – 15 million of them potable – under the Otero Mesa, which is recharged by surface water runoff that could become polluted if drilling isn’t handled carefully.

An acre-foot is almost 326,000 gallons. The average family uses roughly 0.3 acre-feet of water each year.

According to SWEC, it’s estimated that there’s enough gas under the Otero Mesa for a 16-day national supply. There is enough water to supply a million people for more than a decade.

Domenici recently wrote a letter to the Bureau of Land Management (read letters from Domenici, Bingaman and Udall by clicking here) asking for a delay in leasing the land and pointing out that a bill he’s sponsoring would help fund a study to determine the aquifer’s susceptibility to contamination from drilling.

That would be part of a broader study that’s already underway, having also been pushed by Bingaman and partially funded with $1 million committed by the state.

McCamley pointed out that Pearce states on his campaign Web site that “Water is life. We must protect and preserve our water rights, improve water quality and develop ways of reusing this precious resource.”

“If he truly believes that, then he needs to get behind this,” McCamley said. “All of us in Southern New Mexico should know what the impacts are to this important resource before we allow drilling to occur.”

I contacted Pearce’s office for comment on Tuesday. His press secretary, Brian Phillips, told me he would discuss my questions with Pearce and get back to me as soon as possible. He hasn’t yet done that.

If he provides comments, I’ll post an update at the end of this article or write a new article.