The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners voted today to support a moratorium on drilling on the Otero Mesa to allow completion of a study of the water underneath.
Commissioners voted 5-0 in support of the resolution. Before its passage, they tacked on a resolution requiring the body to revisit its support of the moratorium upon completion of the study or after three years, whichever comes first.
Commissioner Bill McCamley, who presented the resolution, spoke about the region’s drought and growth, saying the area will need more water in the future. A recent study estimated that there could be 57 million acre-feet of groundwater – 15 million of them potable – under the Otero Mesa, which is recharged by surface water runoff that some fear could be polluted by drilling.
“These resources can be used for the future growth of our region as a whole,” McCamley said. “… What is being asked – to wait for this study – is only prudent and responsible.”
The commission’s vote came a day after the U.S. Department of the Interior formally responded to the requests for a delay by saying it’s confident that it has safeguards in place to proceed with its drilling program and protect the aquifer.
Ed Roberson,
“BLM would never approve a well to be drilled if we thought it was going to negatively impact the aquifer. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “The process we are using, we are convinced, will protect this aquifer.”
The oil and gas leasing program doesn’t allow more than 1,589 acres of land to be used for drilling at any time – less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the 2.1 million acres in Otero and Sierra counties. Overall, however, the program makes about 95 percent of the land in both counties eligible, and there is precedent for, upon discovery of a large source of oil, the BLM changing the program to allow more land to be used at one time.
The Otero Mesa makes up a little more than 1 million acres in Otero County.
Commission Chairwoman Karen Perez said, as an engineer, she would have put in place the same checks to protect the aquifer that BLM is requiring. However, she said, there is “limited information” on the aquifer, so even those checks can’t ensure the safety of the water.
That’s why further study is necessary, Perez said. However, she also expressed concern that studies can drag on, and it was Perez who proposed the three-year reconsideration if the study isn’t complete.
Before the vote, state Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces and
“From a cost-benefit analysis, this is a no-brainer,” he said.
McCamley, who brought the resolution forward along with Perez, is running against U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., next year. The mesa is in Pearce’s district, and Pearce said before the Interior Department took a position that he would support whatever position it took.
That would put Pearce, a
A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Otero Mesa is located in Otero and Sierra counties.