{"id":1832,"date":"2007-06-08T13:35:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-08T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/on-proposed-drilling-moratorium-pearce-plans-to-back-whatever-position-the-interior-department-takes\/"},"modified":"2007-06-08T13:35:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-08T19:35:00","slug":"on-proposed-drilling-moratorium-pearce-plans-to-back-whatever-position-the-interior-department-takes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/on-proposed-drilling-moratorium-pearce-plans-to-back-whatever-position-the-interior-department-takes\/","title":{"rendered":"On proposed drilling moratorium, Pearce plans to back whatever position the Interior Department takes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., hasn\u2019t taken a position on a proposed moratorium on drilling on the Otero Mesa because he wants to see what the experts in the Interior Department think about the idea. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

Pearce plans to wait for the Interior Department to take a position and support it, spokesman Brian Phillips said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s all this political rigmarole, but why don\u2019t we let the experts tell us what they need,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proposed delay in leasing land for oil and gas drilling has the support of three of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s elected officials in Washington \u2013 Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a> and Rep. Tom Udall<\/a> and Republican Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> \u2013 who have written letters<\/a> to the Interior Department asking that the Bureau of Land Management put its planned drilling program on hold to allow completion of a water study.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A 2006 federal study estimated that there could be 57 million acre-feet of groundwater \u2013 15 million of them potable \u2013 under the Otero Mesa, which is recharged by surface water runoff that some fear could be polluted by drilling.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Domenici and Bingaman are now asking for a more in-depth study to better determine how much water is under the mesa and examine the impact drilling would have.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Interior Department hasn\u2019t yet responded to the request from the three members of Congress, but is expected to do so soon.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Phillips said there is some confusion about whether the BLM has already determined if drilling would harm the aquifer. The planned oil and gas leasing program doesn\u2019t allow more than 1,589 acres of land to be used for drilling at any time \u2013 less than 1\/10 of 1 percent of the 2 million acres that make up the Otero Mesa, he pointed out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cCongressman Pearce is all for waiting to see what the studies say, if they still need to be completed,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cBut if (officials in the Interior Department) clear it, then by all means, why should we wait?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCamley urges Pearce to support moratorium<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On Tuesday, the Do\u00f1a Ana County<\/a> Board of Commissioners is set to consider a resolution in support of a moratorium. Commissioners Karen Perez<\/a> and Bill McCamley<\/a> are bringing forth the resolution, and McCamley will present it.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

McCamley is one of two Democrats vying for the right to take on Pearce next year. Though I wrote about it earlier this week<\/a>, McCamley\u2019s campaign put out a news release today officially announcing his support of the moratorium.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough oil is a major contributor to our economy, in the desert we cannot exist without a ready supply of water,\u201d he said in the release. \u201cWe should slow down, take a step back and examine the Otero Mesa as a potential source of fresh water.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The news release came out before Phillips made his comments to me. Prior to that, Pearce had been silent on the issue, and McCamley called him to task for that.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one issue where the congressman should put away his rubber stamp, stand up to the Bush Administration and put New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> first,\u201d he said in the release. \u201cThis is not a partisan issue. It\u2019s a matter of doing what\u2019s best for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., hasn\u2019t taken a position on a proposed moratorium on drilling on the Otero Mesa because he wants to see what the experts in the Interior Department think about the idea. Pearce plans to wait for the Interior Department to take a position and support it, spokesman Brian Phillips said. \u201cThere\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}