{"id":1844,"date":"2007-06-12T13:12:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-12T19:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/commission-backs-otero-mesa-drilling-moratorium\/"},"modified":"2007-06-12T13:12:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-12T19:12:00","slug":"commission-backs-otero-mesa-drilling-moratorium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/commission-backs-otero-mesa-drilling-moratorium\/","title":{"rendered":"Commission backs Otero Mesa drilling moratorium"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Do\u00f1a Ana County<\/a> 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. <\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n

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

Commissioner Bill McCamley<\/a>, who presented the resolution, spoke about the region\u2019s 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 \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

\u201cThese resources can be used for the future growth of our region as a whole,\u201d McCamley said. \u201c\u2026 What is being asked \u2013 to wait for this study \u2013 is only prudent and responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> Sens. Jeff Bingaman<\/a> and Pete Domenici<\/a> and Rep. Tom Udall<\/a> have all asked the Bush Administration to delay drilling pending the completion of a more in-depth study that will determine exactly how much water is there and how it might be impacted by drilling.<\/p>\n

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

The commission\u2019s vote came a day after the U.S. Department of the Interior formally responded to the requests for a delay by saying it\u2019s confident that it has safeguards in place to proceed with its drilling program and protect the aquifer.<\/p>\n

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

Ed Roberson, Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> district manager for the Bureau of Land Management<\/a>, reiterated that to commissioners today.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cBLM would never approve a well to be drilled if we thought it was going to negatively impact the aquifer. That\u2019s the bottom line,\u201d he said. \u201cThe process we are using, we are convinced, will protect this aquifer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The 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 2.1 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.<\/p>\n

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

The Otero Mesa makes up a little more than 1 million acres in Otero County.<\/p>\n

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

Commission Chairwoman Karen Perez<\/a> 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 \u201climited information\u201d on the aquifer, so even those checks can\u2019t ensure the safety of the water.<\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s 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\u2019t complete.<\/p>\n

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

Before the vote, state Rep. Jeff Steinborn<\/a>, D-Las Cruces and Southern New Mexico<\/st1:place> director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance<\/a>, urged approval of the resolution, saying the mesa will provide little oil and gas but a lot of water.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cFrom a cost-benefit analysis, this is a no-brainer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

McCamley, who brought the resolution forward along with Perez, is running against U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., next year. The mesa is in Pearce\u2019s district, and Pearce said before the Interior Department took a position that he would support whatever position it took.<\/p>\n

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

That would put Pearce, a Hobbs<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> oilman, in opposition to Bingaman, Domenici and Udall. U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> has not taken a position on the issue.<\/p>\n

\n

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Otero Mesa is located in Otero and Sierra counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Do\u00f1a 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 […]<\/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-1844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844","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=1844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}