{"id":627478,"date":"2018-09-19T09:24:53","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T15:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=627478"},"modified":"2018-09-19T09:30:12","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T15:30:12","slug":"dunn-doesnt-believe-land-commissioner-candidates-will-hold-oil-and-gas-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/09\/dunn-doesnt-believe-land-commissioner-candidates-will-hold-oil-and-gas-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunn doesn\u2019t believe land commissioner candidates will hold oil and gas accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"

Outgoing State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn grew up on an apple farm near Alamogordo and worked for 25 years in banking. He characterizes the land commissioner\u2019s job as one of handling a thousand different things and managing almost 200 people in ways that draw from both his business background and his familiarity with land and conservation issues. He has been accused of rubber-stamping oil and gas drilling on state lands, but he argues his record shows otherwise.<\/p>\n

\"Aubrey

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Aubrey Dunn<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cAs land commissioner, you have a constitutional duty to create income from lands and protect it for future generations \u2014 it\u2019s a dual purpose,\u201d says Dunn, who accessorizes his suit and tie with ostrich cowboy boots and lapel pins of the U.S. and \u201cdon\u2019t tread on me\u201d-emblazoned Gadsden flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s got to be a balance: conservation and oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points to a policy switch around\u00a0no longer allowing wells into the Ogallala Aquifer<\/a>\u00a0for oil and gas operations and his fight for Texas hornshell mussel habitat as examples. In the latter case, he\u2019d approved construction of a pipeline, then visited and found that after boring the pipeline, the company was driving over the top of it. He photographed a white truck wheel-deep in dust a quarter-mile upstream from habitat for the endangered mollusk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shut everything down. \u2026 I was pretty upset,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt like we kind of failed, because we didn\u2019t realize companies would treat the land this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The companies have since completed construction on erosion control landscaping to mitigate those impacts and hydroseeded the area.<\/p>\n

While the position may have significant latitude in some ways, in others, it\u2019s limited. Statute requires the commissioner to lease mineral rights on the third Tuesday of every month. Once leased, authority over those acres transfers to the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department\u2019s Oil Conservation Division.<\/p>\n