Oil and Water Don’t Mix
Rio Arriba County is one of many New Mexico counties fallen victim to the relentless oil and gas industry. Four oil and gas drilling permits have been issued to drill in the historic Tierra Amarilla land grant area east of Chama, NM and another six permits are pending as part of an oil and gas development scheme of a Texas-based oil company, Approach Operating, LLC. Those ten permits are just the start of the development that encompasses over 90,000 acres of the pristine and sensitive Chama watershed. One of the four permits already issued is above 9,900' elevation, very near the absolute top of this beautiful, classic watershed and adjacent to the State designated Scenic Byway on highway 64 between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras. Sadly, Approach has already bulldozed out a drilling site in the mouth of a once beautiful box canyon without the permission of the landowners just five miles south of Tierra Amarilla.
In answer to an outcry from landowners, acequia associations, concerned citizens, and the Rio Arriba County Commission, the State will hold an adjudicatory hearing on all ten drilling permits, (the four issued and the six pending) on Friday, June 20, 2008 at the Oil Conservation Division offices, 1220 S. St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe at 9 am in Porter Hall on the first floor. The offices are in the Wendell Chino Building.
All the abundant natural resources of this remaining sub-alpine landscape are threatened by the massive and unavoidable impacts of oil and gas drilling. Environmental degradation begins with the dirty work of building a drilling site, and continue to mount with related road building and pipeline creation, and carry on for another 30 years, the estimated life of the wells, putting all the innerconnected resources at risk. Heavy traffic, frequent trips, day and night operation, water pollution, air pollution, engine and equipment noise all contribute to a continuing disruption of the natural wonderland that now exists in our special places. Oil and gas drilling immediately endangers the eagles and elk, the deer and bear, the Rio Grande Cutthroat trout, and countless other native New Mexican wildlife that reside in these high elevation habitats. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish assert that native cutthroat trout have disappeared in all but seven percent (7%) of the streams above 5,500'. Adding insult to injury, all the streams in the area that Approach intends to drill are above 5,500'.
It is for the land, water, wildlife, and way-of-life that we ask you to join your fellow community members and speak up in the face of special interests that threaten all that makes
Please Join us on Friday, June 20, 2008 at the Oil Conservation Division offices, 1220 S. St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe at 9:00 am and protect our future from the threats of oil and gas.
June 20, next Friday, 9:00 am 1st floor, Porter Hall,
Please attend the meeting to support Rio Arriba County and email your support of Rio Arriba County to emnrd.nmocd@state.nm.us.
For pdf version of the special hearing docket, click here.
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Action Alert From Common Ground United:
Déjà vu all over again!
On March 27th, Rio Arriba Board of County Commissioners enacted a 120 day moratorium on private lands within the County. Subsequently, Texas based Approach Resources, Inc. and Approach Resources, LLC filed suit claiming the companies’ civil rights were violated. Approach alleges it has leased over 90,000 acres of the historic Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, the vast majority of which lies in the Chama Watershed, and along the Scenic Byway of highway 64 between Tierra Amarilla and Tres Piedras.
Rio Arriba County also has filed an application with the Oil Conservation Division (OCD) to challenge the drilling permits of Approach. An OCD hearing in Santa Fe is scheduled for June 20th 9:00AM. Please attend the meeting to support Rio Arriba County and email your support of Rio Arriba County to emnrd.nmocd@state.nm.us.
The County enacted the moratorium out of environmental concerns raised by landowners to draft an oil and gas ordinance as part of the the existing County land use plan that designated the entire county as a Rural Agricultural Distict in 1996. Although Rio Arriba County has more than 11,000 wells in the western portion of the county in the San Juan Basin, Approach wants to drill into the Mancos Shale formation east of Tierra Amarilla.
As with Santa Fe County, Rio Arriba County needs local regulations based on local geological, environmental, and social conditions to prevent expanded oil and gas production from causing extreme threats to public health, safety, and welfare. Approach Resources, Inc. , according to their website, “We focus on natural gas reserves in tight gas sands and shale gas areas.” Tecton Energy, LLC , a company that specializes in unconventional tight gas basins (unconventional recovery “UCR”) has its sights set on the Galisteo Basin.
Unconventional operations can entail up to four times as many wells per section (one well per 10 acres, versus one per 40), as much as three times as much soil and vegetation removal for access and pads (29% of the total land surface versus 7%), and many more instances of fracing per well, with a resultant increase in heavy vehicle traffic to each site. Regulations that may have been acceptably effective for the conventional geology of the San Juan Basin are far more destructive when applied without modification to unconventional operations. Local regulation based on local conditions is essential.
For pdf version of the special hearing docket, click here.
Oil Conservation Division
1220 South St. Francis Drive
Santa Fe, NM 87505
P: (505) 476-3440
To donate to Common Ground United, click here
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