Albuquerque Journal North
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Journal Staff Writer
"Gov. Bill Richardson has once again moved to block a controversial proposal to drill for oil and gas southeast of Santa Fe, though he appears to have no inclination to step into a similar battle in Rio Arriba County.
On Monday, Richardson signed an executive order extending a state moratorium on drilling activities in Santa Fe County for another six months. Richardson first enacted the moratorium in January following a public outcry over Tecton Energy's plan to drill exploratory wells in the archaeologically rich, water-short Galisteo Basin.
The ban will run through Jan. 24, buying state agencies time to gather information and begin rule makings to protect water, archeological and cultural resources and wildlife on the basin, according to a news release Tuesday.
The governor's hands-on approach in Santa Fe has led to grumbling from some Rio Arriba County officials that he was ignoring a similar threat posed by a plan to drill in the Rio Chama watershed near Tierra Amarilla.
Rio Arriba County has asked the state Oil Conservation Division to revoke four of Approach Resources's current drilling permits and to deny six others that are pending. The county argues drilling could pollute a crucial source of the state's surface waters and scar the pristine landscape along a scenic byway. Richardson himself has not weighed in on the controversy.
Asked Tuesday if the governor would consider a drilling moratorium for Rio Arriba, Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia referred questions to OCD.
"Right now OCD is in the middle of the hearing process," Ray-Garcia said in an e-mail. "Therefore, at this time, it is more appropriate for OCD to answer questions regarding Rio Arriba."
OCD spokeswoman Jodi McGinnis-Porter said Tuesday: "I think there's a huge difference between Rio Arriba County and the Galisteo Basin."
Unlike the Galisteo Basin's limited history of energy exploration, Rio Arriba County has thousands of active wells, McGinnis-Porter said. Therefore, she said, a drilling moratorium was not warranted and would only negatively impact existing operators.
Rio Arriba officials have countered that while the western part of the county has approximately 11,500 wells on tribal and federal lands, energy exploration is virtually unheard of in the water-rich and scenic mountains in the eastern part of the county where Approach wants to drill.
Rio Arriba planning and zoning director Gabe Boyle said Tuesday it initially appeared that Richardson was unaware of the sensitivity of Approach's proposed drilling sites. But Boyle said the moratorium extension for Santa Fe was an indication that the governor understood that the state's oil and gas regulations were not all that they could be.
Johnny Micou, a leader in the anti-drilling effort in Santa Fe, said it was "very important that Governor Richardson extended the moratorium." The executive order, Micou noted, directs OCD to investigate rules for protecting the basin's fragile ecosystem with public input.
The executive order also directs the following actions:
The state Environment Department to more thoroughly investigate the adoption of air quality regulations to further protect ambient air quality impacts from gas and oil drilling activity.
The Office of the State Engineer to undertake a site-specific analysis of the freshwater supplies in the basin.
The Department of Cultural Affairs to develop a timeline for and begin to undertake the necessary surveys and studies to determine what cultural resources exist within the basin and to establish a resource-based planning process.
The Department of Cultural Affairs to work with the Governor's Office and New Mexico's congressional delegation to identify and secure financial resources to fully implement the 2004 Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act.
The Indian Affairs Department to continue to gather information from state Indian tribes. The executive order gives state agencies until Dec. 1 to submit their reports.
"I remain gravely concerned that oil and gas drilling activities could negatively affect those resources, so I have extended the temporary moratorium to allow further information-gathering and protections to be put in place," Richardson said in a statement.
Santa Fe County has its own drilling moratorium that expires in February. Earlier this year, Tecton responded to the county's and Richardson's moratoriums with a statement threatening to sue, saying the bans amounted to an illegal taking of private property. A spokeswoman for the company said Tuesday that "Tecton has no comment on the moratorium extension at this time."
Local government's ability to temporarily block drilling and regulate industry is already being tested in Rio Arriba County, where Approach has filed suit challenging the county's authority to enact a moratorium and regulate the industry. Santa Fe County and the New Mexico Association of Counties jointly filed a brief in the case, arguing for local government's right to regulate oil and gas activities."
On Monday, Richardson signed an executive order extending a state moratorium on drilling activities in Santa Fe County for another six months. Richardson first enacted the moratorium in January following a public outcry over Tecton Energy's plan to drill exploratory wells in the archaeologically rich, water-short Galisteo Basin.
The ban will run through Jan. 24, buying state agencies time to gather information and begin rule makings to protect water, archeological and cultural resources and wildlife on the basin, according to a news release Tuesday.
The governor's hands-on approach in Santa Fe has led to grumbling from some Rio Arriba County officials that he was ignoring a similar threat posed by a plan to drill in the Rio Chama watershed near Tierra Amarilla.
Rio Arriba County has asked the state Oil Conservation Division to revoke four of Approach Resources's current drilling permits and to deny six others that are pending. The county argues drilling could pollute a crucial source of the state's surface waters and scar the pristine landscape along a scenic byway. Richardson himself has not weighed in on the controversy.
Asked Tuesday if the governor would consider a drilling moratorium for Rio Arriba, Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia referred questions to OCD.
"Right now OCD is in the middle of the hearing process," Ray-Garcia said in an e-mail. "Therefore, at this time, it is more appropriate for OCD to answer questions regarding Rio Arriba."
OCD spokeswoman Jodi McGinnis-Porter said Tuesday: "I think there's a huge difference between Rio Arriba County and the Galisteo Basin."
Unlike the Galisteo Basin's limited history of energy exploration, Rio Arriba County has thousands of active wells, McGinnis-Porter said. Therefore, she said, a drilling moratorium was not warranted and would only negatively impact existing operators.
Rio Arriba officials have countered that while the western part of the county has approximately 11,500 wells on tribal and federal lands, energy exploration is virtually unheard of in the water-rich and scenic mountains in the eastern part of the county where Approach wants to drill.
Rio Arriba planning and zoning director Gabe Boyle said Tuesday it initially appeared that Richardson was unaware of the sensitivity of Approach's proposed drilling sites. But Boyle said the moratorium extension for Santa Fe was an indication that the governor understood that the state's oil and gas regulations were not all that they could be.
Johnny Micou, a leader in the anti-drilling effort in Santa Fe, said it was "very important that Governor Richardson extended the moratorium." The executive order, Micou noted, directs OCD to investigate rules for protecting the basin's fragile ecosystem with public input.
The executive order also directs the following actions:
The state Environment Department to more thoroughly investigate the adoption of air quality regulations to further protect ambient air quality impacts from gas and oil drilling activity.
The Office of the State Engineer to undertake a site-specific analysis of the freshwater supplies in the basin.
The Department of Cultural Affairs to develop a timeline for and begin to undertake the necessary surveys and studies to determine what cultural resources exist within the basin and to establish a resource-based planning process.
The Department of Cultural Affairs to work with the Governor's Office and New Mexico's congressional delegation to identify and secure financial resources to fully implement the 2004 Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act.
The Indian Affairs Department to continue to gather information from state Indian tribes. The executive order gives state agencies until Dec. 1 to submit their reports.
"I remain gravely concerned that oil and gas drilling activities could negatively affect those resources, so I have extended the temporary moratorium to allow further information-gathering and protections to be put in place," Richardson said in a statement.
Santa Fe County has its own drilling moratorium that expires in February. Earlier this year, Tecton responded to the county's and Richardson's moratoriums with a statement threatening to sue, saying the bans amounted to an illegal taking of private property. A spokeswoman for the company said Tuesday that "Tecton has no comment on the moratorium extension at this time."
Local government's ability to temporarily block drilling and regulate industry is already being tested in Rio Arriba County, where Approach has filed suit challenging the county's authority to enact a moratorium and regulate the industry. Santa Fe County and the New Mexico Association of Counties jointly filed a brief in the case, arguing for local government's right to regulate oil and gas activities."
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