A unique region gets special treatment
"GALISTEO BASIN, NM — The Galisteo Basin has some things in common with the Upper Delaware Valley. It is a pristine area that attracts a lot of tourists. Being home to the Pueblo Indians, it has abundant historical significance. It has spectacular mountain views. As a sub-basin of the Rio Grande River, it is an important source of water for just about all of the 160,000 people living in Santa Fe County, the home of the state capital.
When a company called Tecton Energy purchased mineral rights of 65,000 acres in the basin last year and applied for gas drilling permits, the community took steps to protect their community.
An organization, called Drilling Santa Fe , was formed in June 2007 with the purpose of slowing or halting the drilling. One of the people who founded Drilling Santa Fe is Johnny Micou. He wrote in an email, “A critical factor that we, first, got the county commission and, then, the governor to recognize, is the need for comprehensive baseline studies of hydrology/hydrogeology, archaeology, air, etc. The reasons for the studies are generally two fold. Firstly, if drilling were to occur, then there would be baselines to demonstrate degradation and subsequent accountability. Secondly, the studies may reflect that any degradation would be too damaging, thus there would be red line areas (such as critical management areas) to not permit drilling.”
Through letter writing campaigns and petitions, the group persuaded county leaders and, eventually, the governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, to impose moratoriums on drilling in the basin.
On July 15, Richardson extended the six-month moratorium by another six months, and ordered many departments of the government to do studies to determine the impact of drilling and fracking on the area.
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