Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Santa Fe County Draft Oil & Gas Ordinance and General Plan -- Oil & Gas Element

Today, the draft oil & gas ordinance was approved by the Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) to be published. Dr. Freilich and Bruce Peshoff gave a presentation. The Power Point presentation link is in the top right panel of the Drilling Santa Fe blog, as well as on the Santa Fe County website under Oil and Natural Gas Drilling Ordinance and at Common Ground United, Calendar/Santa Fe Co. Gas & Oil Ordinance & Public Hearings. Also posted at all three sites are the Oil and Gas Plan, the Santa Fe County Ordinance (draft), and Next Steps.

Although we are off to a great start, please review these documents carefully. On October 16
th at the new Santa Fe Convention Center, the County Development Review Committee (CDRC) will have the first round of round of public hearings regarding the oil & gas ordinance. The CDRC will submit to the BCC recommendations about the ordinance. This is the time for public input! A second CDRC meeting will be held on November 13th (location & time to be announced).

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center
will review the documents and provide feedback to Drilling Santa Fe. However, a few things to note: Some have already pointed out issues of setbacks from homes as being inadequate. Also, there are areas around Cerrillos and County Road 42 that are not indicated as highly sensitive areas, which should be. There are likely other areas of the Galisteo Basin that should be considered highly sensitive areas that are not at this juncture. So please, review the Santa Fe County General Plan/Oil & Gas Element maps.

Also, read the very informative articles in the Santa Fe New Mexican by Staci Matlock, "
County unveils oil and gas ordinance," and in the Albuquerque Journal North by Raam Wong, "Oil and Gas Ordinance Unveiled."

For updates, check the Drilling Santa Fe blog (http://www.drillingsantafe.org) and Common Ground United (http://www.commongroundunited.org) website for updates about the process.

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