Mora and San Miguel Counties Developing Responses to Possible Drilling

Events continue to unfold in the drilling controversy brewing in Mora and San Miguel counties.

The Broadhead report
(http://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/openfile/details.cfml?Volume=510) shows oil and gas potential everywhere to the immediate east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, including in what is referred to in this report as the Las Vegas Oil and Gas Basin. But the report appears to suggest that the better potential is further north in the Raton Basin, which is Colfax County, and there has been recent exploration success in Quay County near Tucumcari, i.e. east of the Las Vegas Basin.

One wonders why the high level of interest, evidenced by the acquisition of oil and gas leases in Mora and San Miguel counties? Is there really a lot of interest in oil and gas in these two counties? Or do the oil companies just want to cover their bets and have the oil and gas leases just in case oil and gas is found there?

But exploring for and developing oil and gas may not be an easy proposition. There is resistance from some within both counties, but there are supporters of oil and gas drilling as well. San Miguel County recently passed a one-year moratorium on permits for oil and gas drilling while it develops an oil and gas ordinance. At basically the same time, the Mora County Commission adopted a revised version of its Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), but it is not clear the extent to which the CLUP facilitates or restricts oil and gas activity. The Commission did not follow the lead of San Miguel County and declare a similar moratorium. There seems to be a communication gap between the Mora County Commission and its residents.

There are technical obstacles to drilling in the Las Vegas Basin, but oil
and gas companies are rarely intimidated by technical difficulties. From the perspective of the Sierra Club, when pristine areas are considered for exploration, there is an obligation to do as much research as possible prior to drilling in order to minimize the impact on these areas. The Santa Fe County Oil and Gas Ordinance requires that such studies be done by independent experts and paid for by the oil and gas companies. It may be more satisfying to the oil and gas companies to drill and have core samples to examine, but drilling and not finding anything economic results in negative impacts to the area without any benefit either to the oil company, the State of New Mexico, or the world's oil and gas situation.

So let's hope that modern methods of exploration that do not involve drilling will be employed first and extensively so that proper decisions will be made with respect to drilling or looking elsewhere. If, after sufficient non-destructive analysis is conducted, drilling appears to be appropriate, this drilling should be permitted initially only for specific areas with high potential and after appropriate public hearings. And of course always, but especially in pristine areas, best practices must be employed, which include closed-loop drilling rather than the use of drilling mud pits, and there must be no use of toxic chemicals in any hydraulic fracturing that is used.

For more information, contact Sigmund Silber, Rio Grande Chapter Water Issues Chair (505/473-7006, ssilber1@juno.com). Additional information on oil and gas in New Mexico can be found on the Chapter's website. See http://nmsierraclub.org/taxonomy/term/12.