White Peak Safe for Now, but for How Long?

A fierce counter to New Mexico State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons’ White Peak “land swap” with local ranchers in Mora County took front page in New Mexico newspapers this past winter. Today, that deal lies in the hands of the New Mexico Supreme Court after the Attorney General intervened, but not without unprecedented efforts on the part of citizens who believe White Peak is land of the people, not a chosen few.

Some say in response to this citizen intervention, the rash of 78 state trust land parcels auctioned in June and July (26,461.17 acres) in Mora and 20 in Colfax County for oil and gas lease is ongoing retaliation. Nine of the original 29 parcels slated from Colfax County in June were withdrawn from auction due to their proximity to White Peak after citizens reported the conflict based upon a 2009 press release in which Lyons said “all land in the vicinity of White Peak would be protected from oil and gas drilling.”

Until September 2008, no state trust land had been leased in Mora County, and then 13,000 acres were auctioned to KHL Inc., Albuquerque, and Daniel Gonzales, Santa Fe. A number of these parcels are in Naranjos, just east of Ocate, and well within the White Peak area, which according to Lyon’s statement would preclude them from oil and gas development due to the sensitivity of the White Peak area for hunting and recreational activities. These leases have yet to be contested based upon this decree.

The June/July parcels fall just outside the Las Vegas Basin, north of Wagon Mound, east of 1-25. According to the Broadhead Report produced by industry and used by Lyons to promote the state land leasing, the Las Vegas Basin has less than 1% total organic carbons (T.O.C.) compared to the Raton Basin at more than 10% T.O.C., which is currently being drilled for coal bed methane “natural gas.” The Las Vegas Basin, according to geologist Andrew Feldman, would produce natural gas from shale bed formations. Both basins require hydraulic fracturing to release the trapped hydrocarbons from deep pockets beneath the earth’s surface.

According to Lyons, state trust land goes to auction at the request of individuals and corporations for the purpose of generating revenue, largely to pay for our children’s public school education. It is a curious contradiction of social action – lease state land for industrial development; contaminate water, air, and soil in order to support the education of our children. Surely another answer is within sight so that our children can have not only a well-funded public school education, but also a clean, natural wild environment in which to learn their connection to Nature without sharing it with generators and gas
pumps.

In October 2007, KHL Inc. began leasing private mineral rights in Mora and San Miguel Counties. The total recorded private land leases to date in Mora County, filed at the clerk’s office, tallies over 105,000 acres, but industry asserts not all leased land has been recorded. KHL Inc. has since sold their leases to Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary, SWEPI (Shell Western Exploration & Production), out of Denver, Colorado. And Oklahoma-based CEJA Inc. holds nearly a third of those acres on file.

New players entered the leasing game this June at the land office. The list of lessees has doubled since leasing began in Mora County: Yates Petroleum, Black Crown Energy Partner, Roy, G. Barton Jr., KHL Inc., and Cecilia Rath. This activity is expected and follows suit with all other counties where leases begin a corporation at a time, and can multiply into the hundreds.

Private and state trust land leases for exploration in and near the Las Vegas Basin, not including the pending “land swap,” put mineral leases in Mora County at a hefty 144,000 acres of land leased for drilling. It is clear that the plan to lease the Las Vegas Basin and region is firmly under way. At this time, however, permits by neither the state nor the county have been given for oil and gas development activity.

For more information, contact Kathleen Dudley, co-founder, Drilling Mora County(drillingmoracounty@gmail.com), or visit http://drillingmoracounty.org.