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Commission adopts new drilling rules
The Associated Press
The New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission has adopted new rules that will make it tougher to drill for oil and natural gas on Otero Mesa and other Chihuahua Desert areas in New Mexico.
The rules, approved July 15, are designed to protect ecologically important areas in southern New Mexico’s Otero and Sierra counties.
The rules ban the use of pits for storing drilling fluids and water produced in the drilling process as well as set stricter requirements for injection wells used to put brackish water back underground.
“The governor has determined this is a very important area that needs protection,” said Mark Fesmire, commission chairman and director of the state Oil Conservation Division.
The three-member commission unanimously approved the rules July 15 after considering testimony from a public hearing in June. Means less tax revenue for poor part of state Commissioner Jami Bailey of the state Land Office said the new rules will mean less tax revenue for the state.
“I believe it’s a shame the schoolchildren of New Mexico will be denied about $40 million and the economic development of a poor part of the state will not occur,” she said.
Environmentalists applauded the decision while industry representatives said it will not better protect the environment.
“There’s very little scientific data that demonstrates that these extreme precautions are necessary,” said Mark Mathis, spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico. “They’re going to discourage exploration and development of oil and natural gas on Otero Mesa.”
The Bureau of Land Management announced in May that it proposes placing only 35,000 acres of the 2 million-acre mesa off-limits to oil and gas development.
Gov. Bill Richardson has appealed the BLM plan, saying it fails to consider the impacts on groundwater and grassland. He has said the state will consider legal action against the federal government if necessary.
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