Lawmakers favor Otero Mesa drilling - February 15, 2004

Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industryFebruary 2004

Vol. 9, No. 7

Week of February 15, 2004

Lawmakers favor Otero Mesa drilling

Some lawmakers and an industry group have criticized New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s opposition to a Bureau of Land Management oil and gas drilling plan for some 100,000 acres on Otero Mesa. “We haven’t produced oil and gas in New Mexico for 80 years by contaminating the water supply, by raping and pillaging the land,” said Bob Gallagher, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. “We’ve done it by being good stewards of public land.”

Gallagher, lawmakers from oil-and-gas areas, and Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons said New Mexico’s economic health is due in large part to its oil and gas production. Last month Richardson signed an order calling for “the utmost protection” of the Otero Mesa grasslands, ordering close scrutiny of the potential impact of drilling. State agencies planned to file a formal protest with BLM.

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