State halts Rio Arriba drilling plans

Wells near Tierra Amarilla ruled too close to wetlands, surface water sources

Phaedra Haywood | The New Mexican

7/18/2008 - 7/19/08

The state Oil Conservation Division on Friday canceled a permit it had approved for an oil and gas well in Rio Arriba County, saying the proposed location was too close to water sources. The OCD also suspended three other permits it had granted to Approach Operating LLC for wells in the Tierra Amarilla area.

The suspended permits and five others Approach had applied for will be reconsidered by the state Oil Conservation Commission, a three-member board that makes rules for OCD and decides on disputed permits.

Rio Arriba County and Tierra Amarilla-area landowners had challenged the permits on the ground the places Approach wanted to drill were ill-considered and too close to creeks, irrigation ditches and drainages.

According to a statement issued by OCD on Friday, the canceled permit was rescinded because the company had indicated the well would be more than 100 feet from groundwater and more than 1,000 feet from the nearest surface water, when the proposed location was "within a wetland and approximately 40 feet from surface water sources."

"The evidence that was given at the hearing about the Woolly well was pretty compelling," said OCD Director Mark Fesmire. "That is not where a well should be sited." Fesmire said he didn't think Approach had deliberately tried to deceive OCD but it may not have had a clear picture of the area's hydrology when it chose the well site. He said there seemed to be enough confusion and questions about the sensitivity of the other three sites for which Approach had been approved to re-examine those permits as well.

Approach Operating voluntarily pulled one of six other permit applications it had pending with OCD, according to the statement. The other five will be considered by the commission along with the three that were suspended Friday at a hearing that will include public comment. No date for the hearing has been set.

Unlike Santa Fe County, where recent proposals to drill for oil and gas caught residents by surprise, people who live in Rio Arriba are familiar with hydrocarbon extraction. About 11,000 wells are active in the county, although until recently, none had been situated in the water-rich mountains near Tierra Amarilla.

Rio Arriba County passed a four-month moratorium on oil and gas drilling at the end of April, hoping to buy time to rewrite its regulations to provide more environmental safeguards against contamination from drilling.

Approach has challenged that moratorium in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe on the grounds that OCD, not individual counties, has the right to regulate the oil and gas industry in New Mexico. Santa Fe County, which has its own yearlong moratorium, filed a brief in that case supporting Rio Arriba's right to restrict drilling to protect water and public health.

Rio Arriba Planning and Zoning Director Gabriel Boyle said he'd like to see the county afforded the same protection the Galisteo Basin in Santa Fe has: a moratorium ordered by Gov. Bill Richardson. "I think if you are going to do something for one county, you might want to afford it to the rest of the counties," Boyle said.

Richardson's office declined to comment on the point last week, referring questions to Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Joanna Prukop.

"We can't march across the state county-by-county issuing moratoriums," Prukop said Friday. "We are trying to be very prudent about the use of such a special tool, and we felt it didn't apply as much to the situation in Rio Arriba County. Rio Arriba County is not a wildcat area. It has a history of being drilled."

Richardson recently extended a six-month ban he had issued for Santa Fe County for an additional six months. He also directed OCD to create rules that would further protect the Galisteo Basin from drilling-related impacts. Prukop said her staff has suggested to Rio Arriba County officials that they can petition the Oil Conservation Commission for their own new rules as well.

Prukop said OCD has begun to strengthen rules that protect the environment across the state. "Industry, as you know, has fought us every step of the way," she said. OCD is fighting litigation by the oil industry over rule changes in First Judicial District Court and the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.