In addition to being a part of our heritage, one of the things that excites me about science and archaeology is the potential for future discoveries.

Our state Historic Preservation Officer, Katherine Slick, notes that "preservation happens locally," so if we who understand and appreciate the importance of our local sites do not ensure that they are protected, how can we expect outsiders to show the same appreciation and respect.

This was on my mind when attending the public meeting on oil explorations being proposed for the Galisteo Basin.

I'm not anti-oil and gas, nor am I anti-business; in fact, I'm a Republican and want to see good sustainable businesses thrive and grow (like heritage and eco-tourism). There needs to be planning and balance in development activities to protect the wealth of potential archaeological resources we have in the Galisteo Basin. For this reason, the U.S. Congress finally passed the Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act a few years ago.

Unfortunately, some of the large sites named in this act, including one owned and managed by Santa Fe County, have had recent unauthorized excavations, disturbing the informational context and future scientific potential.

Seven years ago, I retired as a federal special agent who had worked with interagency investigations of environmental crimes against the Clean Water Act, Resources Conservation and Recovery Act and violations of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Like all businesses, oil and gas has some great employees and people who care, and those who will do just about anything (cut any corner) to make a buck.

During my career I was responsible for helping to convict violators of our environmental and heritage resource laws. Some went to prison and, yes, one of New Mexico's most infamous looters was an employee of the oil and gas services industry who had inappropriately used his access and knowledge to steal artifacts from public lands.

As an indirect effect of access to and knowledge of their locations, cultural resources suffer from looting. We need to be prepared to address that fact if oil and gas development begins in the Galisteo Basin. Investigations in parts of New Mexico have shown that miscreants have often used oil and gas information and access to get to the sites they have then plundered.

Unfortunately, several investigations here have also showed a nexus between methamphetamine use and looting.

Experiences tell me that with the proposed development will come increased pressure on our heritage resources in the form of looting, theft, unauthorized excavations and vandalism. Santa Fe County needs to be prepared to meet its responsibility for the protection of cultural properties under its stewardship, and to respond to violations of property laws on private lands by adding stronger protections for cultural resources to the proposed oil and gas ordinance.

The New Mexico State Police would be wise to also be prepared to respond to additional violations of the Cultural Properties Act on state lands in the area, and the federal rangers and agents should ramp-up for more "assaults-on-time" by looters. These extra protection costs will become necessary.

Members of the FBI Art Theft Crime Team recently trained in "Fanta Se." They were shown a "new hole" at a site on Santa Fe County land; after all, while here I figured they might as well see a potential source area for some of their future ARPA and Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property cases.

Phillip A. Young is a retired special agent who currently works as an archaeologist for the state of New Mexico. He lives in Santa Fe.