Richardson extends ban on oil, gas drilling

Moratorium on extraction in Galisteo Basin through January

Phaedra Haywood | The New Mexican

7/15/2008 - 7/16/08

Gov. Bill Richardson has extended a state moratorium on new oil and gas drilling in the Galisteo Basin and Santa Fe County for another six months.

Richardson's order bans new hydrocarbon extraction in the basin through January. It also directs state agencies to develop baseline air and water quality data for the "fragile and ecologically sensitive" basin and write new rules specifically tailored to protecting the area.

"I am committed to protecting ground water, archeological, cultural and wildlife areas in the Galisteo Basin," Richardson said in a news release Tuesday. "I remain gravely concerned that oil and gas drilling activities could negatively affect those resources, so I have extended the temporary moratorium to allow further information gathering and protection to be put in place."

Energy Mineral and Natural Resources Department Secretary Joanna Prukop said her staff will prepare rules specific to the Galisteo Basin area, as has been done in the past for Otero Mesa.

Prukop said she feels regulations already in place for the rest of the state are "very sound for the most part," but the Galisteo Basin area is unique in the sense it is a "wildcat" area where there has been little prior oil and gas exploration.

New Mexico Oil and Gas Association president Bob Gallagher said the moratorium and additional rule-making will increase fuel costs for consumers.

Gallagher said his organization had already begun mounting a legal challenge to the governor's existing six-month moratorium, which was set to end this month, and a yearlong moratorium issued by Santa Fe County in February.

The state and county moratoriums were issued after Tecton Energy applied for permits to drill for oil in the Galisteo Basin last winter.

Gallagher said Tecton Energy had initially agreed to partner with NMOGA in challenging the moratoriums, but dropped out last week. Gallagher said his organization has found a new partner, this time a mineral-rights owner, to participate in the lawsuit, which he expects will be filed in the next several weeks.

Tecton Energy president Bill Dirks declined to comment, and Gallagher would not say which mineral-rights owner will join the lawsuit. Anne Potter-Russ, whose family owns the majority of the mineral rights Tecton Energy leased in the basin, said it is not her.

Potter-Russ said she was not surprised by the extension of the moratorium. "I was getting the sensation at both the state and county level that they felt they didn't have enough information yet," she said. "I hope what this accomplishes is that all the agencies continue to be methodical in their research and appraisals of the situation and come up with the best plan for issuing mining permits in the long run."

Eric Jantz, an attorney for the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, said Richardson's decision represents a positive shift in the thinking about energy development. "The governor is a pretty politically astute guy," Jantz said. "I think he understand what the oil and gas industry and many politicians in the West aren't really understanding yet, which is that the West is changing. The demographics are changing. Society is changing. People are able to get information about projects in their areas quickly, and it's making for a fundamental change in the political landscape in New Mexico and the West.

"I think the days of breakneck mineral exploitation are gone. People are beginning to realize that the landscape and communities are the economic drivers now, and when they are damaged, an economic foundation is gone."

Jantz said he's happy a special exception is being made for the Galisteo Basin but wishes the rest of the state would be given equal protection. "I'd like to see it done in other areas as well, such as Rio Arriba and Mora (counties)," Jantz said, "all the areas where there is a rush to get in and get out the energy minerals."

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


Gov. Bill Richardson's order extending an existing ban on oil and gas activity in the Galisteo Basin for another six months also requires state agencies to take the following actions:

• The Oil Conservation Division is directed to prepare new rules to protect the Galisteo Basin and to solicit public input on all applications for permits to drill.

• The Environment Department is directed to begin creating regulations to govern oil- and gas-related air quality impacts in the basin and to exercise its authority to protect water sources in the area.

• The Office of the State Engineer is directed to analyze the water sources in the basin.

• The Department of Cultural Affairs is directed to develop a timeline for determining the existing cultural resources in the basin and to find funding to fully implement the Galisteo Basin Archaeological Sites Protection Act of 2004.

• The Indian Affairs Department is directed to continue to gather input from tribes, nations and pueblos, and help develop a policy on the protection of sacred places and repatriation.

• The Department of Transportation is directed to assess existing laws and ensure it has exercised its power to ensure no oil and gas drilling activity occurs in Santa Fe County or the Galisteo Basin that would be contrary to the interests of the state or its citizens.

• The New Mexico Department of Health is directed to examine the feasibility of requiring oil and gas producers to disclose the additives and chemicals used in the drilling process and to study emerging polices nationwide regarding oil and gas impacts on human health.