Drilling / Mining

The Albuquerque Journal reported on March 19 that Governor Bill Richardson stated that he would support an effort to consider National Monument status for Otero Mesa. The governor’s comments were in a letter sent on March 18 to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar.

Events continue to unfold in the drilling controversy brewing in Mora and San Miguel counties.

In 1998, Rio Grande Chapter excom member Margot Wilson who lives in Southern New Mexico heeded the call to attend a scoping meeting on drilling for natural gas on Otero Mesa. Heyco Energy group, an oil and gas drilling company owned by the Yates family of Southeastern New Mexico had flooded the BLM with applications to drill on the pristine grassland so the agency called for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

In a very strong show of opposition, over 200 citizens came to a Mining & Minerals Division (MMD) hearing on December 1, 2009, on a permit application to drill five bore-holes 1,000 feet deep in Monticello Box.

The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club is seeking permanent protection of Otero Mesa from oil and gas development, through BLM administrative options and through federal legislation.

June 16, 2009 - We can expect more mining and logging proposals on public lands in the Jemez, and whenever asked, the public should weigh in. The National Environmental Protection Act process, for example, involves public commentary. This is where a detrimental proposal can be exposed, and the experience of the Pajarito Group of the Sierra Club can be counted on to make a valuable contribution to public discussions.

June 5, 2009 - The Sierra Club and its tribal partners won a hard-fought victory when 541 square miles of New Mexico’s Mount Taylor, held sacred to many southwestern tribes, were listed on the state’s Register of Cultural Properties. The designation will trigger an automatic consultation with the tribes for any new development proposals in the area.

April 2009 - The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on litigation brought by the State of New Mexico, state agencies, and a number of conservation groups that stops oil and gas drilling on Otero Mesa.

For nearly two years now, a concerned-citizens group, Drilling Mora County (DMC), has been getting the word out through educational forums on the impact gas drilling will have in this agricultural county.

December 9, 2008 - the Santa Fe County Commission voted to adopt a new oil and gas ordinance. The ordinance was the culmination of a nearly two-year-long battle in which thousands of local residents rallied to protect the fragile Galisteo Basin from highly speculative hydrocarbon exploration.