WildEarth Guardians

Friday, April 20, 2007
Forum comes out against drilling at Otero Mesa

Ranchers, scientists and outdoorsmen are uniting to oppose oil and gas drilling on southern New Mexico's Otero Mesa
Contact: The New Mexican

Alamogordo, NM (AP) - Ranchers, scientists and outdoorsmen are uniting to oppose oil and gas drilling on southern New Mexico's Otero Mesa, complaining about contamination and damage to the environment.

They also say the mesa, in Sierra and Otero counties, has reserves of water that will become increasingly important in the future.

Interstate Stream Commission hydrologist Craig Roepke said at a Thursday night public forum that there may be as much as 200,000 acre-feet of water beneath Otero Mesa and that an ongoing study will give a more accurate idea of the water's quantity and quality.

Otero Mesa is one of the last undisturbed areas of Chihuahuan desert. It has the nation's largest contiguous patch of black gramma grass, which takes decades to re-establish and is not available as commercial seed. The mesa also is home to hundreds of species of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds and insects.

The Bureau of Land Management has proposed opening parts of the 2 million-acre mesa to oil and gas drilling.

San Juan County rancher Tweeti Blancett said such drilling has damaged her northwestern New Mexico ranch. Some 600 wells and more than 1,000 miles of roads traverse her family's property, and heavy metals and other toxins have poisoned the land to the extent she can no longer keep livestock there, she said.

Oil and gas are necessary in America, "but at what price?" she asked.

Bill Brown, a retired U.S. Geological Survey geologist, said the amount of natural gas beneath Otero Mesa is trivial. The value of the water under the mesa far exceeds it.

The United States uses about a quarter of the world's natural gas, although North America only has about 4 percent of the world's proven reserves, he said.

The United States "is in no position now or ever to drill its way to energy independence," he said.

Copyright 2007 The New Mexican - Reprinted with permission