Posted on 08/09/2002 12:00:34 PM PDT by CedarDave
Friday, August 9, 2002
Groups Protest N.M. Drilling
By Tania Soussan Journal Staff Writer
Provisions of a House energy bill now before congressional negotiators would allow unprecedented oil and gas drilling in sensitive areas of New Mexico, conservationists said this week.
A coalition of 17 groups — including the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the San Juan Citizen's Alliance and Forest Guardians — released a report detailing the potential impacts of the bill.
They called on Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and others to kill several provisions in the energy bill passed by the House late last year. The Senate passed its bill in April. Now, a conference committee is working to hammer out the differences.
As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Bingaman plays a key role on the conference committee. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., also is a member.
Bingaman has said a bill that allows oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as the House version does, will not make it out of conference.
But conservationists are worried about other measures in the House bill.
"Since they're not going to get the Arctic, they want the Rocky Mountain West," New Mexico conservation activist Edward Sullivan said of the House members.
The report says the House bill would take decision-making power away from local public-lands managers and put it in the hands of political appointees in Washington, D.C.
The bill also would create new bureaucratic barriers to wilderness and wildlife preservation, allow unrestricted exploration in areas without roads and remove existing protections from lands that already have been leased, according to the report.
"I'm in agreement that these provisions these folks are concerned about in the House bill are problems," Bingaman said. "The Senate has taken a better position."
The Senate bill nearly triples funding for employees to process new permits and conduct environmental inspections, he said.
But with dozens of members on the conference committee and hundreds of pages of legislation to deal with, compromise is a must.
"I can't guarantee what can be done," Bingaman said. "... There will be a lot of negotiating back and forth with the House to see what they insist upon and what we insist upon."
A Domenici spokesman said staff members working on the energy bill were on vacation this week and could not comment.
In New Mexico, the House bill could clear the way for oil and gas drilling in sensitive river corridors, the Otero Mesa grasslands south of Alamogordo and the Alkali Lakes area of the Chihuahuan desert in the southern part of the state, according to the report.
"There's been a lot of talk in Congress about making sure the fox isn't guarding the hen house when it comes to the accounting industry," said Jennifer de Garmo of the Sierra Club in New Mexico. "But when big energy firms ask for control of our public lands, the House seems more than willing to oblige them."Copyright 2002 Albuquerque Journal
I've said it more than once on this forum. They will fight tooth and toenail to stop drilling, no matter where it is. Anyone who watched the senate RAT hypocrites during the Energy Bill debate will well remember the "quote du jour", "We're not against drilling, we just don't want to see it in this pristine wilderness area (ANWR)".
Yeah right. They are doing it in the Powder River Basin, they are trying to do it in New Mexico and they'll do it wherever drilling occurs.
Anyone ever seen the Otero Mesa Grasslands? Godforsaken area if I've ever seen one. Yates Petroleum recently completed two high volume gas wells in this previously unproductive area. They have been prevented from bringing the gas to market by, what else, enviro-lawsuits.
Just another missle attack from our homegrown al Qaeda (Sierra Club, et al).
After Clowtoon....50% dependant.
Slick-willie just shoved the oil problem further out into the future and kept the wacko's happy by buying into the OPEC crutch.
EBUCK
Tried to get in to several articles and couldn't. They wanted my money.
I've got a oil&gas buddy here in CO.
She's my wife.
FMCDH
Amazing, isn't it.
But the desolation is part of the problem for the wackos. Because it is an area so deficient in rainfall, scars on the countryside last for years. Which again they protest against. Wooded areas with birds and bunnies? Can't have O&G drilling and production here -- might disturb the wildlife. "National sacrifice areas" like Otereo Mesa? Can't have drilling and production here -- would leave scars on the landscape. Lose-lose situation except for the envirowackos.
Good question, I give all my NM pals grief over that continuosly and they tell me they are trying to unseat him.
I haven't tangeled with these groups in anything I'm doing yet, but, I am paying more to drill because of their prior efforts.
cool
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