Free Republic

Gov. Bill Richardson's administration is recommending that the federal government prohibit or sharply restrict oil and gas drilling on more than 600,000 acres in southern New Mexico, including desert grasslands of Otero Mesa. The state submitted a proposal on Monday to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management as an alternative to a draft federal plan to guide oil and gas exploration and development on more than 2 million acres in Sierra and Otero counties. Richardson has proposed that Congress establish a National Conservation Area on about 640,000 acres, which would include Chihuahuan Desert grasslands. Of that, 310,000 acres would be...

Since El Paso Corp. said last month it was reducing its estimated proven natural gas and oil reserve base by 41 percent, it has received questions on the matter from federal securities regulators, an El Paso spokesman said Friday. Company officials and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been talking on and off since the announcement, El Paso spokesman Bruce Connery said. He added that El Paso has responded to the questions. Houston-based El Paso initially notified the SEC of the reserve reduction. He declined to give details on the discussions. An SEC spokesman declined to comment. If the SEC...

Monday, March 8, 2004Otero Plan on Way to BLM By Tania SoussanCopyright © 2004 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer     The federal government's plan to guide future oil and gas development on Otero Mesa violates several state policies and should be dramatically more restrictive, according to Gov. Bill Richardson.     The governor's consistency review, which includes an alternative plan to manage the area in southwestern New Mexico, will be delivered to the Bureau of Land Management today.     Richardson, environmentalists, ranchers and hunters have criticized the BLM plan, saying it falls far short of what is needed to protect fragile...

Sunday, February 1, 2004 Richardson To Protect Otero Mesa Gov. Bill Richardson pledged Saturday that the state will do all it can to protect Otero Mesa from oil and gas development, including protesting a federal plan for the area and making life tougher for drillers.     "The federal government just got a notice that if they want to drill in Otero Mesa, this governor and this state are going to fight them," Richardson told a cheering crowd of more than 600 people at the KiMo Theatre in Downtown Albuquerque.     The U.S. Bureau of Land Management earlier this month released...

Oil and Gas: Terror's Next Target? Concerns over Security of Energy Infrastructure Explored in Latest Journal of Intl Security Affairs 1/8/04 11:22:00 AM To: National Desk Contact: Jim Colbert of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, 202-667-3900 WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Attacks on the West's oil and gas infrastructure -- from production facilities to pipelines and tankers -- are likely to be the next "mega" target of terrorists, and could wreak havoc with the world's economy, according to an in-depth analysis of the susceptibility of the energy industry featured in the latest Journal of International Security Affairs...

Sunday, January 11, 2004 Oil Drillers Fight To Tap Otero Mesa By Tania SoussanJournal Staff Writer    Otero Mesa at first glance is a dusty and desolate chunk of land just this side of the Texas border.     But it has inspired a broad coalition of conservationists and others to rally for its protection while oil and gas drillers fight tenaciously— with powerful political clout on their side— for the right to sink wells into what might be a lucrative new natural gas field.     Why all the fuss?     National and New Mexico environmental groups argue Otero Mesa is a...

Saturday, November 29, 2003 Energy Measure Tested Domenici By Michael ColemanJournal Washington Bureau    WASHINGTON— A few hours after Sen. Pete Domenici watched his energy bill crash and burn on the Senate floor last week, he slipped out of the Capitol and took his wife, Nancy, to dinner.     They went to a quiet restaurant near their Capitol Hill home and discussed what had gone wrong.     They had a lot to talk about.     Just four days earlier, on Nov. 18, the House had passed the national energy policy legislation overwhelmingly and sent it over to the Senate. It appeared...

<p>An unlikely alliance of ranchers, environmentalists and a private property rights advocacy group has formed to protect what might be the largest pristine stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert.</p> <p>READY TO STAND HER UP – Threshold Development Corporation, out of Fort Worth, Texas, is getting ready to drill an exploratory well for oil and gas in Crow Flats.</p>

Friday, August 1, 2003 Domenici Energy Reforms Shelved; Senate OKs Bingaman Bill By Michael Coleman Journal Washington Bureau     WASHINGTON— The Senate on Thursday abruptly shelved a major energy policy reform bill drafted by Sen. Pete Domenici, then resurrected and passed an older energy bill written by New Mexico's other senator, Democrat Jeff Bingaman.     The highly unusual maneuver— suggested by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle during a morning floor debate— was viewed as the only way the Senate could approve an energy bill before the monthlong congressional recess, which begins next week.     Domenici, chairman of the Senate Energy...

Thursday, July 31, 2003 Ranchers Join Fight To Limit Drilling at Otero Mesa By Tania Soussan Journal Staff Writer     Otero Mesa ranchers and a group that campaigns to protect private property rights are joining environmentalists in a fight to limit new oil and gas drilling in a remote but highly valued expanse of southern New Mexico.     "What's right is right," said G.B. Oliver III, executive vice president of the Paragon Foundation and president of Western Bank in Alamogordo. "Our goal is the same."     The biologically rich grassland, which could hold significant natural gas reserves, has attracted national...