All sides in the debate over oil and gas drilling on Otero Mesa should sit down together to thrash out a solution, a U.S. BLM advisory group decided Friday. The BLMs proposal has both the industry and the environmental community cry foul.
"The long and short of it is it wont work," said Steve Yates, vice president of HEYCO.
This is a serious threat to the integrity of the landscape, Capra said. Were getting ready to put a vast industrial complex in a wild spot.
Yates and Capra did agree on two things: If development does go forward, Otero Mesa could end up looking like the Permian Basin in southeastern New Mexico, where oil wells, power lines and storage tanks are common sight. And there is not enough science to determine how drilling will affect the land and the many species that live there.
Livestock grazing permit tees said they are most concerned about drilling polluting the areas scarce water resources and about the potential impacts of new roads.
The advisory council members said a small group of people should be charged with coming up with a new proposal. A mediator would guide the debate, and the team would include representatives of the oil& gas industry, the grazing permit tees, environmentalists, Otero County the BLM and the council.
Were looking for stepping outside a traditional approach to things, added state director Michelle Chavez. Were looking for a more creative, and perhaps more caring approac
Adapted from an
article printed in the Albuquerque Journal 3-02-2002.