An
In-depth Review of Oil & Gas In New Mexico
Well
Site of the Week
Bureau
of Land Management's Vision of Environmentally Sound Oil &
Gas Development
Oil
and Gas 101
The Threat to Otero
Mesa: Oil & Gas Development
The oil company that
is planning to develop most of the Greater Otero Mesa Area is
Harvey E. Yates Company (HEYCO). The key player in this particular
fight is Vice-President Steve Yates of Roswell. Over the past
2 ½ years the Yates Oil Companies and family members have
contributed over $123,000 to the Republican Party and several
of its candidates. Political contributions to either party are
perfectly legal, however in light of the Cheney Energy Task force
and its obvious collaboration with industry in developing a national
energy policy, such political contributions directed at select
candidates and one party speak volumes.
These pictures are of development in the nearby
Permian Basin, and show what could happen to Otero Mesa. (Click
to enlarge.)
 Although
several wildcat wells have been drilled in the greater Otero Mesa
Area in the past 80 years, they have never amounted to any real
commercial find. However, in 1998, the Yates Company put a well
in near the base of Alamo Mountain and at a depth of 7100 feet
hit a commercially viable find of natural gas. This find combined
with last years skyrocketing prices for natural gas opened the
door for further exploration of this wild and remote landscape.
The Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) has been working for several years on an Environmental Impact
Statement for the Greater Otero Mesa Area. Three alternatives
were offered, but no drilling was not an option. In February of
2002, the BLM brought the oil industry and the conservation community
together to release its Final EIS. What the BLM did was to ignore
the three options that had been publicly commented on.
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