Santa Fe New Mexican

February 1, 2004

Richardson Orders Protection of Otero Mesa

By PATRICIA L. GARCIA | Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE - Gov. Bill Richardson signed an executive order Saturday throwing the weight of state government against a federal oil and gas drilling plan for environmentally sensitive Otero Mesa.

"Today I am taking significant action to protect Otero Mesa in language that the Department of the Interior and the Bush administration cannot confuse or misunderstand," Richardson said at an Otero Mesa Forum in a downtown theater.

His executive order makes it state policy to protect and preserve the resources on Otero Mesa, an area of BLM land south of Alamogordo, where Chihuahuan Desert grasslands sit atop potentially huge natural gas reserves.

"What I'm about to sign _ this is what it means: We must protect the ground water on Otero Mesa, right?" he asked the crowd, estimated by organizers at about 650.

The audience yelled back: "Right!"

The protesters stood and cheered as Richardson signed the executive order and then held it up for them to see.

Joanna Prukop , head of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, said her agency, the Environment Department and the Game and Fish Department plan to file a formal protest by Feb. 9 against BLM plans to open some 100,000 acres to oil and gas development.

BLM officials have defended the proposal as a balanced plan that allows oil and gas exploration while preserving natural resources.

An alliance of environmentalists, ranchers and hunters contend, however, that the BLM plan could destroy one of the state's last remaining examples of a healthy Chihuahuan Desert grassland and reduce wildlife habitat. Oil and gas drillers have said the BLM restrictions would pose an economic hardship.

On Saturday, again, ranchers, environmentalists and others spoke against the BLM plan, and nobody spoke for it.

Event organizers said they planned to present the feedback from the protest forum to the BLM to show there remains strong opposition to it.

Hundreds of protesters at the event also signed a petition Saturday opposing drilling.

Richardson and Prukop were joined onstage by Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero, former Republican Gov. David Cargo and state engineer John D'Antonio .

Richardson emphasized that his order was not intended as a statement against the oil and gas industry.

"We are an oil and gas state, but we're also a state that wants to diversify our energy resources," he said.