Gas and Oil Producers Buy Mineral Rights in Santa Fe, New Mexico

In south Santa Fe County, a rural area where I live that has a growing residential population, gas and oil exploration and production companies, including one named Tecton, which operates out of Houston, have lately been buying leases to mineral rights on state and private land-60,000 acres worth-their first step in an attempt to uncover oil and natural gas resources. This activity was first discovered by two local residents, Johnny Micou and his wife, who noticed oil-drilling trucks in their neighborhood and made inquiries. They found out that Tecton has already begun exploratory work by fracturing the underground rock of an old well left over from failed oil exploration in the 80s in the town of Cerrillos. According to an official of the company Micou communicated with, Tecton hopes to extract from our county the kind of "sweet" crude that requires little processing.

Few landowners in the West own their mineral rights, only their surface rights, in what's termed a "split estate". The mineral rights below ground belong to someone else-it could be the federal or state government, a company, or private citizens. My husband and I don't know who owns the mineral rights to our land, or if they're included in that 60,000 acres. It's difficult to figure out exactly who owns mineral rights without patient research and sometimes legal help. The situation is complicated because of the existence of colonial era Spanish land grants in northern New Mexico, which makes it even harder to figure out who owns what. But most of the time, mineral rights are not an issue, because they are so rarely exploited by outside parties. But in the current climate of sky-high gas and oil prices, everyone from wildcatters to huge corporations such as Exxon and Chevron are looking for gas and oil wherever they can find it. Lately that includes the modest acreage of private citizens as well as large-scale ranchers and farmers. In states like Texas, Colorado and New Mexico, gas and oil producers are busy setting up shop on private property as well as state and federal land, and outraged local residents are coming together to try to make sure that if they can't stop them, then at least they can require them to follow stringent environmental rules.

New Mexico has always been rich in oil and natural gas, which are produced in the southeast and northwest of the state. In the southeast they come from the Permian Basin, and in the northwest from the San Juan Basin. The oil-rich Valle Vidal wilderness area of Carson National Forest in Taos and Colfax counties is now federally protected from gas and oil exploration, but Otero Mesa in south central New Mexico is currently being drilled, despite vehement protests from local residents who want to protect that wilderness area.

A meeting in Santa Fe on July 17th to discuss the oil production plans was chaired by my husband Bill, a local historian and open space activist, and attended by an eclectic group of about 100 concerned ranchers, environmentalists, and small landowners. Guest speaker and self-described welfare rancher Tweeti Blancett of San Juan County in northwest New Mexico talked about how her ancestral cattle ranch-32,000 acres, most of it federal land, on which her family has an exclusive grazing permit-has been ruined by rampant gas and oil production. A staunch Republican turned anti-Bush environmentalist, Blancett said her family was forced to sell off their cattle two years ago because they were aborting or dying, a direct result of environmentally irresponsible drilling activities. Her slide show illustrated the extent of degradation of the land, which is particularly rich in coalbed methane gas and has hundreds of wells. It should be noted that although Blancett has become prominent in the movement to keep gas and oil producers from destroying private land, she herself gets royalties from them through mineral rights she owns on land near her former ranch. She uses that money to tour the country giving talks about the damage that petroleum production can cause.

Meeting participants talked about why it would not be advantageous to produce gas and oil in Santa Fe County. This area already has limited water resources available to its residents, and drilling requires a lot of water. A few years ago, south Santa Fe County residents successfully stopped a gravel company from continuing its operations in Cerrillos because of the amount of water it required. Drilling activities can also pollute the aquifer and local wells. There are many fragile archaeological sites that might be destroyed. Other environmental problems were discussed, including damage from the salt and pollutants in the water used in the extraction process. There's also the issue of forage being destroyed and noxious weeds springing up in their place. There's the ongoing threat of toxic leaks and spills poisoning pets, livestock and wildlife. Dirt roads, pipelines and drilling pads can destroy sensitive high desert ecology. Pollution levels will rise because of the presence of wells, rigs and trucks. Add to that the constant noise from the drilling and the smells from the extracted gas, as well as the increased risk of fires. And property values will inevitably go down. A petition was circulated by a new nonprofit group created by Johnny Micou, Drilling Santa Fe, requesting that the county delay any drilling until citizens can talk about it, and listing some regulations that should be included to protect the environment.

Because of locals banding together to force gas and oil producers like Tecton to be more responsible, the good news is that they have become more environmentally aware than they were in the past. State and county governments, prodded by citizens, have pressured them into it. The producers recognize going in that they will need to prove they can dispose of wastewater properly as well as clean up drilling sites after they leave. Some companies are also willing to work with residents and environmental groups to utilize so-called lower-impact techniques. These include emissions-control and noise-reduction equipment, making well pads smaller, drilling multiple wells from a single well pad, and other technological compromises. For what it's worth, the Tecton website includes a promise to the public that it will be environmentally responsible.

A retired oil company engineer from Alaska attended the Santa Fe meeting, introducing himself as having once been "one of the bad guys". He offered his technical expertise to those of us unfamiliar with gas and oil production. There was talk about which environmental organizations could lend their hand, as well as a discussion of the complicated legalities involved when an oil producer attempts to move into a new area and set up shop.

Also in the audience were the caretakers of fashion designer Tom Ford's ranch near Galisteo, who did not contribute to the discussion. Tom Ford, depending on whom you talk to, may or may not be leasing to Tecton the mineral rights that he's in the process of purchasing. His attorney claims that he's doing it to prevent Tecton from drilling on his land, but according to the local grapevine, his plans are to lease them to Tecton in hopes of making a killing in royalties.

The reality is that it's hard to resist the siren song of monthly royalty payments if you happen to have mineral rights, and everyone has her price. Even the beleaguered Tweeti Blancett. A rancher at the meeting who lives near Blancett boasted that he was able to afford school because of the gas royalties he received, and he was happy about that. Also, there's no question that Americans use a lot of energy, and that presently we can't survive without natural gas and oil, in the absence of sufficient "green" energy to meet all our needs. The advantage of natural gas is that for all its extraction problems, it's still cleaner than coal and not as controversial as nuclear power. Our gas and oil have to come from somewhere. It may not always be politically or economically feasible to get them from powder kegs like the Middle East. But must they come from a place as environmentally fragile and archaeologically rich as Santa Fe County? And how will the presence of oil rigs and the accompanying air and noise pollution affect tourism, a very profitable industry in Santa Fe?

Despite the differing political positions of attendees and the threat to the county's quality of life presented by Tecton, the Santa Fe meeting was remarkably peaceful. It was adjourned with promises of more to be scheduled as additional information is gathered, and with a request that everyone advise their county commissioners about their concerns. Perhaps in anticipation of what's happening in Santa Fe County, a new law passed in the 2007 New Mexico legislative session requires gas and oil producers to give landowners a 30-day notice before they start drilling. That's better than nothing. Before the law was passed, companies with mineral rights had the legal right to move in and install oil wells with no warning.

On July 23rd, six days after the meeting, Santa Fe County government spokesperson Stephen Ulibarri issued a press release entitled "County Skeptical of Viable Petroleum Operation: Public Input Required" in response to e-mails he had been getting from concerned citizens. He reassured the public that they had a chance to provide input before any drilling was considered. He reported that county officials were researching ordinances regulating drilling, adding that they didn't believe there was a substantial supply of gas and oil in Santa Fe. Ulibarri noted that if they were wrong, the county needed to consider the increased tax revenues from gas and oil drilling. He commented that there would have to be a rewriting of the codes to deal specifically with drilling issues, and at least two public meetings to discuss them. He also acknowledged the difficulty of gas and oil companies moving to the area because of the well-organized environmental activism in the county. In the meantime, Tecton has announced it will present a land impact study to the Santa Fe County commissioners in the fall. Residents are gearing up for a tough battle ahead. This story is far from over.