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Thursday, December 27, 2007

Residents for Drilling a Rare Find

By Dan Boyd
Journal Staff Writer
    Marianne Sacknoff first saw the men with surveying equipment crossing onto her Galisteo Basin property about 1 1/2 years ago.
    "Some people just showed up on my land and I said, 'What are you doing here? Get off my land,' '' Sacknoff recalled during a Dec. 18 interview.
    But the men explained they had a right to be on Sacknoff's property because the company they worked for owned the mineral rights she'd declined when buying the land in 1995.
    The possibility of oil and gas drilling on her land had never crossed Sacknoff's mind. Now, however, she's one of hundreds of Galisteo Basin residents who feel they're wearing a bull's-eye on their backs.
    Tecton Energy, a Houston-based company, filed three applications for drill permits with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division this month. The company expects to apply for five other sites, though officials said last week the timing of such action remains uncertain.
    "Tecton decided it would be in everyone's best interest to make the initial application smaller and easier to manage," Tecton CEO Bill Dirks wrote in response to an Albuquerque Journal inquiry.
    Though Tecton's interest in the Galisteo Basin goes back several years, the applications give a sneak peek into the company's plan to tap the region.
    All three sites are located within one mile of residences— the distances from proposed wells to houses are 0.3 mile, 0.3 mile and 0.7 mile, respectively, according to Tecton.
    In addition, two of the three well sites are located within one mile of Galisteo Creek, a largely dry riverbed that morphs into a riparian zone for one half-mile stretch.
    Walking along the creek's sandy banks, Steve Sugarman, an environmental attorney who moved to the area this summer, makes his position on the controversial drilling clear.
    "It's really beautiful here," he said. "It's just heartbreaking to think they'd be messing with this geology."
    Tecton officials have pledged to use low-profile equipment and protect the Galisteo Basin's natural resources in their drilling. State officials said this month Tecton had agreed to honor a three-month county moratorium, use closed loop systems in their drilling, not dispose of waste on site and adhere to stricter regulation than most wells in the state.
    But there doesn't appear to be any letup in the opposition to Tecton's plans. At a series of earlier public meetings, one Galisteo Basin resident after another has described the perceived incompatibility of the area with oil and natural gas drilling.
    Of particular concern is the fate of local water sources, particularly the aquifer that lies just 30 feet below the ground where Sugarman lives off County Road 55A.
    As Santa Fe County commissioners work toward adoption of a new ordinance specifically dealing with oil and natural gas drilling, water protection will be among their biggest challenges.
    Though a draft ordinance would mandate half-mile setbacks from wells and houses— which at least two of Tecton's three new proposed sites would violate— state law contains no such requirement.
    As such, the question of which level of government trumps the other could prove pivotal.
    "The legal waters are murky right here," Sugarman said.
    And if the county ordinance is deemed overly restrictive of the mineral rights Tecton already possesses, a costly lawsuit could be in the making.
    While several commissioners have stated that possibility as a concern, some feel it's all but inevitable.
    "There's a near certainty the oil and gas industry will sue the commissioners," Sugarman said. "I feel if they don't get sued, they're not doing their job."
    As more and more locals learn about the plans, trying to find a Galisteo Basin resident in favor of oil and natural gas drilling in their backyard is like trying to find a vegan who hunts.
    Both types might be out there, but there aren't many of them.
    Clay Sheff, a Madrid resident who's worked in the area for three years, knows all about what the prospect of oil and natural gas drilling means to those who inhabit the area.
    "I don't think a lot of people around here want to see it," Sheff said. "If they strike it rich, there might be hundreds of (wells)."
    But Tecton officials have a different perspective on the matter.
    Though they've refused to talk directly to the press since the applications were filed earlier this month and are limiting communication to e-mail, Dirks said in a Nov. 1 statement that oil and natural gas drilling should be seen as an opportunity.
    "We continue to believe that it is wasteful not to develop local natural resources," Dirks said.
    To Sacknoff, however, such logic leaks like a sieve.
    Tecton has chosen the land of her immediate neighbor to the west for one of its three preliminary wells. Her land appears to have been spared for now, though she received no indication as to why.
    "If they drill on my land or on my (neighbor's) land, I figure my land would devalue that day by $500,000," Sacknoff said. "At the moment, we're all determined to stop it from happening. Maybe we have our heads in the sand."
    Sheff, who's used to watching bobcats prowl the archaeologically-rich area, doesn't believe oil and natural gas extraction and wildlife are compatible.
    "I'm in love with the land," Sheff said. "It's the most beautiful land on (Highway) 14. I'd hate to see them ruin it."
   
   
    Public comment period
    Santa Fe County officials on Dec. 18 announced a second written public comment period on a proposed new oil and gas ordinance. The comment period is scheduled Jan. 8-23. County officials expect to unveil a revised draft of the ordinance at a Jan. 7 public meeting. The new ordinance could be approved as soon as Jan. 29.