State Sen. Carroll Leavell (R-Jal) has introduced a bill prior to the upcoming legislative session that would strip New Mexico’s counties and cities of the authority to regulate gas and oil drilling — and implied that his bill targets Rio Arriba County.
“Demands come in for state capital outlays that comes from oil and gas money from counties that are restricting oil and gas production,” Leavell said. “I’m speaking of some up there who restricted oil and gas — Rio Arriba County, Santa Fe County and some cities. It’s a fairness issue.”
Rio Arriba County Manager Lorenzo Valdez said the bill threatens the County’s ability to balance energy and water quality priorities. The eastern part of the County has acequias and farms that depend on clean water, he said, whereas the western end of the county has already seen high levels of oil and gas development.
The Rio Arriba County Commission enacted a moratorium on all gas and oil drilling in April 2008 in order to stop a Texas-based company from drilling on private land near a watershed east of Tierra Amarilla. The County extended the moratorium until February in order to develop regulations regarding drilling in the County — the County’s recently adopted comprehensive plan does not address drilling despite it being the main revenue source for the County.
“We’ve been taking a two-tiered approach to energy and water production in a careful manner,” Valdez said. “We’re concerned this bill will preempt our work on the upper Rio Chama watershed. That watershed is drinking water for the length of the entire state. They’re pulling water from the (Rio Grande) to cities. A catastrophic oil or gas pollution event up there would impact the entire state. Our approach has been to identify suitable areas (for gas production) and to enact best practices to protect acequias. We’re asking industry to work with us.”
Leavall said the bill did not come from the industry.
The bill will be a “hard sell,” Sen. Carlos Cisneros (D-Questa) said.
“Oil and gas are our lifeline,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is I’m an advocate for local government oversight, because counties have to know who is coming in and what impacts they’ll have on services counties provide. I don’t think the governor would sign it even if it somehow made it through the legislature.”
The legislative session begins Jan. 20.