Despite Governor Richardson’s announcement last year that he had ordered the state Oil Conservation Division to immediately prepare new rules for oil and gas exploration in the Rio Chama watershed, no such rules have been prepared, according to Division Director Mark Fesmire.
“The State Engineer’s Office may have a Chama watershed plan, but we do not,” Fesmire said in response to a public records request for the Governor’s directive. “One of the things we are doing is working on rules for the area, but we are waiting on the outcome of the Santa Fe County rules and the Rio Arriba County plan.”
But the Governor had said he was directing the Division, not the State Engineer, to formulate the new rules.
“I have directed the Oil Conservation Division to develop requirements designed to protect our limited water resources and traditional water uses,” Richardson stated July 21, 2008. “The Oil Conservation Division will immediately begin the process of formulating proposed regulations to implement the Governors directive.”
County officials had said they are awaiting the Division’s Chama watershed plan to complete the County’s oil and gas ordinance.
“Our impression all the while was that we were waiting for the state to do its rules,” County Manager Lorenzo Valdez said. “We are on a deadline. We were hopeful we’d get that information.”
“I’m just hoping the Governor doesn’t back out of his commitment,” County Commissioner Alfredo Montoya said. “It’s okay if we do our (ordinance) first as long as they don’t drop the commitment the governor gave to us that they’ll provide regulations at the state level.”
A County-wide moratorium on oil and gas drilling was passed by the County Commission in April 2008 in response to Approach Resources’ plans to drill exploratory wells near streams in the Rio Chama watershed east of Tierra Amarilla.
County officials said they issued the moratorium in order to develop previously non-existent regulations for the oil and gas industry. The moratorium has been extended twice since its enactment and is now scheduled to end May 22.
The Division has no written orders or correspondence from Richardson regarding the Rio Chama Watershed, Division Spokeswoman Jodi Porter said in response to an open records request.
Calls for comment from the Governor’s office and the State Engineer were not returned.