[Coalition_for_valle_vidal] Questa & Red River NM Join Coalition for the Valle Vidal

[Jim O'Donnell]

> http://the.taosnews.com/Daily/skins/TAOS/navigator.asp? 
> Skin=TAOS&BP=OK&AW=1120667662421
>  
> Taos News
>  
> June 30-July 6, 2005, p. A14
>  
> Coalition Members & Others – For your reference.
>  
> -- Bill Brown
>  
>  
> Questa,Red River councils oppose drilling Valle Vidal
>  
> By Bobby Magill The Taos News
> bmagill at taosnews.com
>  
>
>    QUESTA — The Questa and Red River councils just sent an unwavering  
> message to the Forest Service: Don’t drill the Valle Vidal.
>     The village  of Questa and the town of Red River councils joined a  
> chorus of local municipalities that have signed resolutions opposing  
> coalbed methane development in the 101,000-acre Valle Vidal unit of  
> the Carson National Forest.
>     El Paso Corporation filed a request with the Forest Service in  
> 2002 to lease the eastern 40,000 acres of the elk- and wildlife-rich  
> Valle Vidal, an area of sweeping meadows and dramatic mountainscapes  
> popular with hunters, hikers, anglers and Boy Scouts.
>    The Red River Town Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday  
> night (June 28) opposing drilling in the Valle Vidal.
>     Town Councilor Peggy Wilson said Wednesday (June 29) that even  
> though Red River is a typically conservative town, there was no  
> opposition to the resolution from the community.
>     “You’re talking about 40,000 acres that bring in approximately $3  
> million a year from hunting, fishing, Boy Scout camps, and taking that  
> gorgeous piece of property that I have ridden horses on and turning it  
> into a wasteland — all for very little gas production,” she said.
>    Asked whether America needs the energy harbored in the Valle Vidal,  
> she said, “I think we certainly can use energy, and I think there are  
> other alternatives other than this piece of property.”
>     The village  of Questa council unanimously passed the same  
> resolution June 21.
>     Questa Mayor Charlie Gonzales said Tuesday that drilling the Valle  
> Vidal doesn’t make economic sense for Questa the way it might make  
> sense for Colfax County.
>     “We have a lot of people here very much involved with wildlife and  
> hunting and I’d like to see those protected more,” he said, adding  
> that El Paso has not presented enough information about coalbed  
> methane development “to reassure me.”
>     Questa and Red River join the villages of Springer, Eagle Nest and  
> Cimarrón, the town of Taos, Taos County, the Taos County Democratic  
> Party, the Cimarrón Chamber of Commerce and hundreds of New Mexico  
> businesses that have endorsed the Coalition for the Valle Vidal and  
> opposed coalbed methane development there.
>     The only Taos County municipality that has not chimed-in on the  
> issue is the village of Taos Ski Valley.
>  
>  
>
Jim O'Donnell
Outreach Coordinator, Coalition for the Valle Vidal
www.vallevidal.org
PO Box 238
Taos, NM 87571
505-758-3874

Are you a member of the Coalition for the Valle Vidal?  Would you like  
to support our efforts?  Join or contribute today at:  
http://www.vallevidal.org/involved.html