[Coalition_for_valle_vidal] BLM Sign Agreement with El Paso on Valle Vidal Gas

[Jim O'Donnell]

> All,

The article below lends further credence to our assertion that the 
bureaucratic process currently under way regarding the Valle Vidal is, 
to say the least, rigged against the people of northern New Mexico.  
Despite the public outcry in favor of protecting the Valle Vidal, the 
BLM has gone behind our backs and signed an agreement with the El Paso 
Corporation without public notice or public comment.  Whose calling the 
shots here?

Even if this action is legal, and that is questionable at this point, 
it is unethical given the concerns about drilling in the Valle Vidal.  
This action lends further urgency to our  need to permanently protect 
the  Valle Vidal through the legislation proposed by Rep. Udall and 
Sen. Bingaman.

Jim



> Thursday, February 9, 2006
> Deal Allows Gas Wells Near Valle Vidal
> By John Arnold
> Journal Staff Writer


>     The federal government has signed royalty
> agreements with a Texas-based energy company that will
> allow 25 natural gas wells to be drilled near the
> northeast border of the Valle Vidal.
>     The wells would be placed on the privately owned
> Vermejo Park Ranch, but would be close enough to the
> Valle Vidal border to drain natural gas from beneath
> the federal land.
>     The Bureau of Land Management signed agreements
> with El Paso Corporation that will allow the federal
> and state governments to collect royalties for the
> government's share of the gas, BLM officials said
> Wednesday.
>     Media mogul Ted Turner owns Vermejo Park Ranch,
> but El Paso owns the mineral rights beneath it.
>     "El Paso has the right to develop its private
> minerals," BLM state director Linda Rundell said in a
> written statement. "The agreements will ensure that
> the federal and state governments are fairly
> compensated for the natural gas that is drained from
> the federal portion of each spacing unit."
>     But the agreements don't sit well with
> conservationists fiercely opposed to energy
> development in the Valle Vidal, 100,000 acres of
> Carson National Forest land that some call "the
> Yellowstone of New Mexico."
>     The BLM "went behind the public's back" in signing
> the agreements, said Jim O'Donnell, coordinator for
> the Coalition for the Valle Vidal.
>     Even though the wells will be located on private
> land, O'Donnell said the royalty agreements should
> have been open to public review, because some of the
> gas that will be extracted will come from public land.
>
>     "Given the public outcry in favor of protecting
> the Valle Vidal, why was there no public notice of
> this, no public input?" O'Donnell said.
>     The state allows four gas wells per square mile on
> Vermejo Park Ranch, and El Paso officials say well
> sites are designed and constructed to minimize
> environmental impacts.
>     If developed, all but three of the 25 sites
> involved in the recent royalty agreements would be
> located more than 330 feet from the Valle Vidal
> border, according to BLM spokesman Hans Stuart.
>     For gas drained from beneath Forest Service land,
> the federal government would collect a 12.5 percent
> royalty, half of which would go to the state.
>     El Paso Corporation, which operates more than 520
> coal bed methane wells at Vermejo Park, has asked the
> Forest Service to consider opening the eastern 40,000
> acres of the Valle Vidal to drilling. The request is
> under review, and El Paso officials say it's uncertain
> whether they would bid on gas leases in the Valle
> Vidal, even if the federal government allows it.
>     But O'Donnell fears that the recent agreements
> between El Paso and BLM might be used down the road to
> justify drilling in the Valle Vidal.
>     "We're going to be looking at the legalities of
> this agreement over the next couple of days,"
> O'Donnell said. "This is really questionable."
>

> All content copyright © ABQJournal.com and Albuquerque
> Journal
>

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 
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http://www.vallevidal.org/involved.html