[Coalition_for_valle_vidal] ACTION: Send a letter to Rep. Wilson Today!

[Jim O'Donnell]

Valle Vidal Supporters,

Yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management announced a compensatory 
royalty agreement with the El Paso Exploration and Production Company 
of Houston, Texas for the gas under the Valle Vidal.  For more 
information, please see the article at the bottom of this email.

 From the perspective of the Coalition, this is a dangerous development. 
  Even if these agreements are legal, they are highly unethical given 
the overwhelming public concern for the Valle Vidal.  We are deeply 
troubled that the public's resources were sold to El Paso without 
public notice or public input.  These agreements are consistent with 
the 'behind closed doors' nature of this entire process.  Further, this 
brings development right to the door of the Valle Vidal.  The 
barbarians are at the gate.

TAKE ACTION

Please use this opportunity to again press Rep. Heather Wilson (R) to 
support and co-sponsor Rep. Tom Udall's Valle Vidal Protection Act.

TALKING POINTS

* El Paso's agreement with BLM sets the stage for extending its 
ever-spreading network of roads, pipelines, and well sites into the 
heart of the Valle Vidal.  El Paso is playing coy by
suggesting that it might not bid on a lease for the Valle Vidal.

* The fact that these agreements were made without public notice and 
without public input  is further evidence that the deck is stacked 
against the people of northern New Mexico and against protection for 
the Valle Vidal.  The bureaucratic process is corrupt and not to be 
trusted.   The only way to assure that the public is heard is by 
passing the Valle Vidal Protection Act.

* In the last year, over 60,000 people have voiced their desire to see 
the Valle Vidal permanently protected from oil and gas development by 
Congressional legislation.  Six municipalities, three Chambers of 
Commerce and two County Commissions have passed resolutions opposing 
drilling.  More resolutions are on the way. These are the public’s 
lands, not the Administration’s private fiefdom.

* New Mexicans and Americans of all stripes have spoken and our 
Congressional representatives need to listen to us: No amount of oil or 
gas development is acceptable in the Valle Vidal. This treasured 
hunting, fishing recreational and agricultural area is too unique to 
simply minimize the damage that gas development entails.  Pass the 
Valle Vidal Protection Act now!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Fax your letters to:

Representative Heather Wilson
505-346-6723 fax

or mail them to:

Rep. Heather Wilson
20 First Plaza NW
Suite 603
Albuquerque, NM 87102

Also, send copies of your letters to:

The Albuquerque Journal
7777 Jefferson NE
ABQ, NM 87109-4343
opinions at abqjournal.com
505-823-3837 fax

Senator Pete Domenici
  328 Hart Senate Office Building
  Washington, DC 20510
  202-224-6621, 202-228-0900 fax

Representative Steve Pearce
  Republican / 2nd District
  1408 Longworth House Office Building
  Washington, DC 20515
  202-225-2365

Senator Jeff Bingaman
  703 Hart Senate Office Building
  Washington, DC 20510
  202-224-5521, 202-224-2852 fax

Representative Tom Udall
  Democrat / 3rd District
  1414 Longworth Bldg
  Washington, DC 20515
  202-225-6190, 202-226-1331 fax



URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/north/431823north_news02-09-06.htm

Albuquerque Journal

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."
 



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