|
 E-mail Story Print Friendly
Biz GM Sued Over Impala Fix |
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
State Seeks Repayment for Cavern Tests
By Susan Montoya Bryan
The Associated Press
The state of New Mexico has spent more than a half-million dollars investigating and monitoring a giant cavern a few hundred feet beneath the ground in southeastern New Mexico.
Now, it wants the company responsible for the property to pay up.
The state Oil Conservation Division has installed an elaborate monitoring system of tilt meters and pressure sensors at the site in Carlsbad, hoping to detect the earliest signs of a cave-in that could possibly take with it part of a highway, a church, a trailer park, businesses and a major irrigation canal.
The AP obtained a letter that the agency sent to trucking company I&W Inc. on Friday. It demands reimbursement of $563,420, as well as reports that the agency claims the company failed to submit as part of its discharge permit. The agency also wants I&W to submit a closure plan for its facility above the cavern, where brine well operations were halted last fall after the state became concerned about a potential collapse at the site.
“This was their business and we don't think that the state should be stuck paying the bill,” Oil Conservation Division Director Mark Fesmire said during a recent visit to the site.
I&W did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the state's demands.
Eugene Irby, whose family owns the company, said previously that I&W has always followed the law and performed annual pressure tests on the well as required. He has argued that the state is overreacting because of two brine well collapses north of Carlsbad during a four-month span last year.
The city of Carlsbad and the Eddy County Commission declared a state of emergency earlier this month because of the potential danger. They also have established a group of local leaders, scientists and experts to find a way to prevent or at least mitigate a possible collapse.
Copyright ©2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
You also can send comments via our comment form
|
|
