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Saturday, July 19, 2008

State Halts Rio Arriba Drilling Permits


Associated Press
       SANTA FE — The state Oil Conservation Division said it will reconsider a permit for an oil and gas well it already had granted after discovering that the proposed drilling site was too close to water sources.
    On Friday, the division canceled a permit in Rio Arriba County and suspended three other permits to Approach Operating LLC for wells in the Tierra Amarilla area.
    Rio Arriba County and Tierra Amarilla-area landowners had challenged the permits on the ground the places Approach wanted to drill were ill-considered and too close to creeks, irrigation ditches and drainages.
    The company had indicated the proposed well site in Rio Arriba County would be more than 100 feet from groundwater and more than 1,000 feet from the nearest surface well. But the Oil Conservation Division said the proposed location was "within a wetland and approximately 40 feet from surface water sources."
    OCD director Mark Fesmire said the evidence presented to the division was "pretty compelling.
    "That is not where a well should be sited," he said.
    Fesmire said he didn't believe Approach deliberately tried to deceive the state. The company might not have had a clear picture of the area's hydrology when it chose the site, he said.
    Approach voluntarily pulled one of six other permit applications it had pending with the state, the Oil Conservation Division said. The remaining five applications will be considered by the state Oil Conservation Commission, a three-member board that makes rules for OCD and decides on disputed permits.
    No date for the hearing, which will include public comment, has been set.
    Approach is proposing to drill within 90,000 acres near Tierra Amarilla. The county passed a four-month ban on new drilling in late April as a way to buy time to update its drilling regulations.
    Approach Resources has sued the county, challenging its authority to enact a moratorium and regulate the industry. Similar moratoriums have been enacted by Gov. Bill Richardson and Santa Fe County for drilling on the Galisteo Basin southeast of Santa Fe.

Copyright ©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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