Nearly all of New Mexico's Otero Mesa Open for exploratory drilling

Despite protests by the governor and environmentalists, the federal government decided to open nearly all of New Mexico’s vast Otero Mesa for exploratory drilling but vowed that the oil and gas industry won’t have a “free-for-all.”

The decision Monday by the Bureau of Land Management permanently protects about 124,000 acres of the roughly 2 million-acre mesa, one of North America’s largest remaining pieces of Chihuahuan desert grassland.

Gov. Bill Richardson and environmentalists, including the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and Denver-based Earthjustice, promised a court battle.

“The state is going to fight this with everything we’ve got,” Richardson said.

The opponents argue the plan fails to consider the effect on groundwater and grassland at the mesa, extending about 40 miles north of the Texas-New Mexico line.

Richardson - who once called the mesa “sacred” and wanted to set aside 640,000 acres as a national conservation area - accused the federal government of ignoring its policy of working with states on major land management decisions. (source)

It’s an insult that the Federal Government will be setting aside 124,000 acres of the 2 million-acre mesa to “save”. I honestly don’t know why they bother. It’s such an insignificant part of the mesa.

After spending some time in the desert of Arizona and California, I can honestly say that it is beautiful land. I never used to think of a desert that way. I suppose I looked at it like a wasteland without much merit. I was wrong. Perhaps that is how our own government looks at it as well?

The danger is, when our government, in all it’s wisdom, steps in to take a parcel of land that was once protected, for drilling or development, where does it end? Who makes the determination on what is to be preserved and what is up for grabs for drilling or whatever? How many endangered species of plants and animals live in this mesa. And, does our government honestly care about them?

If you are reading this and you yourself don’t understand my concern, I leave you with this thought... Everything is connected. You, along with all the wildlife that will be effected or wiped out by this drilling, are all part of the same equation. And, eventually, there will be a heavy price to pay for exterminating life in favor of our needs. The equation will someday balance itself, and if you think the tsunami was bad.....