Bush wants natural gas exploration next to Philmont

[acco40]

I debated whether to put this topic in Issues & Politics or camping and High Adventure.

 

Anyway, the purpose was not to debate our national energy policies but to inform those about what may be going on in Philmont's backyard. Personnally, I think that El Paso Corp. should stick to making salsa products!

 

The article was from the LA Times. The link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&ncid=2026&e=2&u=/latimests/20040809/ts_latimes/whitehouseintercedesforgasprojectinnationalforest

 

By Julie Cart Times Staff Writer

 

CARSON NATIONAL FOREST, N.M. Overriding the opposition of the U.S. Forest Service and New Mexico state officials, a White House energy task force has interceded on behalf of Houston-based El Paso Corp. in its two-year effort to explore for natural gas in a remote part of a national forest next door to America's largest Boy Scout camp.

 

Forest Service officials discouraged efforts to drill in the Valle Vidal at least three times since the agency acquired the land in 1982, citing concerns about water pollution, wildlife and recreation if a large-scale energy project were approved.

 

But last week, the agency took the first step toward approving the giant energy company's proposal to tap into 40,000 acres of alpine meadows in the Carson National Forest. The agency released a report that forecast a high probability of recovering gas from the area and laid out a scenario in which 500 wells could be drilled on the forest's east side.

 

The Forest Service's action has sparked angry opposition from many groups and officials, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat who was U.S. secretary of Energy during the Clinton administration. Such disputes are increasingly commonplace in Rocky Mountain states as critics of Bush administration energy policies accuse the White House of repeatedly targeting some of the most cherished wild places for development.

 

Home to 200 species of birds and 60 types of mammals, including one of the state's largest elk herds, the "Valley of Life," as it was named by Latino pioneers, has been a proving ground for generations of young men and women in a wilderness training program run by the Boy Scouts of America.

 

Since 1938, the Boy Scouts have operated a national training center on the 200-square-mile Philmont Ranch southeast of the Valle Vidal. Each year some 25,000 young people converge on the ranch for a host of outdoor activities.

 

But when the Forest Service, in consultation with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (news - web sites), rejected El Paso Corp.'s request in 2002, the company appealed to the administration.

 

"In this environment, we need new natural gas supplies more than ever,'' wrote El Paso's federal government affairs director to Robert W. Middleton, the director of the White House Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining. "We believe that the Valle Vidal Unit could be a vital new source of such supply. Consequently, we would very much appreciate anything you could do to help move this process forward in a timely manner.''

 

Copies of correspondence made available to The Times show that after El Paso representatives met with Middleton, he instructed the Forest Service to revisit the project.

 

David Seesholtz, a forest planner working on the Valle Vidal project, said there was no pressure from Washington to reverse past policy, and he said the initial steps taken last week by the Forest Service did not necessarily mean the agency would allow energy exploration.

 

No one on the task force, including Middleton, was available to be interviewed. But, speaking on behalf of the task force, Dana Perino, of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said there was nothing inappropriate about Middleton's memo to the Forest Service.

 

The task force was established by executive order in 2001 to help boost oil and gas production on public lands. Although the Valle Vidal had not been opened to exploration, Perino said the task force did not overstep its authority or exert undue pressure on the Forest Service when it responded to El Paso's request for assistance.

 

According to Forest Service staffers at the agency's Taos office, the task force began making calls almost every week, beginning in 2003, to inquire about the progress of the Valle Vidal project.

 

"The task force came down through the channels. The change was based on 'Let's see what we can do for El Paso Energy,' '' said Benjamin Romero, public affairs officer for Carson National Forest.

 

"The overall thought was they are forcing us into expediting it," said another staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

Joanna Prokup, New Mexico's secretary of energy, minerals and natural resources, said the task force's message to the Forest Service left little room for interpretation. "El Paso called D.C., D.C. called the Forest Service. They've put it on the fast track."

 

Prokup, whose agency oversees oil and gas operations in the state, opposes any drilling in the Valle Vidal, "both personally and professionally," she said.

 

At an anti-drilling rally two weeks ago, Richardson described the Valle Vidal as a precious place that should be left as it is, a view shared by state game and fish officials, hunting and fishing groups, conservation organizations and local ranchers some of whom trace their ancestry to 18th and 19th century Spanish and Mexican pioneers who settled much of northern New Mexico. About 47% of the population in surrounding Colfax County is Latino.

 

An energy project can transform undeveloped countryside into an industrial landscape of roads, power lines, pipelines, wells, generators, compressors and waste-water ponds.

 

Although Philmont officials have not commented publicly on the prospect of energy exploration next to the Scout ranch, many former campers and staff members have expressed opposition and about 300 have signed an online petition opposing it.

 

"There is a lot of outrage among the staff," said Justin Berger, a former camper and Philmont staff member who for three summers led Scouts on 12-day wilderness trips into the Valle Vidal. If the project goes ahead, it would occur "precisely where we maintain our camps,'' said Berger, who now lives in Maine. "I would fully expect that we would shut our camps down."

 

On Thursday, Kim Wallace, an El Paso spokeswoman, said the company had not yet decided what course it would take. "At this point, El Paso has not decided if it has an interest in leasing this acreage should it be open to lease," she said.

 

A global energy company founded in 1928, El Paso has the largest network of natural gas pipelines in the United States. Over the last five years, the company has contributed $2.3 million to Republican candidates and political action committees.

 

The controversy over natural gas exploration in the Valle Vidal marks the second time in recent months that such a proposal has sparked broad bipartisan opposition in New Mexico, the nation's second-largest onshore producer of natural gas.

 

Taxes and royalties from the energy industry make up by far the largest portion of the state's $12-billion permanent fund, which is used primarily to finance education.

 

A plan by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to allow gas drilling on Otero Mesa in southeast New Mexico provoked equally intense opposition and prompted the governor to say that energy exploration should be prohibited in places where the environment could be harmed.

 

The Valle Vidal joins a growing list of Western locations where the Bush administration's aggressive support for energy production has triggered opposition not only from environmentalists, but from farmers, ranchers and others worried about the effects on pastureland, water quality, wildlife and scenery.

 

Similar disputes in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Utah pit the importance of energy supplies against the value of other resources that attract tourists and new residents and generate income from hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing.

 

The Valle Vidal is an oasis of wild country within the much larger Raton Basin, where more than 6 million acres are being explored or drilled for natural gas. El Paso already operates just outside the Valle Vidal, in the 600,000-acre Vermejo Park Ranch, owned by media tycoon Ted Turner. The energy company had acquired the right to drill the land before Turner, a noted conservationist, bought it in 1996.

 

Encompassing about 100,000 acres, the Valle Vidal was donated to the Forest Service in 1982 by Pennzoil Corp. Pennzoil requested that the land be managed for the benefit of wildlife and recreation.

 

Ranging in elevation from 7,700 to 12,584 feet, the Valle Vidal's high meadows abut the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the southern Rocky Mountains. Elk, deer, black bears, mountain lions and bobcats inhabit the area, and the Valle Vidal's streams are home to Rio Grande cutthroat trout, prized by anglers.

 

Last week, Joe Torres, president of the Valle Vidal Grazing Assn., talked about what the valley meant to him and his family, who have been tending cattle there for more than 100 years. Torres, 76, said he's been hunting, fishing, camping and horseback riding in the Valle Vidal all his life.

 

"We can't harass the wildlife in any way," he said. "They were here first. If that means no drilling, we don't drill. It's that simple. I think the people of the United States have a vested interest here."

 

Berger, the former Philmont Ranch staffer, described the Valle Vidal as a vivid outdoor classroom. He said that at a certain point on each backpacking trip, group leaders teach campers the Wilderness Pledge.

 

"We tell them, 'With a right comes a responsibility.' With the right to use the land comes a responsibility to protect it."

 

 

 

 

[Fat Old Guy]

The salsa comapany is Old El Paso. In any case, be glad that it isn't Malpaso.

 

In any case, once the drilling is done, gas wells are very uninstrusive.

 

 

[hops_scout]

FOG, could you explain what you mean?

 

If it means that they wouldnt be a big "NOISE" kind of thing when they are done, thats only if they dont tear the place apart while they are doing it. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

 

[Fat Old Guy]

Energy companies now remediate damage that they do to the environment. Coal companies no longer leave big holes in the ground from what used to be called "strip mines."

 

The bottom line is that we need natural gas. Even if we came up with cold fusion tomorrow, there are thousands of stoves, furnaces and even refrigerators and air conditioners that use natural gas (yes, friges and a/c units) and it is unreasonable to expect that they'd change our immediately.

 

I had a buddy in college who had a gas well head on his family's farm. It looked like a pipe that stuck up about four inches from the ground. If you didn't know it was there, you couldn't find it.

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Sometimes I think I am too funny for my own good...

 

Move along, nothing to see here... (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[packsaddle]

Here's the petition if anyone is interested:

http://www.petitiononline.com/vallevid/petition.html

It seems very reasonable to me.

[Backpacker]

Personal attacks are not permitted. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[Fat Old Guy]

Who got attacked? Enquiring minds want to know!

[Backpacker]

You were FOG, I think your outlook on this matter is irresponsible, but it does not matter cuz come November Bush will be gone. Alleluiah.

[Fat Old Guy]

Backpacker,

 

Do you really think that Kerry will be any different? Both sides are in the pockets of big business, the Republicans are just more open about it.

 

I'm curious about which of my statements you find to be irresponsible? That we need energy? That people wouldn't convert to cold fusion overnight? That energy companies now clean up their messes?

 

Like most of your ilk, you make little sense.

[Backpacker]

FOG

All of your comments make very little sense. A need for gas or oil is not a carte blanc invitation to rape the earth of all its natural resources, altenative fuel source development has been literally crippled by the big oil and gas companies for decades wanting to maintain a monopoly and stranglehold on America, and the world. Electrical hybrid cars, methane gas,solar energy, pure grain alcohol fuel are just a few alternatives that these companies block development at every turn. Your pompous, cavalier attitude proves to me you have not studied the problem in any depth. So do some more reading in order to discuss this topic intelligently. No wonder the BSA has so many problems today, losing membership, etc. with leaders like yourself at the helm.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Philmont-Phillips Petroleum- the Ranch didn't fall out of the sky. Some credit must be given to those that have gone before us and accumulated massive wealth but then shared it.

 

Back in the old country, Texas, we have an outfit that gave the local council a ranch that actually had gas/oil pumpers on it- you will most likely get both. They do make noise and look horrible, nothing like trees. I would hate to see Philmont turn into bear and oil country. If there is a choice, mine is to keep it the way it is.

 

FB

 

[EagleInKY]

Let me first say that I love Philmont. I've been their 4 times, and I hope to return again. It's truly one of the most beautiful places on the planet and it gives scouts a great opportunity to explore the vast wilderness, unspoiled from much of civilization.

 

However, I have to agree with FOG on this. My experiences with natural gas fields have been that they are relatively unobtrusive, both from a noise and visual perspective. Natural gas is a clean burning fuel that can be used in many ways, and helps contribute to our own country's bottom line, instead of buying from overseas markets.

 

Backpacker, you're views are typical of those that make "your side" of the argument look ridiculous. You buy into this whole government/oil company/automobile industry conspiracy theory. (I'm sure you loved Michael Moore's movie.) The automobile industry has made progress along the lines of hybrids and electric cars. They are continuing to make advancements that are very exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing how the hybrid SUVs perform. As the consuming public confidence in the technology grows (and their subsequent purchases), more advancements will be made. John Kerry will do nothing to change that. If you don't believe me, ask him why he owns so many SUVs. Oh, that's right, his wife owns them. ;-)

 

Anyway, back to Philmont. I hope it remains the beautiful, unspoiled wilderness that it is today. If natural gas is found, I hope they find a way of getting it out without major impacts to it. Many thanks to Waite Phillips of Phillips Petroleum for his wonderful gift to Scouting.

[dan]

next door to America's largest Boy Scout camp

Why would this change Philmont at all?

If you really want to see unspoiled, go to Double H.

[buffalo guard]

i agree with dan. i think that going to philmont and camping for two weeks was the greatest experience of my life. even if natural gas wells are unobtrusive after they finish drilling, the environmental impact during the drilling will be devastating. it wont be simple gas pipes and unobtrusive wells. imagine the trucks that will have to drive into the area to build the wells. those trucks arent easy on the environment, are they? then we have to think about the road that will be built. roads arent reclaimied by the environment very easily, are they? the trees that will be felled to make room for all the drilling wont grow back for years, and the wildlife that lived in that area wont return for a long time after the disturbance, will they? no, natural gas drilling will be bad for that ecosystem and terrible for the scouters who love the area. i say stay out.