tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27192883352923217072024-03-14T11:27:36.315-06:00Northern New Mexico Conservation ProjectA blog of thoughts, news, and current events, for people who are concerned about the impacts of oil and gas development in Northern New Mexico.Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.comBlogger219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-83830806762259519422010-07-23T07:03:00.002-06:002010-07-23T07:08:59.940-06:00Posting HiatusI apologize for the unannounced hiatus in posting. It will continue until I get a new motherboard for my computer. Please check back in a couple of weeks.Until then, local and international events regarding oil and gas development can be found at Common Ground United and the Drilling Santa Fe Blog. They are both great sites and are updated regularly.Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-21958068556382617002010-07-07T16:06:00.002-06:002010-07-07T16:13:36.843-06:00ProPublica Photographer: I Was Followed by BP Security and Then Detained by PoliceWelcome to the corporate land of the free...by Lance Rosenfield, Special to ProPublica Today, 10:37 a.m.Freelance photographer Lance Rosenfield was working on assignment for ProPublica in Texas City, Texas, last week, when a BP security guard began following him. Rosenfield was later detained by police after taking photos for two ProPublica stories. One revealed that BP’s Texas City refinery had Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-51556248193888256732010-07-02T12:23:00.003-06:002010-07-02T12:39:11.087-06:00Denver Post--Millions of gallons spilled in Colo. over 2½ year periodYour water is safe...really, we promise! The sad thing is, these are number provided by the oil and gas industry itself.Post analysis of state accident reportsBy Burt Hubbard The Denver PostPosted: 06/28/2010 01:00:00 AM MDTUpdated: 06/28/2010 02:53:25 PM MDTOil and gas companies have reported almost 1,000 spills to Colorado regulators over the past 2 1/2 years, totaling 5.2 million gallons of Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-75953415651815211682010-07-02T09:32:00.002-06:002010-07-02T09:34:21.968-06:00[San Miguel] County changes panel after criticismBy David Giuliani, Las Vegas OpticThe San Miguel County Commission this week decided to change the composition of its oil gas task force after some contended that it was heavily weighted toward the industry. County officials said they wanted to change the makeup of the 10-member task force after they received disclosure forms from applicants. In April, the commission formed the task force to makeNorthern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-5396300563247672492010-06-18T15:33:00.002-06:002010-06-18T15:38:55.173-06:00ProPublica--New Documents Show BP Made Little Progress on Alaska Safety Issues From 2001 to 2007by Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica - June 18, 2010 3:28 pm EDT Six years after a scathing 2001 internal review of BP's Alaska operations found that the company wasn't maintaining safety equipment and faced "a fundamental lack of trust" among workers, a follow-up study concluded BP had made little headway in addressing those concerns.The 2007 review, obtained by ProPublica, is based on a survey of Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-22379131367152489852010-06-18T10:46:00.001-06:002010-06-18T10:57:30.413-06:00EPA Press Release--EPA Announces a Schedule of Public Meetings on Hydraulic Fracturing Research StudyCONTACT: Enesta Jones jones.enesta@epa.gov 202-564-7873 202-564-4355 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2010 EPA Announces a Schedule of Public Meetings on Hydraulic Fracturing Research Study WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting four public information meetings on the proposed study of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and its potential impacts Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-21291939556746235792010-06-17T14:06:00.003-06:002010-06-17T14:13:09.750-06:00ProPublica--Gulf Cleanup Training Ignores Advice From Health Agency, Official Saysby Sasha Chavkin, ProPublica - June 17, 2010 2:05 pm EDT As we've reported, workplace safety experts have expressed concern that Gulf oil spill responders aren't getting enough safety training. On Wednesday, we spoke with a federal official who said the four-hour safety course that BP is providing to Gulf cleanup workers lacks basic information on health risks and is too short to cover the Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-66750889834124867292010-06-15T16:25:00.003-06:002010-06-15T16:51:21.530-06:00WFFA--Flower Mound parents worried about gas drilling near schoolsI think most of us tend to assume that there are some places drilling just wouldn't ever occur. But the more I learn, the more aware I become that nothing is sacred any more. From war veteran graveyards surrounded by waste pits, to gas wells next to your kids elementary school, the oil and gas industry will set up shop anywhere that offers a profit.Flower Mound parents worried about gas drilling Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-71056851386184919592010-06-14T13:37:00.004-06:002010-06-14T13:43:45.477-06:00Onshore accidents add to concernsOnshore accidents involving oil and gas extraction are nothing new. Unlike the BP disaster; however, they usually get little to no attention outside the immediate area where the accident or problem occurs.By BRETT CLANTONHOUSTON CHRONICLEJune 13, 2010, 5:10PM A string of accidents this month at natural gas operations on land could not have come at a worse time for Houston’s vast energy industry. Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-52305359638290712182010-06-14T13:32:00.002-06:002010-06-14T13:37:18.424-06:00The Daily Sentinel--Silt-area drilling report contentiousFor more information about the Divide Creek seep, please visit Lisa Bracken's website, Journey of The Forsaken.By Dennis WebbMonday, June 14, 2010GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Garfield County commissioners want the state to take another look at their consultant’s concerns about the West Divide Creek natural gas seep as yet more drilling is being proposed in that area.Commissioners decided to make the Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-83923249826181709642010-06-13T13:06:00.002-06:002010-06-13T13:10:14.682-06:00TCEQ botches air quality oversightDecisions about Texas air quality ought to be made in Texas, not in Washington. Unfortunately, the bumbling efforts of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality under Gov. Rick Perry have invited an Environmental Protection Agency takeover of the air-pollution permitting process in the Lone Star State.For 15 years, Texas has operated an air-pollution-permitting program that lacks EPA approvalNorthern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-8088258941524711522010-06-13T13:00:00.002-06:002010-06-13T13:04:11.962-06:00The Huffington Post--Utah Oil Spill 500 Barrels Spill Into Red Butte Creek After Pipeline BreaksFirst Posted: 06-13-10 12:34 AM. Updated: 06-13-10 02:55 PM SALT LAKE CITY (AP)— A leaked pipeline sent oil spilling into a Salt Lake City creek, coating geese and ducks and closing a park, officials said Saturday as they started a cleanup effort expected to last weeks.At least 400 to 500 barrels of oil spewed into Red Butte Creek before crews capped the leak site. Nearly 50 gallons of crude oil Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-15134885848124775522010-06-11T09:54:00.002-06:002010-06-11T10:02:44.708-06:00ProPublica--Rise in Offshore Spills Raises Wider Questions on Drillingby Sasha Chavkin, ProPublica - June 10, 2010 2:59 pm EDT The catastrophe unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico has been portrayed as a one-of-a-kind disaster, a perfect storm of bad equipment, bad planning and bad luck.But it’s far from the only spill that’s taken place this year – or even the only spill occurring in the Gulf right now.On June 7, the Mobile Press-Register reported that the Ocean Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-5742443242844368442010-06-10T10:59:00.002-06:002010-06-10T11:02:55.194-06:00Rio Grande Sun--Commission Sides With Landowner Over Drilling (Rio Arriba County)Normally I try to make very up-to-date posts. This article is about a week old but, as it is very close to home, I decided to post it.Landowner does not want Texas oil/gas company to drill on his propertyBy Joe CrawfordSUN Staff WriterPublished:Thursday, June 3, 2010 1:09 PM MDT6/3/10A Texas oil company was lectured on being “neighborly” last week as its request to drill on a northern Rio Arriba Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-32888576633118093882010-06-09T12:47:00.002-06:002010-06-09T12:52:33.095-06:00.Blast in Texas Panhandle kills 2, injures 3Well...Just wow. Accidents like this are becoming way to common place. I think they highlight the importance of county-based regulations. Mora and San Miguel Counties currently lack the resources to respond to events like these. In such remote areas that lack both manpower and equipment, a pipeline explosion would be extremely dangerous, causing fires that could spread far beyond the accident Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-24757087004310868172010-06-08T16:28:00.002-06:002010-06-08T16:33:17.844-06:00Salazar Declares Shallow Water Drilling “Safe,” Lifts Drilling Injunction, Conceals Shallow Water Oil Spill Currently Fouling GulfReally?!FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJune 8, 20103:10 PMTaylor Energy Spill Has Caused 10-mile Slick, Is Still Spewing OilTUSCON, AZ - June 8 - On May 6, 2010, the U.S. Department of the Interior placed a partial moratorium on shallow and deepwater drilling in response to the April 20, 2010 explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling project. Interior defines “shallow-water drilling” as occurring in Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-39895810207499215402010-06-08T15:25:00.002-06:002010-06-08T15:28:36.842-06:00Accidents bring calls to suspend shale drillingTuesday, June 08, 2010By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteSerious accidents at Marcellus shale natural gas drilling operations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia over the past five days have prompted sanctions against one Texas-based drilling company, support for tighter federal regulations and even calls for a moratorium on drilling.Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-3676873446141220712010-06-08T13:29:00.003-06:002010-06-08T13:37:38.770-06:00ProPublica--Years of Internal BP Probes Warned That Neglect Could Lead to Accidentsby Abrahm Lustgarten and Ryan Knutson, ProPublica - June 7, 2010 10:00 pm EDT A series of internal investigations over the past decade warned senior BP managers that the company repeatedly disregarded safety and environmental rules and risked a serious accident if it did not change its ways. The confidential inquiries, which have not previously been made public, focused on a rash of problems at Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-62665212510243497692010-06-07T15:33:00.003-06:002010-06-07T15:38:31.991-06:00Natural gas facility explodes in Johnson County killing threeWFAAPosted on June 7, 2010 at 3:14 PMUpdated today at 4:11 PM JOHNSON COUNTY - A natural gas facility has exploded near Cleburne in Johnson County killing three, according to the Cleburne city manager.At least 10 people are missing, Chester Nolen said.A lot of people have been transported to hospital with burn injuries.A massive fireball and a huge plume of smoke can be seen in the area.“About 2:Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-53625182500652061092010-06-07T10:41:00.000-06:002010-06-07T10:43:06.167-06:00Las Vegas Optic, Letter: Secret deliberations cut into credibilityBy Kate DanielI read, with disbelief, County Planning and Zoning Supervisor Alex Tafoya’s comment in your article, “(Task Force) Panel’s Makeup in Dispute.” He said, “....it’s not like we’re building a new nuclear bomb....”Really? How would he characterize the impact to the Gulf of Mexico from the ongoing “natural disaster,” as the culpable British Petroleum calls it? I know that Mr. Tafoya’s Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-49600472977042045882010-06-06T10:09:00.001-06:002010-06-06T10:13:55.162-06:00Denton Record-Chronicle, Filmy water vexes family11:51 PM CDT on Saturday, June 5, 2010By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer DISH — Amber Smith no longer takes soaking baths, one of the young mother’s favorite ways to unwind at the end of the day. Since early May, she and her husband, Damon Smith, and their two children, Hannah, 8, and Bryson, 3, use bottled water to cook with and drink. She has her children use bottled water to brush their Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-54473167339312784342010-06-05T14:08:00.002-06:002010-06-05T14:12:51.821-06:00New York Times: Op-Ed Columnist, Disaster in the AmazonBy BOB HERBERTPublished: June 4, 2010BP’s calamitous behavior in the Gulf of Mexico is the big oil story of the moment. But for many years, indigenous people from a formerly pristine region of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador have been trying to get relief from an American company, Texaco (which later merged with Chevron), for what has been described as the largest oil-related environmental Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-23569315996203415222010-06-04T19:21:00.002-06:002010-06-04T19:24:04.584-06:00Las Vegas Optic Letter to the Editor: Let's prevent bomb with good processBy Pat LeahanI am writing in response to a recent Optic article about the lop-sided membership of the San Miguel County Oil and Gas Ordinance Task Force.Planning and Zoning supervisor Alex Tafoya was quoted as saying, in relation to the work of the task force, “It’s not like we’re creating a new nuclear bomb.” Mr. Tafoya is correct. We want an ordinance to prevent a bomb, not create one.When I Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-53284352877800684572010-06-04T15:57:00.003-06:002010-06-04T16:11:26.578-06:00Oil Spill Could Bring Mass Extinction to the Gulf CoastWhile BP plays the influence game, environmentalists and scientists are contemplating the possibility of mass marine and wildlife extinctions as a result of the ongoing oil spill.Published on Friday, June 4, 2010 by The Media ConsortiumOil Spill Could Bring Mass Extinction to the Gulf Coastby Sarah LaskowA cap placed over a severed pipe is siphoning some oil from the broken BP well in the Gulf Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2719288335292321707.post-11041188595740287012010-06-04T13:00:00.007-06:002010-06-04T14:29:48.907-06:00Gas Well Blowout In Clearfield County [PA]The BP offshore oil rig blowout is a disaster of catastrophic proportions, it is obvious and impossible to ignore; however, accidents happen onshore with disturbing frequency and get very little attention. There has been a gas well blowout in Clearfield County Pennsylvania. Officials say it took sixteen hours to get under control after spewing an approximate one million gallons of hydraulic Northern New Mexico Conservation Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01371941468595392855noreply@blogger.com0