American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2018 - 101

we see the whole range of issues facing
operators and service companies," she
relates. "The pipeline companies are working
with local governments to get new pipe in
the ground, land developers are working
hard to build housing and infrastructure,
and everybody is looking for new hands."
Helping companies identify infrastructure needs and making connections with
local governments have become IPANM
priorities, she indicates.
"We also are seeing companies come
to the table with plans to bulk up infrastructure and improve safety corridors
when they roll out a new well site or facility," she adds. "I think that speaks to
their awareness and community commitment, and for that we are grateful."
As Delaware production grows, so do
state revenues, Winchester observes. As a
result, that money's destination has become
one of the hottest energy-related topics as
election season approaches. "Our elected
officials can argue what to do with the
money. It is industry's job to remind them
where this new money is coming from,
especially candidates who push for increased regulation," Winchester says. "Regulating oil producers out of business makes
no sense when one-third of New Mexico's
budget is oil and gas revenue, which creates
jobs and more funding for schools."

San Juan Protests
Oil and gas opponents remain active
in the Land Of Enchantment, Winchester
notes. Moreover, a few New Mexico oil
and gas issues have attracted the attention
of national environmental groups, the
news media and political leadership. Published reports indicate one such controversy deals with concern about possible
oil and gas facilities' proximity to a national historical park.
In January, the Bureau of Land Management proposed a lease sale for federal
acreage near a Native American historical
site, press accounts note, and the sale was
later deferred. That proposed sale was followed in April by a court ruling against
the groups seeking an injunction barring
new development in the area. For several
weeks in the spring, local news media reported on protest rallies by opposition
groups across northern New Mexico.
In response, Senators Tom Udall, DN.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., on
May 22 filed the "Chaco Cultural Heritage
Area Protection Act of 2018." The bill
seeks to codify a 10-mile buffer around
the 53-square-mile Chaco Canyon National
Historic Park. Media reports say the All
Pueblo Council of Governors offered emphatic support for the legislation, stating
that withdrawing the land from a possible

lease sale "is an important step in protecting the 20 Pueblos' cultural resources
and sacred sites."
BLM has maintained an informal 10mile buffer around the park and routinely
deferred lease petitions within that buffer,
a bureau statement indicates. The senate
bill would formalize that buffer into law.
Oil and gas development around the
park was the subject of a 2015 lawsuit,
Dine v. BLM, that was decided in April.
In that decision, U.S. District Judge James
Oren Browning ruled against the plaintiff
tribal and environmental groups, stating
the bureau did not violate historic preservation rules when it approved permits
for some 350 wells near the park.
Earlier this year, Interim Secretary
Ryan Zinke announced BLM would defer
the March 8 lease sale, citing "some concern about the proximity to Chaco of
some of the leases and the uncertainty
about cultural impacts."
According to BLM, the lease sale, as
originally announced in January, was "to
include 25 parcels, covering 4,434 acres
within Rio Arriba, Sandoval and San
Juan counties in northwestern New Mexico." About half the proposed parcels
were for private land, with the balance
said to include about 1,000 acres of BLMmanaged land and 1,300 acres of tribal
trust land.

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