Abandoned oil, gas wells get plugged in New Mexico- By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
More than 200 inactive oil and natural gas wells in New Mexico have been plugged as land managers have tried to crack down on producers as part of an accountability and enforcement program in one of the top producing states in the U.S., officials said Wednesday.
The State Land Office estimates it has saved taxpayers at least $20 million in cleanup costs over the past few years by having the industry pick up the tab.
The Land Office's efforts are separate from work elsewhere that's being funded by the federal government.
Congress in 2021 committed $4.7 billion in infrastructure spending to plug and reclaim orphaned wells and associated sites. The Bureau of Land Management awarded its first contracts last summer for work in Utah and California, while New Mexico and other states were awarded multimillion-dollar grants.
In New Mexico, the State Land Office says its work has resulted in a nearly 20% decrease in the number of abandoned wells on state trust lands, property that was allocated to New Mexico by the federal government more than a century ago so it could be used to raise revenues for public schools, hospitals, colleges and other public institutions.
Several inactive wells dated to the 1980s, including one that hadn't produced anything since 1982. Another well that went on the inactive list in 2020 had been drilled in 1925.
Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard said the idea is to keep the state — and ultimately taxpayers — from having to pay for any messes that companies create on state trust lands.
"This program has proven that we can require companies to clean up after themselves and still deliver billions of dollars in record revenues for our schools and other institutions," she said in a statement, adding that environmental compliance has been a priority for the office amid booming production in the state.
Home to a portion of the Permian Basin, New Mexico has become the No. 2 oil producing state in the U.S. Much of the development has been on federal land, but state officials have been using a new satellite imagery program to identify spills on state trust lands. They also have ramped up auditing of royalties that are owed by producers.
Under the Land Office's' plugging program, officials contact producers first to give them an opportunity to plug inactive wells and remediate any contamination on state leases. Litigation is possible if operators fail to meaningfully respond.
Ari Biernoff, general counsel at the State Land Office, said the agency will continue to use all available tools to bring companies into compliance.
"While many lessees and operators act responsibly, this program exists for those who don't," Biernoff said.
Plugging and cleanup costs can vary widely, ranging from $40,000 for one site to more than double that depending the depth of a well and contamination levels, according to the State Land Office. Although the number of inactive wells fluctuates, agency officials have identified just over 1,000 chronically inactive wells on state trust land. That total has accumulated over several decades.
As Jemez River flood threats ease up, irrigation channels start flowing water after delay - Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
Farmers and ranchers dependent on the Jemez River were forced to halt their irrigation plans over the weekend when floods caused by intense snowmelt came through the region. Fieldwork is picking up again as that danger decreases.
Affected areas in Sandoval County are still assessing damage repair costs.
On Tuesday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order declaring an emergency and allocating relief funds for the area. Emergency order funds like these can take months to trickle down to the affected communities.
Imminent flooding threats seemed to have eased up. The National Weather Service told Source NM they’ve set to cancel a flood advisory on Wednesday morning.
Randall Hergert is a forecaster with the National Weather Service. He said the flooding was a result of excessive snowpack that melted off the Jemez Mountains quickly due to warm spring weather.
The flooding along the Jemez River damaged crops and caused wastewater from a treatment to flow into the water source, he said.
CONSERVE WATER
Sandoval County is asking residents in Jemez Spring to conserve water in order to reduce the amount of water going to the wastewater treatment plant that was damaged by the flood. They can still use bathrooms.
Sandoval County officials declared a local emergency order a week ago and asked the state for help, too. The emergency order Lujan Grisham signed on Tuesday allocates up to $750,000 for public health measures, including emergency lodging or food needs.
Roger Sweet is a mayordomo with the Jemez Springs Ditch Association. He said there wasn’t too much damage where his acequias are in the northern Jemez area. He did have to halt his plans to turn water into the ditches on Saturday due to the damage flooding could do to the acequias that were just cleaned.
He also had concerns about the wastewater that flooded into the river. He said he tested the water his ditches use for e-coli, and all the tests came out fine.
Sweet said he plans to turn the water into the ditches on Wednesday now.
Others weren’t as lucky. Sweet said the flooding did a lot more damage near San Ysidro, washing onto farmers’ fields and taking out their crops.
“The river breached a levy down there, and it flooded all the farmers’ fields,” he said. “And there was so much water.
River conditions have been pretty steady with the river flowing at about 6 feet since Saturday, Hergert said The National Weather Service downgraded the situation from a flood warning last week to a flood advisory this week, he added.
Some snow still remains on the mountains, although Hergert doesn’t think it’ll be a threat like it was last week.
“The question now is, is there enough snowpack left to cause another instance of rapid river rises again? My guess would be no,” he said.
Hergert cautioned the public that there are also higher-than-normal water levels elsewhere in the northern mountains and to stay alert.
Albuquerque cannabis equity findings have sat on a shelf for a year - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Cannabis legalization in New Mexico was touted as being a way to repair the harms caused by the War on Drugs, while also creating opportunities for New Mexicans to participate in a new industry, said Shawna Brown.
The city of Albuquerque in August 2021 created the Cannabis Equity Working Group, after the passage of the Cannabis Regulation Act in 2021, which legalized sales of adult-use cannabis in New Mexico.
Brown was a member of the working group and was then contracted by the city, along with Rosalie Flores, to lead the listening sessions and in-person meetings with community members with lived experience, advocates from racial justice groups and cannabis industry professionals.
They gathered data and research, and incorporated them into the community feedback to write the recommendations, Brown said. The recommendations were submitted as part of a 21-page report in the spring of 2022, she said.
However, the administration has neither adopted nor formally rejected the recommendations, Brown told the Albuquerque City Council on Monday night.
She and two other members of the New Mexico Black Central Organizing Committee, Monae Archibeque and Erica Davis Crump, asked councilors to honor the substantial work experience of the volunteer Black, Indigenous and Latinx members of the community who contributed to the Cannabis Equity Working Group and consider adopting their recommendations.
“Though the state has failed at realizing a true plan for equity in the industry, the City of Albuquerque still has an opportunity to look at what’s possible for entrepreneurship, community safety, community reinvestment, and supporting the Black and Brown communities that have been impacted by the War on Drugs,” Brown said.
The Working Group recommended the money be identified as specific to the sale of recreational cannabis, should not revert to the city’s General Fund for spending on other public services, and should be used to help repair harms in the communities that have traditionally been most impacted.
Brown said there have been many times where the city government has asked for community feedback, “and then I feel like the city fails on keeping that feedback loop open about what’s going to happen next.”
Councilor Klarissa Peña said the city government is working on the issue and the new state law specifying how to spend money from the opioid settlement, “to ensure that we’re doing the right things with that money.”
Councilor Pat Davis asked whether the recommendations have been shared with the councilors.
“I haven’t seen it,” Davis said. “The council would love to see some of those ideas while we’re in the budget cycle.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Working Group’s report lays out several strategies that advocates say would have a meaningful impact on equity even beyond the cannabis industry, including housing, job training, education and bonds for young people who have been impacted.
One of the most basic recommendations is for the city government to create an Office of Cannabis Equity. To maintain a cannabis social equity program, the report states, there must be dedicated funding and staff who are well-versed in the new cannabis law.
“This would assist the industry with achieving equity goals, help New Mexicans new to this industry navigate the barriers to entry into the industry, and ensure that the city is allocating the resources — including tax dollars from cannabis sales — in an equitable manner,” Davis Crump said.
Another simple and easy-to-implement recommendation, Davis Crump said, would be to create a city website dedicated to cannabis equity where licensed applicants and others could learn about the industry and find definitions, benefits, the application process, and community safety measures.
Part of the law requires all police agencies in the state to report each year on how many people they arrest, cite and fine for cannabis-related violations, including the race, ethnicity, age and gender of those people.
The report says this information should also be published in an easy to access, centralized place on the city government’s website, and recommends the city track whether legalization positively changes arrest outcomes.
The report also recommends the Albuquerque Police Department prevent an increase in youth cannabis offenses by prioritizing alternatives to arrest, that police get training on the history of cannabis prohibition and racial disparities in arrests, legal possession limits, areas where consumption is legal, and harm reduction resources.
Archibeque asked the city government to carefully consider how the tax revenues from recreational cannabis sales are used.
A more complex recommendation is for the city government to enact environmental protections, Brown said. The report recommends the city government use existing data to limit the oversaturation of cannabis establishments in parts of the city vulnerable to increased rents and exploitation of low-income residents.
The report also recommends the city partner with local water and soil authorities to mitigate the impacts of cannabis water use on the larger ground and surface water systems.