Mallery Downs and Dr. Lucy Boulanger, who wrote the op-ed commentary, “West Siders Beware” for the New Mexico Independent, couldn’t be more wrong in their comparison of oil and gas exploration on the West Mesa to what has taken place in other parts of the state years ago.

And the Independent’s grossly exaggerated (and incorrect, by the way) depiction of what drilling looks like in recent decades only fuels the fear-mongering that Downs and Boulanger hope to instill in people who live on the West Side. It’s time to stop exaggerating and start looking at the facts.

Let’s start by clearing up some of the misconceptions about oil and gas drilling that appeared in the op-ed piece by Downs and Boulanger.

 

First and foremost, Atrisco Oil and Gas, LLC is not drilling for oil. We are seeking, through the services of Tecton Energy Corporation, to find clean-burning and clean-producing natural gas, and to develop it as an energy source. The mesa will not be dotted with huge oil rigs such as those inaccurately drawn in the illustration that accompanied the “West Siders Beware” story.

 

Here are some more misconceptions in the article:

 

“Could we in Albuquerque be living next to and exposed to (pollution and contamination caused by oil and gas drilling)?”

 

“If Tecton strikes oil, Albuquerque residents could see more than a thousand wells on the horizon.”

 

According to the Department of Energy, over the past 30 years, production facility footprints of oil and gas drilling have shrunk dramatically. The size of drilling pads has been reduced by up to 80 percent, and new technology has significantly changed the way oil and gas is produced. That is especially true for natural gas drilling, where the footprint is not only small, but when a company is finished using a well, it is safely removed with no visible signs of it having been there.

 

“New seismic and remote sensing technologies, including satellite and aerial surveying, now boost the likelihood that an oil or gas well will be successful and there will be fewer dry holes to disturb the environment,” according to the DOE.

 

The technology Tecton uses – and the type we as stewards of the land agreed to — allows for fewer wells to be used. A single hole can be drilled, then the drill bit can be turned directionally or horizontally underground, to reach a gas production zone miles away from the drill site. The “thousands” of wells the authors of the op-ed speak of gets alarmists’ bells ringing, but it simply isn’t the truth. Technological advances in drilling are cutting wastes, noise and visual impacts, fuel consumption and emissions.

 

Bob Gallagher, President of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association says his industry “stands on it’s 90 plus years of operations in New Mexico, and during that time we have drilled close to 100,000 wells, and not one drop of water, delivered to the consumer, for consumption, has ever been polluted or contaminated by oil and gas drilling activities. These emotional obstructionists will say anything in an attempt to stop our industry from producing oil and gas safely and in an environmentally sound way.”

 

There also are more environmentally friendly drilling fluids being developed, and new techniques for cleaning the contaminants in water produced during oil and gas operations. Where oil and gas production operations are underway across the country, new technology has dramatically reduced greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants and provided better protection of groundwater resources, according to DOE reports.

 

“Before drilling begins in earnest on the West Side, we should ask ourselves the simple question, `What do we want Albuquerque to become?’”

 

Most West Siders want from Albuquerque what East Siders have had for years. They want affordable housing. They want a high-paying job near where they live and raise their families. They want a grocery store within walking distance, or a park to take their children to on Saturday mornings.

 

Development like the one planned by the SunCal Companies on the West Side will make that possible. And a responsibly developed community can co-exist with the continued need to explore all energy sources that includes natural gas exploration.

 

Atrisco Oil and Gas has agreed to lease the land to Tecton in order to achieve an energy gain as well as a financial one for the more than 6,000 unitholders in the company.

 

These unitholders – most of them who live in the South Valley and on the West Side – are heirs of the 300-year-old Atrisco Land Grant and former shareholders in Westland Development Corporation. When Westland was sold to SunCal in 2006, part of the agreement for the sale was the shareholders were to retain certain oil and mineral rights, which the Atrisco Oil and Gas Company oversee.

 

In order to fulfill our obligation to the unitholders, we will continue to responsibly and respectfully look for natural gas and other minerals on the land while SunCal builds a responsible community.

 

Atrisco Oil and Gas, believes that building a healthy community is possible without destroying the land, water or air, and without forgetting our responsibility to seek a positive return on the investment of our unitholders.

 

So, to the question “What do we want Albuquerque to become,” for the people who live on the West Side now, those who will choose to buy a home in the SunCal community in the future, and those who are unitholders in Atrisco Oil and Gas, the answer is easy: We want the ability to live, work, raise a family and perhaps even prosper financially from our investments.

 

There’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Albuquerque and West Side residents do not need to buy what some environmental alarmists are selling. The mesa isn’t destined to be a polluted wasteland because of our natural gas exploration. It is, and will remain, a healthy place to live as we continue to grow and seek energy solutions for our future.

 

Peter Sanchez is CEO of Atrisco Oil & Gas.