Gov. Bill Richardson has extended a moratorium on new oil and gas drilling in Santa Fe County and the Galisteo Basin for six months, saying government agencies can use to the time to gather information and begin making rules that protect wildlife, aquifers and archaeological and cultural resources.



“I remain gravely concerned that oil and gas drilling activities could negatively affect those resources, so I have extended the temporary moratorium to allow further information gathering and protections to be put in place,” he said in a statement after issuing the executive order today. The extension remains in place through Jan. 24, 2009.



The lengthy executive order also directs the state Oil Conservation Division to consider new rules and regulations to protect the basin and calls on the state Environment Department to consider adopting regulations to further protect outdoor air quality from the effects of gas and oil drilling activity in the county.



As well, it instructs the Office of the State Engineer to analyze fresh water supplies in the Galisteo Basin and tells the Department of Cultural Affairs to determine what cultural resources exist in the region. In addition, the state Indian Affairs Department will gather input from tribes and pueblos about the potential for oil and gas drilling in the county and basin.



The extension comes at a time when the United States is increasingly divided over oil and gas drilling. Santa Fe County residents have been vocal about their opposition to exploration in the Galisteo area, but a recent Pew Research Center poll found an increasing number of Americans support drilling to expand domestic energy supplies, though at 47 percent they’re still in the minority. President Bush on Monday issued an executive order of his own, lifting the federal ban on offshore oil drilling that his father, President George H.W. Bush, enacted. The action now puts the offshore ban before Congress, prompting strong divisions in the New Mexico delegation, The Albuquerque Journal reported today.



If Americans buy the idea that additional oil drilling will reduce prices at the pump — currently averaging $3.98 a gallon in Albuquerque — Richardson and fellow Democrats might find the moratorium idea backfiring, particularly in areas far from the Galisteo Basin. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it will take years for the economic effect of offshore oil drilling to trickle down to consumers, and then the relief will be measured in pennies, not dollars.