SPLIT ESTATE

Please find below and attached a sample set of comments on the BLM Split Estate Issue. Given the poor attendance of landowers and users at the Listening Session in Albquerque, it is IMPERATIVE that LOTS of written comments go in.

If you have personal experience with impacts of the oil and gas industry on the surface estate, please include them. The more personal you can make the comments, the better off we will be thanks.

The comment deadline is tomorrow, April 1, 2006.

Thanks!

March 31, 3006

Mr. Jim Perry, Environmental Scientist
Fluid Minerals Group
Bureau of Land Management
1620 L Street NW, Room 501
Washington DC, 20036 email: splitestate@blm.gov

RE: Review of policies, regulations & laws directing leasing and development of federally managed oil and natural gas under privately owned surface lands

Dear Mr. Perry:

Landowners in the West should not and cannot bear the uncompensated costs of affordable fluid energy for our entire nation. As Americans continue to pay ever-increasing prices at the gas pump, it seems that the fluid energy industry that is making literally billions upon billions of dollars should be ready, willing and able to do their share in protecting private property rights and conservation of our nation’s natural resources that reside on the surface. Given that the industry is unwilling to do so, it is incumbent upon the government and its’ regulatory agencies to provide the structure necessary.

As members of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association (NMCGA), we fully support the detailed comments that the Association has submitted. We want to be sure that the following items are addressed as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) addresses the need to balance fluid energy production with private property rights and natural resource conservation:

The Mining Act must be amended to reflect appreciation of the surface estate over public minerals

Changes need to be made in Onshore Order #1

The BLM must exercise its’ regulatory authority to ensure that:

the best technologies are used to create the least amount of surface damage, even if they are not the least expensive options,

surface use agreements are required

bonding is adequate for the damage anticipated

reclamation is accomplished

Thank you for your consideration. We understand the need for a secure domestic energy supply and fully support responsible energy development. As rural citizens, we are perhaps more dependent upon fluid energy than our urban counter parts for livelihood. It is essential that the BLM find a way to protect surface values, property rights and the water so precious to the West, while permitting responsible oil and gas development.

Sincerely,



Caren Cowan
Executive Director
New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association
Albuquerque, New Mexico
505.247.0584 phone
505.842.1766 fax