Salazar in Carlsbad - Potash, oil and gas industries moving forward together

With decades of disagreement under their belts, area oil and gas producers and the local potash industry are making preparations to move forward together after a nudge in the right direction from United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, who stopped through Carlsbad on Thursday. Salazar, Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, joined potash industry officials for a tour of Mosaic Potash's Number 5 shaft, where they watched as 280-million-year-old rock was exposed by a large driller. Mosaic and Intrepid potash mine potassium chloride from the area and are the only companies in the world to mine a mineral referred to as K-Mag. Officials said 1.4 million pounds of product are mined each year, yielding half a million dollars. Following the tour of the underground tunnels and operations, the Washington dignitaries sat down with local and state BLM staff, representatives from Mosaic, Intrepid, the Sandia National Lab and area oil produces, including Concho Gas, Yates Petroleum, Devon Energy Oxy and BOPCO. "We are going to try to bring an end to the conflict that has plagued the area for three decades," Salazar said at the Potash, Oil and Gas Steering Committee meeting...more