US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar hopes to bring an end to a
protracted battle between developers of oil and natural gas and potash
miners in New Mexico with the issuance of a new plan on Monday to divvy
up extraction zones. Bloomberg reports
that Salazar's plan outlines the creation of "drilling islands" in the
southeast of New Mexico which will permit the simultaneous development
of oil, gas and potash. The south-east of New Mexico is home to the USA's richest potash
reserves and accounts for three quarters of all potash mined in the
country. Disputes over extraction rights are long-standing and date back
to the 1930's, however, as the region is also host to abundant oil and
gas deposits. Potash miners contend that the extraction of oil and gas has a
ruinous effect upon the quality of the key fertilizer ingredient,
leading to fraught legal battles between the industries over development
rights. Salazar's says the new plan will bring an end to these disputes and
permit the simultaneous development of all three resources via the
creation of "drilling islands" and attendant buffers zones which ensure
that oil and gas extraction does not have a deleterious effect upon
potash deposits...more
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Salazar seeks to quash decades-long dispute between NM potash and energy players
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