Greens thwart oil/gas development in sensitive areas When Barack Obama spoke in Albuquerque on Oct. 27, Nathan Newcomer, associate director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, gave congressional candidate Martin Heinrich a gift for the presidential candidate. The gift was a book — “Otero Mesa: Preserving America’s Wildest Grassland.” It was not a book to go on Obama’s coffee table but one Newcomer hoped might influence his energy policy. President-elect Obama’s administration is expected to be more environmentally friendly than his predecessor’s. NMWA has been battling the Bush administration and New Mexico’s oil and gas industry for the past eight years over sensitive habitats, such as Otero Mesa. By forming coalitions with regional eco-groups, ranchers, hunters, home owners and local and state legislators, it has thwarted industry attempts to expand into sensitive areas, including Chaco Canyon, Otero Mesa, the Galisteo Basin, the Rio Chama watershed and the Valle Vidal, north of Taos. Gov. Bill Richardson emerged as a hero in the green camp for protecting many of those areas from gas development....