Showing posts with label neighborhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighborhood. Show all posts
Friday
Tuesday
Friday
Antelope
We couldn't believe our minds when we saw this family of antelope on our driveway last weekend!
Monday
The Antelope Play
These are pictures of an antelope mom and her baby. This is part of the small break-away herd of antelope that is roaming our neighborhood this year. These were taken from our backyard.
Friday
Drilling Meeting
Great turnout and great article about Santa Fe County Drilling in the Santa Fe New Mexican this morning.
To read the whole story, follow this link.
About 300 people armed with questions and comments filled the parking lot of Genoveva Chavez Community Center to overflowing. Late arrivals had to sit on chairs outside the meeting room. Some crowded doorways and pressed up against the windows, jostling for position so aggressively that one Tecton representative said he wished the police had been present.
To read the whole story, follow this link.
Saturday
What Do They Want?
We went to the Tecton oil company meeting this past week. I was very suspicious that the company had this voluntary open forum for residents whose property they want to disturb. Since the meeting, I have heard the theory that Tecton is trying to raise the price of the mineral rights they have leased in the County in the hopes that County residents will put pressure on Santa Fe County to stop the drilling. The County might offer to buy the mineral rights from Tecton at a high price in order to stop the drilling. Meanwhile, I am suspicious that there is even much oil available in this area. One of the Tecton owners said the current well is pumping 5 barrels a day. If they are selling the barrels at the current prices, that is only $400 a day. Is this "good money" in the oil business?
Honestly, the meeting was depressing as hell. The evening started off with a long presentation by Tecton explaining how oil drilling equipment has been made smaller, quieter, and less invasive. The implication was that they would use this new equipment in their drilling in Santa Fe County. But it is my understanding that the well they have reopened in the last year does not include the use of this new equipment.
I had been thinking there were possible compromises to be made with the oil companies. Now I think it is important to stop them all together.
Honestly, the meeting was depressing as hell. The evening started off with a long presentation by Tecton explaining how oil drilling equipment has been made smaller, quieter, and less invasive. The implication was that they would use this new equipment in their drilling in Santa Fe County. But it is my understanding that the well they have reopened in the last year does not include the use of this new equipment.
I had been thinking there were possible compromises to be made with the oil companies. Now I think it is important to stop them all together.
Wednesday
More Drilling News
Santa Fe County Braces for a Major Round of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production. Follow this link to an article in the October issue of the Sun Magazine about drilling in Santa Fe County.
Techton will be hosting a meeting at the Turquoise Trail Elementary School this Thursday from 6-9. For more information follow this link.
Techton will be hosting a meeting at the Turquoise Trail Elementary School this Thursday from 6-9. For more information follow this link.
Tuesday
Tuesday Night
Joel picked me up at work in this car.
We had dinner with Marsha and Ellen before they leave Santa Fe heading off to their old mansion in Tucson.
Then we came home.
Wednesday
Drilling in the Neighborhood
When we bought our property, we knew we didn't own the mineral rights. We even looked up the person who owns the rights, and found that he lived in New York City. We didn't think it was a big deal.
Now the drilling in our area is beginning again.
I am putting these links on the blog so Joel and I can find them easily - they probably aren't of great interest to anyone else.
This is a link to Google Maps that shows where a well was drilled in the 1980s. You can see where it was sealed off below and left of the center of the photograph
I have been doing some searching and found that all wells have to be reported through the Oil Conservation Division of the State of New Mexico. They seem to be one of the few agencies that has digitized historic records and has them available online.
I think this is the link to the original well permit. It is for Section 13 in Township 15N and Range 8E. It is an application to drill and a well completion report from Yates from 1986. Here is a link to the map submitted with the reports.
Here is a link to all of the well reports submitted for the well across the street.
Here is the webpage we can visit every day to see if a new permit has been issued for a well. Go to this page and select "Santa Fe County" as the only limiter. Today there is only one permit listed for the Ferrill 001 well. It is the only well that has been reopened for exploration in the county, and it is being leased by Tecton. The well in our neighborhood is called Pre-Ongard Well 003.
The technical information Tecton must report on this well has to be submitted within the next 45 days, and will be posted on this website. All of the historical information on this well is also on this site.
At the meeting I attended last night, people have heard from oil companies that the Galisteo Basin has fields as rich as San Juan County, NM. There are over 35,000 wells in San Juan County. Here is a list of other things I learned:
Pumps used to pump off excess water can be heard from 2 miles away.
The pools of water are toxic to wildlife.
In order to conduct the drilling operation for the Ferrill 001 well, over 40 acres were used, and the permit to begin drilling did not go through proper channels - but the work/damage was done none the less. There is a picture on this website.
Neighbors are not eligible for any compensation for loss of property value.
The new laws that went in to effect on July 1st in NM that "protect property owners" are too weak to offer any real protection for real property value loss - for people who own the surface rights.
Companies only need to give landowners 30 days notice of their intent to begin an operation. People in San Juan County have had the experience of receiving no notice at all when drilling begins on their property. Neighbors do not receive any notice.
Santa Fe County is the only county in the state that requires that well permits from the State of New Mexico also be sent through the County government. This is one thing we have in our favor.
One of the people at the meeting last night included a former oil executive who is willing to work with residents and the oil companies (he called himself a former bad guy). He knows what demands can be made - and he has also seen (in Alaska) drilling operations totally stopped because of strong laws and protesting people.
Other people at the meeting last night included very well spoken, rational, environmentalists who are part of well established national and local environmental organizations.
The person who organized last night's meeting will be calling another meeting next month. This is the website where he will be tracking the most up-to-date information.
Now the drilling in our area is beginning again.
I am putting these links on the blog so Joel and I can find them easily - they probably aren't of great interest to anyone else.
This is a link to Google Maps that shows where a well was drilled in the 1980s. You can see where it was sealed off below and left of the center of the photograph
I have been doing some searching and found that all wells have to be reported through the Oil Conservation Division of the State of New Mexico. They seem to be one of the few agencies that has digitized historic records and has them available online.
I think this is the link to the original well permit. It is for Section 13 in Township 15N and Range 8E. It is an application to drill and a well completion report from Yates from 1986. Here is a link to the map submitted with the reports.
Here is a link to all of the well reports submitted for the well across the street.
Here is the webpage we can visit every day to see if a new permit has been issued for a well. Go to this page and select "Santa Fe County" as the only limiter. Today there is only one permit listed for the Ferrill 001 well. It is the only well that has been reopened for exploration in the county, and it is being leased by Tecton. The well in our neighborhood is called Pre-Ongard Well 003.
The technical information Tecton must report on this well has to be submitted within the next 45 days, and will be posted on this website. All of the historical information on this well is also on this site.
At the meeting I attended last night, people have heard from oil companies that the Galisteo Basin has fields as rich as San Juan County, NM. There are over 35,000 wells in San Juan County. Here is a list of other things I learned:
Monday
Snow
Skiing around the neighborhood
House that has been under construction for 2 years. Casa Robledo.
The day the plows came to dig us out - January 9th
House that has been under construction for 2 years. Casa Robledo.
The day the plows came to dig us out - January 9th
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