New Drilling For Otero Mesa

The Bush administration has approved a large part of Otero Mesa in New Mexico for drilling, according to the Los Angeles Times. Local environmental, ranching, property rights, hunters, and conservationists had banded together to oppose drilling, in part because of concerns about groundwater (drilling uses a great deal of water, which the plan doesn’t address), the effects on local wildlife, and grazing land. “The potential energy yield from the area is unclear.”