Oil and gas billionaire Harvey Yates, Jr. is giddy at the prospect of drilling in Valencia County, ignoring well-documented research on how oil and gas extraction harms health, causes air pollution and water contamination and climate warming greenhouse emissions. Harvey Yates, Jr. will leave a legacy of pollution for our children and generations into the future. Do the people of Valencia County want to compromise water, health, and the beauty of the land with heavy truck traffic, noise, toxic wastewater, and air pollution -- all for the benefit of oil and gas companies? 

A recent study by the Environmental Defense Fund determined that more than 300,000 metric tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted annually from oil and gas sites in New Mexico. Those emissions include toxins and smog-forming pollutants that can cause “prenatal harm, respiratory impacts, cancer, heart disease, mental health problems, and premature death.” Do we want to sacrifice the health of our children and our grandparents for the benefit of oil and gas companies? 

The Albuquerque Basin or Middle Rio Grande Rift is unique in that it is one of only four active basins in the world. It is an unstable, seismically active basin that has thousands of faults and fractures. Hydraulic fracturing “fracking” for oil or natural gas involves injecting fresh water, a slew of toxic chemicals, and sand at high pressure to create cracks deep below the earth's surface. If the driller hits a fault in the basin, suddenly those toxic chemicals flow into the aquifer. According to geologists, fracking in the Albuquerque basin can cause earthquakes and irreversible contamination of the aquifer, impacting people, agriculture, livestock, and wildlife. Do we really want to put our fresh water, our most valuable resource, at risk of contamination? 

Drilling locally has been a long-term game plan for Yates, who is among the wealthiest New Mexicans, flush with assets, land, and political influence. In 2016, the Yates family sold Yates Petroleum for $2.5 billion to EOG Resources. Harvey Yates, Jr. is currently the president and CEO of Jalapeño Corporation. Adding to his sphere of influence is his recent acquisition, with a group of investors, of the Rio Grande Sun newspaper in Espanola Valley. It is reported that Yates, through his different companies, owns 7,600 acres of land and 20,000 acres of subsurface mineral rights in Valencia county, and Yates has not disclosed maps of his proposed drilling areas. Will a drilling rig pop up right next to your home or your child’s school? Under the proposed ordinance, regular people like us will have little to no recourse when that happens. 

We can follow the Yates money in Valencia County: In 2020, Yates’ Jalapeño Corporation donated $1,500 to County Commissioner Bizzell’s election campaign, (amounting to three-fourths of all the money contributed to his campaign). When elected, Bizzell and County lawyer Pato drafted a Natural Resources Overlay Zoning (NROZ) ordinance with input from Harvey Yates, Jr., the oil magnate. The ordinance is written with the express purpose of easing safety precautions on the processes of oil and gas exploration and extraction. If adopted, the NROZ ordinance would reduce the administrative steps, public hearings, and safeguards, essentially giving the green light to extraction in Valencia County and keeping the public in the dark. 

In recent op-eds, Yates has made misleading claims that drilling has no effect on health – but scientific research proves otherwise. We only have to look at Eddy and Lea County to see how oil and gas drilling affects the land and air, turning NM communities into polluted sacrifice zones vulnerable to boom and bust economic cycles. Drilling in the Albuquerque Basin brings too many risks. County Commissioners should reject the NROZ ordinance and protect Valencia County’s most precious treasures: fresh water, public health and cherished landscapes. 

References

1. https://www.edf.org/nm-oil-gas/

Anni Hanna is a climate activist in New Mexico serving as the director of social media and outreach for Global Warming Express and a community advisor for New Mexico Climate Justice, an affiliate of Climate Justice Alliance, who advocates an end of all fossil fuel projects. Anni grew up on a farm in Massachusetts , taught elementary school in Gallup, and now lives in Albuquerque.