Border of NM and CO... gas/oil field?

[cmc]

Does anyone know what's with all the roads and clearings around the western half of the boarder of New Mex and Colorado. Say around hwy 550? Seems to be an oil or gas field. I've driven through the area a few times and don't recall every seeing anything.

Viewed from Google Earth
..and below Lat/Long will get you in the vicinity.
LAT - 37° 0.096'N
LONG - 107° 45.203'W

 

[hank4elk]

Effin' Fracking!!
Place is a wasteland compared to a few years back. Used to be great hunting & fishing. Not anymore.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Those are the result of fracking for natural gas. As you can see there are thousands of these. The area will be polluted for decades to come. That really sucks!

 

[MTGomer]

Thise are definitely wells. Pumping the tears out of coal lovers and Saudi humpers alike. They are less palatable when they're not occupying the barren wasteland of the Bakken or Texas desert.

 

[James Riley]

No big deal. I saw a T.V. commercial by the fracking industry here in Colorado. They had a healthy-looking women with a back pack, hiking in the rockies, shorts, boots, etc. She told me she went into the environmental sciences because she is an environmentalist and she wanted to work from the inside to make sure the Earth was protected. She said everything is fine, not to worry about it. Good enough for me.

 

[teamhoyt]

While those clearings are certainly gas wells they are clearings because of fracking. I'm Also pretty certain the area will not be polluted for years to come except for the visual aspect

 

[James Riley]

“I tossed my empty out the window and popped the top from another can of Schlitz. Littering the public highway? Of course I litter the public highway. Every chance I get. After all, it’s not the beer cans that are ugly; it’s the highway that is ugly.” – Edward Abbey

God damn roads.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Fracking has been around since the 40's with a pretty good record of safety. That Gas and Oil field has been drilled for quite some time, so it is pretty developed. Continue as you were. John

 

[hank4elk]

There are roads & wells & pits/tanks every 1/4 to 1/2mi now. There has been oil business around Farmington & Bloomfield for many years.
But the roads where a mile apart. There was good hunting then.
We had a pit rule in place(lined ) but Martinez recinded it. Too much burden on poor oil folks.
Now the ground water is contaminated ,where there is water.
And I wouldn't eat a fish caught in San Juan or Animas now.

I don't mind extraction industries. Until they abuse & wreck everything and walk.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

That Hank is a state owned problem the people who elected him own also. I can't believe a company would not do the right thing with all of the Lawsuits that come from a Failed Pit Wall. We have been doing Lateral wells here in Louisiana that go 9000' across almost 2 sections and if that wellbore gets off by 100' the company is fined big time and they have to have another Department of Conservation Hearing to approve that well for production. Well sites are constantly inspected and fines are made if they don't meet specs. John

 

[hornart]

A good portion of the land in that picture is on Southern Ute Reservation , especially on the Colorado side of the line, and they like the royalties

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

The New Mexico Regs state that a Liner must be in place. John
https://www.nmoga.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/New-Pit-Rule.pdf

 

[hank4elk]

It's mostly BLM . Some private & state.

 

[James Riley]

That Hank is a state owned problem the people who elected him own also.

When you say it is a state owned and voter owned problem, what do you mean? As opposed to who? The industry? They didn't own this? If that's what you mean then I think you are right. It is indeed an externalized cost, also known as a socialized cost, or socialism. The industry owned us.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

JR, You can only work in the confines of what a state allows you to operate in. John

 

[James Riley]

JR, You can only work in the confines of what a state allows you to operate in. John

As we all know, that is not true. You can always operate outside of the confines that a state allows you to operate in. I think some of the posts above prove that.

Further, what you seem to be saying is that, if you can get away with it, go for it, it will be on the state for allowing you to get away with it. Which goes back to my point about ownership.

 

[hank4elk]

Folks just like ownership of profits,not of ethics or for actions.

 

[Gr8bawana]

While those clearings are certainly gas wells they are clearings because of fracking. I'm Also pretty certain the area will not be polluted for years to come except for the visual aspect

Wow, I sure hope you were being facetious.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

As we all know, that is not true. You can always operate outside of the confines that a state allows you to operate in. I think some of the posts above prove that.

Further, what you seem to be saying is that, if you can get away with it, go for it, it will be on the state for allowing you to get away with it. Which goes back to my point about ownership.

That Sir it total BS. John

 

[James Riley]

That Sir it total BS. John

Without argument we have no way of knowing whether what I said was total BS or not. Thus, it stands un-rebutted.

I think there are some incorrect assumptions being made by some industry apologists.

The first would be that the votes of the voters matter more than industry influence and money.

The second would be that there is no difference between "before-the-fact" and "after-the fact", the state is all-powerful, and that industry does not work on the principle of "It's always better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission."

The last, of course, goes back to the issue of ownership already discussed. (Unless we are advocating a policy of shooting these people in the head when they fail to comply or enforce. That might change things.)

Largely because of "Citizens United", money rules. Industry rules. The State (i.e. we the people) end up owning the costs while industry gets the profits. Some get cheaper energy they did not bargain for, while that same industry is subsidized at the expense of alternatives who's subsidies are minuscule in comparison.

Warning, I'm going into digression here: "IF" I ever won the lottery (big time lottery, not some penny-anti BS) I would spend a metric shit ton of money doing T.V. commercials rebutting all the industry BS I see on T.V.. Instead of a cute, harmless little women in shorts hiking through some of Colorado's most scenic back-drops, I'd have some gnarly, hairy, old hunter standing with his wife, son and daughter in the middle of one of those travesties we see above. He'd say: "Hey, have you seen those fracking industry commercials with the cute, harmless little woman in shorts hiking through some of Colorado's most scenic back-drops? She's a lying !@#$%^&*. This is what they do. We used to hunt here. Lot's of elk, deer, clean water, etc. This is the cost of your cheap energy while she laughs all the way to the bank, on your nickel."

It's one thing if we all go into a bargain with a level playing field and knowledge about costs and benefits. But when the costs are hidden and state runs interference for industry benefits, we have a problem. Especially if only a few bear a disproportionate share of the costs and others get a disproportionate share of the benefits. If this is BLM land then the federal government has some responsibility here, not just the state of Colorado and it's voters.