Contacts:

Alan Lackey, via Save Our Sugarite, info@saveoursugarite.org Dave Simon, Director, New Mexico State Parks, 888-NMPARKS Bob Dye, Superintendent, Sugarite Canyon State Park, 505-445-5607

VALLE VIDAL CHAMPION DECRIES PLANNED INDUSTRIALIZATION OF RATON’S WATER

July 19, 2007

Raton, N.M. -- A leader in the successful campaign to protect New Mexico’s famed Valle Vidal says a plan to drill for coal bed methane gas in Raton’s Sugarite Canyon watershed represents a possible “death knell” for the area.

Alan Lackey, a Wagon Mound, N.M. rancher, noted Raton has two outstanding features that city leaders promote: exceptionally pure water and the town’s proximity to nationally recognized Sugarite Canyon State Park -- which is part of Raton’s watershed straddling Colorado and New Mexico.

“This is going to be a death knell for the community,“ said Lackey, who produces organic beef for the Canadian River Cattle Company. Lackey noted he respects property rights, but that the drilling plan threatens “the livelihood of the community.“

“We need energy… we need to drill somewhere,” Lackey told core members of “Save Our Sugarite,“ a newly formed citizens group. But he added, “a watershed for a community needs to be protected.”

Raton Waterworks director Dan Campbell has said the city is unable to stop the drilling because Raton does not possess the mineral rights -- which are held by Denver-based Newmont Mining and partially leased by TDC Engineering of Abilene, Texas.

Raton has hired lawyer Lance Astrella of Denver to represent the city in negotiations with TDC. The talks are aimed at reaching an agreement on mitigating drilling impacts and access to the drill site. Campbell said Raton is negotiating to “minimize impact” and “ensure that the action taken does not harm the water supply.”

Lackey, a former Raton area resident, co-founded the Valle Vidal Coalition.

That group successfully won permanent protection last December of the famed federal land in northern New Mexico from oil or gas development through an act of Congress.

Lackey said CBM drilling involves pumping vast amounts of groundwater to the surface in order to release natural gas held in the coal. He said drillers then either hold the “waste” water in pits, re-inject it deep underground or put it into creeks.

“This process destroys water,“ he said, adding this is “water for our children and grandchildren.“

CBM drilling can allegedly affect water quality and quantity, impact fish and wildlife, cause erosion, spread noxious weeds, and create air, noise and light pollution, according to SOS.

However, a 2004 EPA report has stated a key method used in CBM drilling “poses little or no threat” to drinking water.

Raton owns the surface rights of the town’s watershed, which straddles the Colorado-New Mexico state line. The Colorado land is managed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife as the Lake Dorothey State Wildlife Area. The New Mexico side is managed by N.M. State Parks as Sugarite Canyon State Park.

N.M. State Parks director Dave Simon told a SOS-sponsored public meeting on July 5 that drilling would threaten the “biological heart” of the wild area and said the effort should be “stopped cold.“

TDC wants to drive its vehicles through Sugarite to reach Colorado, then build a road about 4 miles long across the Lake Dorothey area to reach the drill site. Hikers reported finding orange flagging in the area on June 29 and contacted workmen reportedly marking the proposed road.

The proposed area includes lush forest meadows brimming with springs and streams. According to a website on water quality by Montana State University, “If a stream is fed by a coal seam aquifer… CBM development in the local area may decrease flow to those water bodies.”

SOS has initiated contact with members of the New Mexico and Colorado congressional delegation to explore possible options to the drilling.

Lackey said even if all CBM reserves were developed in the Western United States, it would represent only about a 1 percent increase in the country’s supply of natural gas. He compared CBM development to “burning down the house to stay warm for a night.”

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(editor’s note: source cited on water flow depletion is