ABQJOURNAL: Roswell Company Sole Bidder on Otero Mesa Lease

The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group said its 2 1/2-year study of federal land records found oil and gas companies already have access to a broad expanse of public land in New Mexico, but little oil and gas has resulted.

The government leased or offered more than 27.8 million acres of public land in New Mexico between 1982 and 2004, but public land in the state produced less than 18 days’ worth of U.S. oil consumption and 126 days of natural gas consumption between 1989 and 2003, the group said.

I watched the news as tourists flocked to Trinity Site for the 60th aniversary of the first atomic bomb explosion. No one mentioned Hiroshima or Nagasaki or where we’ll be using the first nuclear bunker busters. mjh

Remembering Nagasaki

mjh’s Blog: Hell on Earth

Now the sun has disappeared
All is darkness, anger, pain and fear
Twisted, sightless wrecks of men
Go groping on their knees and cry in pain
And the sun has disappeared

(Simon & Garfunkel)

Remembering Nagasaki

The appearance of the city differed from other bomb sites: here, the explosion and the fires had reduced the entire city (about four square kilometers) to ashes in a single instant. Relief squads, medical and fire-fighting teams, could do nothing but wait. Only the luck of being in a well-placed air raid shelter could be of any use for survival.

Even if the medical and fire-fighting teams from the surrounding areas had been able to rush to the scene, the roads were completely blocked with rubble and charred timber. One had not the faintest idea where the water main might be located, so it would have been impossible to fight the fires. Telephone and telegraph services were suspended; the teams could not contact the outside world for help. It was truly a hell on earth. Those who had just barely survived the intense radiation-their eyes burned and their exposed skin scalded-wandered around aimlessly with only sticks to lean on, waiting for relief. Not a single cloud blocked the direct rays of the August sunlight, which shone down mercilessly on Nagasaki, on that second day after the blast.

The Daily Inter Lake

The documentary “The Fire Next Time,” a chronicle of two years of conflict in the Flathead Valley, will be seen by audiences nationwide July 12 and 17. …

Patrice O’Neill said her initial interest in the Flathead Valley was piqued by the Project 7 revelations, when the arrest of Project 7 leader David Burgert in February 2002 led to the exposure of an alleged plot to kill local government leaders.

Over the two-year course of the filming, the filmmakers were drawn to KGEZ radio owner and “The Edge” talk-show host John Stokes, who said at one point in the film that environmentalists were “destroying America.”

I saw this documentary. Talk Radio “host” John Stokes is a vile human being. He spews hate; he foments hate; his is the face of hate. At one point, he says he supports a recall of local government officials only because “we don’t allow assassination in this country.” The look on his face, his tone, said clearly that he disdains that fact — that the country would clearly be a better place if he could just kill the problem-makers. Horrifying.

It is very important to recognize that this guy and his followers call themselves “conservatives” and “patriots” and all of their many enemies “liberals”. I’m not saying he represents conservatives. I’m just looking for conservatives to repudiate the evil in their midst with half the condemnation they direct at liberals. Guys like this will happily split this country into warring factions. What are you going to do about it? mjh

P.O.V. – The Fire Next Time | PBS

With beautiful Flathead Lake at its center and Glacier National Park 30 miles to the north, the valley’s 80,000 residents host over two million visitors a year…. [It is also a] flashpoint in the country’s running battle between the forces of economic development, environmental activism, and anti-government extremism. …

A radio talk show host regularly called for the “eradication” of “green slime” while broadcasting the addresses of local environmental activists. …

[A] shadowy terror group called Project 7 was discovered with a cache of arms and a hit list of local government officials, police officers and their families. …

Everyone agrees things took a sharp turn when failed political aspirant John Stokes came to town, bought local radio station KGEZ, and began hosting a daily talk show that was, for some, a breath of fresh air ? and for others, a hateful and threatening voice. It’s the unapologetic Stokes who sponsors burnings of green swastikas, and who blandly disavows any hateful intent while broadcasting the home addresses of environmentalists, calling them “the enemy.” …

“We knew going in that what was disturbing the Flathead Valley involved some of the most critical issues facing the country today,” says director/producer Patrice O’Neill. “What we also discovered was a striking example of modern talk radio polarizing the political atmosphere, and just how high the stakes are ? for our whole political system when conflicts like this erupt in growing communities.”

ABQjournal: Future Water Is More Valuable Than Gas Royalties By Stephen Capra, Executive Director, N.M. Wilderness Alliance

Oceans of water, enough to last hundreds of years are stored in this huge aquifer…. The economics of protecting a water resource that can sustain several communities and towns for a hundred or more years far outweighs the short term gain from gas royalties.

Think back to the first time you heard about Otero Mesa in southern New Mexico. What descriptions do you remember hearing? I recall “remote, stark beauty.” What exactly is the dollar value of “remote, stark beauty”? We better figure that out quickly, because you can’t save anything you can’t put a dollar value on.

In those early discussions of the inevitable damage drilling will undeniably cause (count roads in that), one of the last things mentioned was water. Even then, I thought, uh oh.

Now water is the only argument left because we can’t assign a dollar value to leaving “remote, stark beauty” untouched, and I am certain we will regret that.

Today, Stephen Capra, perhaps a reasonable environmentalist, hands developers the perfect argument for a new Rio Rancho in the middle of nowhere. He even uses the exact words developers used about Albuquerque: that aquifer will sustain unbridled growth “for a hundred years or more.” We heard that nonsense constantly for decades right up until the moment it was proven categorically false. D’oh.

If I were a greedy profiteer looking to make money off of Otero, I’d say, OK, so we won’t drill — let’s build thousands of houses! After all, there is an endless supply of water there and people will love to have homes in all that “remote, stark beauty.” That sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? mjh

PS: Capra is President of the Wilderness Alliance, of which that not-so-dangerous radical, Dave Foreman, is a member. I look forward to Jim Scarantino’s reaction (see yesterday’s entry). Full Disclosure Fetishists will be aroused to learn I’ve contributed to WA. I’m really not a member of anything, and I don’t throw money around. However, I do appreciate the hard work of reasonable people who try to protect land from exploitation and ruin. Sadly, money is all that matters to capitalist zombies, for whom “remote, stark beauty” is a marketing phrase.

Coalition for Otero Mesa

ABQjournal: Ridgetop Mansion Questioned By Laura Banish, Journal Staff Writer

The bulldozers clearing the way for a 23,000-square-foot mansion on top of a summit in the Sierra del Norte neighborhood may be digging toward controversy. [The mansion plus a 3000 square foot guest house are being built on four lots by Santa Fe mutual fund manager Andrew Davis, another caring rich person.]

Some area residents contend that the city’s rules regarding development on ridgetops and foothills are intended to prevent large homes from being built on the city’s prominent peaks. Santa Fe city staff say the purpose of the ordinance is really to restrict development in the city’s Escarpment Overlay District by controlling the height, architectural style color, grading and landscaping of structures.

“I think many of us found it surprising that even with this law on the books, it is still possible to permanently alter the Santa Fe skyline without any public debate,” George Johnson, a member of the board, said.

The Land Use Code states that “the interest and welfare of the people of the city is to restrict development in the Escarpment Overlay District to preserve the aesthetic beauty and natural environment of the ridgetop areas of the foothills and to protect the mountain views and scenic vistas from the city to the extent possible.”

Johnson said he became aware of the construction a little over a week ago when he looked out of his back yard and saw that the top of one of Santa Fe’s northern hills had been “chopped off.” …

[T]he house will total 23,105 square feet to include several ample bedrooms, a library, his and her studies, a game room, children’s play room and fitness area with luxuries such as interior reflecting pools, roof-top gardens and a 15-by-20-foot wine cellar with a barrel vaulted ceiling.

Homeless people are welcome to camp anywhere on the property at any time. “We really feel for them,” Drew Davis never said.