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.