ABQjournal: Caldera Case Now in Fed CourtBy Adam Rankin

The energy company that wants to build a geothermal power plant in the heart of the Valles Caldera National Preserve is taking its case to federal court in an effort to gain access to geothermal wells drilled decades ago.

In an ongoing property rights conflict that has attracted the attention of Congress, GeoProducts of New Mexico filed the lawsuit on Thursday in federal court seeking to force the trust that manages the land to allow the company to use the wells it considers integral to its plan to develop the energy source.

“The trust has consistently claimed that we don’t have the right to use those wells, which is nonsense, we think,” said Ken Boren, president of GeoProducts of New Mexico. …

The trust is adamantly opposed to any energy development on the preserve and argues that building a power plant and associated transmission lines across the caldera would run counter to the intent of Congress, which paid $101 million in 2000 for 89,000 acres to establish the land as a working ranch and natural preserve. …

GeoProducts holds the lease on about 12.5 percent of the mineral rights beneath the caldera. Boren said unless the government agrees to what he and the mineral rights owners feel is a fair market price for their share of the minerals, GeoProducts plans to go ahead with its intention of building a full-scale power plant in the preserve’s southwest corner.

So, these folks are blackmailing you and me: give us $15 million for mineral rights or we’ll build a huge power plant and power lines in this beautiful area. Mineral rights they acquired for pennies from you and me. This kind of scam shames all capitalists. Have some decency, please.

Still, we must enjoy the irony that they will use “alternative energy” to screw everything up. mjh