The specter of oil and gas drilling that has loomed over the Galisteo Basin for months began to take form Thursday as Tecton Energy filed three applications to drill new wells with the state Oil Conservation Division.

Applications to drill usually are approved in as little as two days, but because of the large public interest in this case, the division will hold a special public hearing on the applications. The hearing — which will include expert testimony and public comment — will be held in mid-February, the division said.

Oil Conservation Division Director Mark Fesmire said the agency's main concern in reviewing the applications is protecting the fresh water in the basin.

According to Fesmire, Tecton has agreed to honor a three-month moratorium on oil and gas drilling permits passed by Santa Fe County on Nov. 27, to use closed loop systems in its drilling and to not dispose of any waste on-site.

The Oil Conservation Division is considering a rule that would outlaw open waste pits in the state and instead require closed loop systems, in which all sludge and mud is put into tanks or other containers and taken to an approved disposal site.

Tecton has agreed not to begin drilling before April 1.

"These are purely voluntary stipulations on Tecton's part," Fesmire said. "We just told them, 'These are our concerns. Would you like to address them before you submit your application?'"

Fesmire said the fact that Tecton voluntarily agreed to delay drilling and use closed loop systems doesn't mean the division can't enforce those conditions. "We will make them agreed stipulations in the permit," he said.

One well Tecton has sought a permit for will be drilled from the same well pad as Black Ferril #1, an existing well Tecton re-entered last spring. According to the application and attached maps, the new well will be drilled to a depth of 5,500 feet and will be 1,725 feet from the nearest domestic water well.

The new oil and gas ordinance being worked on by Santa Fe County allows oil wells within 200 feet of water wells.

One of the other two wells Tecton applied to drill would be 7,500 feet deep and within 900 feet of a water well. The third would be 8,000 feet deep and within 2,175 feet of a water well.
According to the applications, two of the wells will be drilled using fresh water, and the third will use fresh water and gas or air.

A Tecton spokeswoman said Thursday that no one was available who could say where the company will get the water it will use to drill.

Santa Fe County sold Tecton the 67,900 gallons of water it used to re-enter Black Ferril #1 for $861.25.

County spokesman Stephen Ulibarri said the contract the county had with Tecton has expired, and if the company wants more water, it would have to come before the Board of County Commissioners again to request it.

Around the same time Tecton's applications hit the desk at the Oil Conservation Division on Thursday, Commissioner Paul Campos was hosting a closed meeting seeking agreement on details of the county's still-developing oil and gas ordinance.

Fesmire and Chris Christensen, Tecton's vice president of production engineering, were at the meeting. However, The New Mexican was denied entrance to the meeting.

Earlier in the week, County Manager Roman Abeyta denied such a meeting was happening, but he admitted after The New Mexican obtained other confirmation the county was hosting the meeting.

Ulibarri said there is no written or recorded documentation of the two-hour meeting. He said the media was kept out "because having the press in there totally changes the conversation."

Campos said the meeting was being held in private to keep people from grandstanding and to allow people on different sides of the issue to understand each other's concerns. "We want to have a frank and open discussion, and that's why I think it's so important it be in private," he said.

Campos said a future meeting will focus more tightly on individual regulatory aspects of the ordinance.

He said hydraulic fracturing, a process that entails injecting pressurized fluids into tight rock formations to force oil to flow out of them, emerged as a major concern at Thursday's meeting.
Commissioner Virginia Vigil also attended the meeting, making it one commissioner short of a quorum, which would have required a public notice. She said she didn't know reporters were being denied access and would try to get Campos to allow the media to attend a second meeting of the same participants, scheduled for Dec. 28.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.