Anne Potter Russ owns 60,000 of the 65,000 acres of mineral rights that Tecton Energy has leased in the Galisteo Basin. She inherited them from her grandfather, George William Potter Sr., who bought them in 1947.

Last fall, when Tecton announced plans to drill for a million barrels of light, sweet crude on the land in south Santa Fe County, area residents reacted swiftly. A public outcry resulted in oil and gas drilling moratoriums at both the state and county levels, and prompted Santa Fe County to start drafting new oil and gas regulations.

Until recently Russ, 48, has been a silent figure in the drama that has area residents predicting the environmental death of the Galisteo Basin and oil and gas developers threatening lawsuits.

Now, the perky, blond mother of two who lives in Kansas, where she edits a magazine about philanthropic events, says she wants her voice heard. "What I'm trying to do is put a face on the name of the Ortiz Grant," she said. "My face should represent the fact that I am not a corporate board. I am a person. And I understand the concerns."

In describing how her grandfather acquired the mineral rights decades ago, Russ said: "It was sort of on a lark. He saw an ad in the paper ... for a sealed bid auction on a parcel of land. He put in the one and only sealed bid and received the mineral and surface rights for the Ortiz Grant."

Russ said her grandfather was president of a small mining company that mined ores such as iron and copper. But that's not why he bought the land. "The historical significance appealed to him," she said. "He thought: 'Well, yeah, I like that part of the country, and I think it would be kind of fun to own something like that. My family could own a Spanish land grant.' "

Russ said her grandfather later sold or leased the surface of the land but kept the mineral rights.

In 2006, Ortiz Mines Inc., a corporation Russ heads, leased those mineral rights to Tecton Energy.

Russ said she's learning from Tecton Energy about the new drilling technology they plan to use and believes drilling can be done in an environmentally sound way. "I do not want some runaway train to come through there and start ruining the environment in the name of the dollar," she said. "But I do think we have some very valuable resources there, and by 'we,' I mean we the mineral rights owners, we the state and we the county. I want the opportunity to develop those resources in a responsible way. I know it sounds like a sound bite. I know it sounds like the right thing to say. But I truly mean it."

Russ admitted past drilling efforts conducted on the land haven't always been pristine. "It's been done poorly, I admit it," she said, "even on the Ortiz property. But that was the technology of the time. Now 30, 40 years later, there are much better ways to do it."

Russ said she has specific information on what the new technology "looks like, what it acts like, how it affects the landscape, how it affects the water table, what the security measures are and what the checks and balances are."

Russ said she wants to share that information with the public soon, but wanted to find out more about what local residents were thinking first. So she hired an Albuquerque-based polling and research firm to conduct a survey about Santa Fe County residents' knowledge of and opinions about oil and gas extraction.

"What I wanted to know is: What do you think is happening?" she said. "What do you know is happening? How do you think it's going to affect you? And if I gave you more information, would you be willing to hear it?

"What I heard is: 'I know there is a lot of environmental concern because I've heard it. I don't know that much about the process. I'm afraid of what could happen, and I might be willing to listen,' " she said. "And that was enough for me to say we do care, we are not coming at this blindly, and we are not trying to rape and pillage the entire region."

Russ said she plans to begin disseminating information about environmentally sound drilling practices and the financial benefits that can accompany oil and gas development within the next few months. She's not sure yet what form that communication will take.

She said she's already started meeting "under the radar" with local residents. "I don't want to divulge any specific names," she said. "We've been reaching out mostly to county- and state-level officials to let them know we are serious about being at the table."

Russ said she's moving slowly, learning who her company needs to know before making a big presence in town. "I understand you can't come in as an outsider in a very heated topic and say, 'Here is what you need to know, you haven't been hearing this, here is the information,' " she said.

Gov. Bill Richardson imposed a six-month ban on oil and gas drilling activities in the Galisteo Basin in January and ordered state agencies to compile reports on the topic, which are due the end of June.

Russ said what happens when the ban ends will guide her next steps. "I'm hoping the answer at the end of June is: 'We want to establish new policies, and we want everyone to come to the table and help us do with that,' " she said. "I know it won't just be a free-and-clear everything is fine now. But I'm hoping we are not going to extend the moratorium because that keeps all of us from forging ahead to help construct policies that serve everyone."

Russ said she knows how much her grandfather paid for the Ortiz Land Grant in 1947, but she wouldn't divulge the figure, saying she didn't see the relevance of the question. According to a New York Times account, when the 69,000-acre parcel changed hands in 1897, it sold for $1.5 million.

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


Galisteo Basin mineral rights owner Anne Potter Russ commissioned Albuquerque-based Research and Polling Inc. to survey Santa Fe County residents on how much they know about oil and gas development and how they feel about it. Some results of the phone survey, which polled 400 registered voters, are excerpted here. The poll's margin of error is 4.9 percent.

Question: Overall, how familiar are you with the issues surrounding oil and natural gas drilling at Galisteo Basin in Santa Fe County?

12 percent: Very familiar

49 percent: Somewhat familiar

22 percent: Not very familiar

17 percent: Not familiar at all

Less than 1 percent refused to answer the question or said they didn't know.

Question: Do you generally favor or oppose allowing oil and gas drilling in the Galisteo Basin?

9 percent: Strongly favor

18 percent: Somewhat favor

16 percent: Somewhat oppose

45 percent: Strongly oppose

4 percent: Depends

9 percent: Don't know/won't say

Question: Which of the following statements do you most agree with?

61 percent: Protecting the environment should be given priority, even at the risk of limiting the amount of energy supplies such as oil, natural gas and coal the United States produces.

29 percent: Development of U.S. energy supplies such as oil, natural gas and coal should be given priority, even if it means there is a small risk to the environment.

4 percent: Neither (volunteered)

4 percent: Both (volunteered)

3 percent: Don't know/won't say