By Rebecca Moss

A town hall meeting at the Pena Blanca gymnasium will be held at 2 p.m. today.

A Sandoval County commissioner says a proposed ordinance for the county would, “by deliberate design,” promote oil and gas development but fail to protect groundwater and drinking water in the region and should not become law.

In a 10-page letter to residents of Sandoval County’s District 1, which spans from Sandia Pueblo to Cochiti Lake, Commissioner James Holden-Rhodes writes that a county ordinance regulating oil and gas drilling is being “force-fed” to constituents, and that the measure is “of very questionable value.”

“It needs to be forcefully stated that any drilling in this area poses an extremely high risk for contamination of the drinking water aquifers,” Holden-Rhodes says in the letter, which outlines the complexity of the terrain across Sandoval County, especially in areas that overlap with the Albuquerque Basin aquifer.

The ordinance, which would be the county’s first regulations on drilling, largely align with state and federal laws. County officials say it offers even more protections than those laws. Still, it has sparked debate in communities across the 4,000-square-mile county — and beyond — over the extent to which it would not only open the door to more industry development, but also could usher in long-lasting environmental damage.

A vote on the measure was scheduled for November, but commissioners delayed a decision until January following a hearing that drew dozens of opponents, including many Native American activists.

Holden-Rhodes’ opposition comes after outcries by several other elected officials who live in the county, including town of Bernalillo Mayor Jack Torres, state Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, and a number of tribal governors who have called the ordinance opaque and said it misrepresents the public’s interest.

Lente said “our history as neighbors — between Navajos, Hispanic communities — has been one that has been largely based on our ability to communicate with one another and respect one another.”

The process of drafting the drilling ordinance, he said, “has been anything but that. Decisions have been made behind closed doors; when they hold public meetings, their minds have already been made up.”

Many county residents feel their voices have been silenced, he said.

Lente and 12 tribal governors plan to meet Monday with commissioners to discuss the ordinance.

State oil and gas companies and the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association have said the regulations are reasonable and provide necessary stability for companies interested in developing wells in Sandoval County. Most new development is likely to be concentrated in the northern part of the county, industry groups said, where hundreds of wells are active, tapping into the fruitful San Juan Basin.

Roughly 1,100 wells have been drilled in that area since at least the 1950s, state geologists say.

Beth Wojahn, a spokeswoman with the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, said 71 permits were issued in Sandoval County between January 2015 and November 2017, most for the northern area.

Those permits include one for SandRidge, a company that sought to drill in Rio Rancho in 2015 but faced strong opposition during a public hearing process that also highlighted the lack of a county ordinance.

County officials say an oil and gas ordinance has been under development since that time.

Commission Chairman Don Chapman, a Republican from District 3 who supports the ordinance, said it is more stringent than regulations in “any other oil-producing county in the state.”

“One of our challenges is the fact that we are trying to craft an ordinance and the industry was already here,” he said. “… We are adding a layer of accountability to the industry that currently doesn’t exist in Sandoval County. If we don’t pass the ordinance, we are pretty much back where we’ve been for the last 75 or 80 years.”

The ordinance would require companies to leave a 750-foot boundary between a well and a school, residence, church, hospital, cemetery or freshwater supply. Companies also must show proof of compliance with state drilling regulations and share emergency plans with local first responders.

Chapman said the commission plans to publish an amendment to the ordinance next week that will include special provisions for populated areas and give the county attorney additional authority over drilling permit applications.

But Holden-Rhodes and a number of residents say the guidelines are still far too lenient and leave room for drillers to pollute or stoke earthquakes.