McGegor Military Range Could
Conceal Oil And Gas Deposits

By Ken Anderson and J. Zane Walley
The Paragon Foundation

McGregor Range sprawls over 600,000 acres of public lands in southeastern New Mexico. The Military Lands Withdrawal Act of 1986 largely removed it from use and reserved the land for military training. To continue using McGregor after 2001, the military was required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement consistent with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and apply for an extension of the withdrawal in accordance with Department of the Interior regulations.

The continued "withdrawal" of McGregor and the expansion of low-level bombing corridors over Otero Mesa have been besieged by protests from area residents and environmental groups such as The Forest Guardians and the Center For Biological Diversity. Lost in the commotion over the range are concerns from the petroleum industry. They contend that U.S. government agencies preparing the EIS for NEPA used information on oil and gas deposits that was "speculative, opinionated; not factual, vague and lacking current science." The EIS findings effectively block exploration companies from researching hydrocarbon resources on a vast portion of McGregor.

Burlington Resources and the Harvey Yates Company are experts on oil and gas. They, along with other companies, would like to see the area explored for petroleum deposits instead of reserved for military training only. The Yates Company stated their concerns formally in the McGregor EIS. They wrote, "The Orogrande Basin encompasses roughly 11,000 square miles in Southern New Mexico and West Texas. Over 4000 square miles of those same acres are currently restricted to any kind of oil and gas exploration by the Federal government. If the U.S.A. wants to maintain a domestic hydrocarbon industry and production over the next 50 years, areas like McGregor Range must be opened up and investigated."

Burlington Resources feels likewise, saying, "BR currently has an interest in the Bennett Ranch Unit, a recent commercial discovery east of McGregor Range, and nominated for leasing over 200,000 acres in Otero County in early 1998. Based upon preliminary geologic understanding of the McGregor Range, BR believes this area to have potential for oil and gas exploration and production. More subsurface evaluation of this area, such as seismic activity and/or wildcat drilling, is needed before further conclusive information can be determined." BR also believes that legislation should be considered to address mineral leasing.

HEYCO Petroleum Producers is the operator of the Bennett Ranch Federal Unit on which a recent significant gas discovery was made just east of the McGregor Range. They state, "Our understanding of the Orogrande Basin leads us to believe that this area has significant potential for oil and gas production from similar hydrocarbon traps and reservoirs as found at Bennett Ranch and the Permian Basin in general."

Do New Mexico and America need access to the hydrocarbon resources that these companies claim lie under McGregor Range? The New Mexico Business Journal stated, "Oil and gas royalties and production taxes have contributed 28 percent of the $2.75 billion New Mexico General Fund — used to fund schools, higher education, and the operation of state government — as well as 90 percent of the $6.5 billion in the state's two permanent funds."

Nationally, demand for petroleum products far outstrips production. In 1998 the United States imported, on average, 9.76 million barrels of crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined petroleum products each day. This represents almost 52 percent of the 18.92 million barrels used each day in America. The Persian Gulf region supplies 2.13 million barrels daily, 22 percent of our imports.

The Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s dramatically showed how reliance on imported energy is our Achilles’ heel, but the trend is now toward even greater dependence on imports. Perhaps the energy resources under McGregor Range are as important to our nation as the training conducted on the surface and in the air above McGregor Range.