The following paragraphs are from the article at:
https://www.hcn.org/articles/energy-the-countrys-busiest-oil-and-gas-office-has-a-plan-for-more-drilling
...
The BLM’s Carlsbad field office, which oversees this three-county
region, is the busiest in the nation for oil and gas drilling. It’s also
a landscape of deserts, grasslands, small mountain ranges and
spectacular underground caves. One of the first major resource
management plans in the country to be released under the Trump
administration, it paves the way for more drilling.
...
Caption: Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an expansive network of caves
that has yet to be completely explored. The caves could be affected by
proposed drilling in the area.
<https://www.hcn.org/articles/energy-the-countrys-busiest-oil-and-gas-office-has-a-plan-for-more-drilling/webcarlsbadcav.jpg/image_view_fullscreen>
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an expansive network of caves that has
yet to be completely explored. The caves near the park could be affected
by proposed drilling in the area.
Aric Brown/Flickr CC
Jim Goodbar, a cave and karst specialist employed by the BLM in New
Mexico for 38 years before retiring in January, worked on the resource
plan under the new presidential administration. During that time, he
noticed priorities shift in line with Trump’s energy-first vision.
“There was definitely a sense that everybody was thinking, we wished
we’d gotten it approved prior to the change of the guard,” Goodbar said.
The former employee also told /HCN/ he’s concerned the draft RMP uses
2014 data about water and mineral resources. “Since then, there have
been major (oil) discoveries, and the numbers of wells and sizes of the
pads have changed quite dramatically,” Goodbar said. “So that could be a
lot more environmental impact than they would actually be reporting.”
...
Tension between conservationists and industry in the Carlsbad region
also extends deep underground. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, first
designated in 1923 as a monument, protects over 100 miles of caves that
formed millions years ago and have yet to be fully explored. “The cave
and karst resources ripple out far beyond the boundary of the park,”
said Jerry Otero of the National Park Conservation Association. The cave
networks are connected to aquifers, which could be contaminated if
drilled into for oil and gas, Otero said. "It’s very likely groundwater
would be impacted and there is a possibility that caves and underground
structures connected to the cave systems within the park could be
penetrated and contaminated,” if certain areas near the park are
leased, added Ernie Atencio, NPCA’s New Mexico senior program manager.
Lee Skinner
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