Landowners, oil-industry group sue to block first countywide ban on oil drilling in U.S.

Mora County, New Mexico, is a small county making big waves. In April, commissioners in the county of 4,500 voted to ban all oil drilling, including hydraulic fracturing and the use of water for fracking. Now, the county is facing a lawsuit from an oil-industry group and landowners who want to lease drilling rights, Steve Terrell writes for The New Mexican in Santa Fe.

The ordinances say "corporations violating the local law won't have the rights of 'persons' under the U.S. and New Mexico constitutions and cites local residents' water rights under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the U.S.-Mexican War in 1848 and made New Mexico a U.S. territory," Mike Lee reports for Energy Wire. "Natural communities and ecosystems including, but not limited to, wetlands, streams, rivers, aquifers and other water systems, possess inalienable and fundamental rights to exist and flourish within Mora County against oil and gas extraction. Residents of the county, along with the Mora County Commission, shall possess legal standing to enforce those rights."

In response, "The New Mexico Independent Petroleum Association and two landowners have sued in federal District Court, asking a judge to rule that the county ordinance contradicts state and federal law," Lee writes. "The ban on drilling violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of due process and the Constitution's prohibition against governments taking private property without compensation, the suit says." (Read more)

"Mora was the first county in the United States to impose an outright ban on all drilling," Terrell writes. Richard Gilliland, president of the state Independent Petroleum Association, said in a release last week: "What the Mora County Commission has done with this ordinance is an insult to the U.S. Constitution and every free citizen." But Mora County Commissioner John Olivas responded by telling Terrell, “I was in a position to protect our resources in Mora County. We’re ready for this fight.”

Terrell reports, "The San Miguel County Commission rejected a similar drilling ban" but is considering an ordinance to greatly restrict fracking. "In 2008, Santa Fe County, in response to a Texas company’s plan to drill in the Galisteo Basin, adopted a law that doesn’t actually outlaw drilling, but places enough restrictions that those in the oil industry have said it amounts to a ban." (Read more)