WASHINGTON (AP) New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday
that governors should be allowed to protect environmentally
sensitive federal land in their states against oil and gas
drilling.
Richardson, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association,
said the Bush administration already has a precedent for such a
move: a proposed forest protection plan that would leave it to
governors to designate what federal forests should remain roadless.
Under Richardson's proposal, a final decision on a governor's
petition still would be up to the Interior Department.
"We're not against oil and gas development, but there are areas
that should not be developed," Richardson said in a speech to
environmental groups.
Richardson said in an interview he believes both Republican and
Democratic governors might appreciate greater say in what
ecologically sensitive lands should be protected.
He noted a long-standing moratorium on oil and gas drilling
along much of the U.S. coastline outside the western Gulf of
Mexico. It has been in place for years under both Republican and
Democratic administrations, environmentally benefiting coastal
states.
Congress and the administration should give landlocked states
such as New Mexico "the same kind of ecological attention,"
Richardson said.
Richardson, who is widely thought to be interested in a
presidential bid in 2008, has been in a battle with the Interior
Department over the extent of oil and gas development in New
Mexico, especially the Otero Mesa, a desert grassland area that
environmentalists say would be harmed by oil and gas rigs.
The governor wants to prohibit oil and gas drilling on 630,000
acres of the 2.1 million-acre Otero Mesa area, but said the
Interior Department has ignored his pleas.
"It's time for Congress to enact provisions for drilling
moratoriums in places like these," said Richardson.
There's no indication the Republican-led Congress or the Bush
administration might warm up to Richardson's idea. The
administration and GOP leaders in Congress have argued that energy
development and environmental protection can coexist, given modern
drilling technology.