alibi . december 7 – 13, 2006
An Altered Land
The quest for coal bed methane consumes both a New Mexican landscape and a way of life that depends on it
By William deBuys

The federal government has tried to ameliorate the fragmentation of interests on public lands by pursuing an official policy of “multiple use.” At times the strategy has worked, but only when guided by an ethic of restraint and supervised by honest referees. The plain fact, clear to all but selectively denied according to self-interest, is that coarse uses, if unchecked, drive out the fine. Backcountry skiing dies where snowmobilers swarm like hornets. Hiking and fishing become joyless in a cow-burnt meadow, and nothing gets along with cut-and-run logging. …

In 2003, the BLM adopted a management plan for its Farmington resource area that predicted approval over the next 10 years of an additional 9,942 gas wells on federal lands across a major swath of the San Juan basin, encompassing Hart Canyon, the Rosa and much else, where 18,000 oil and gas wells were already active. …

But sacrifices notwithstanding, the nation’s dependence on foreign oil has doubled since 1982 (to 56 percent of total consumption), and in the same period U.S. dependence on foreign gas has tripled to almost 15 percent. And no one speaks publicly about sacrifice.