Politics, Gas Fuel Battle Over New Mexico Forest
SANTA FE, N.M. (Reuters) - A Texas energy company may get rights to drill in a pristine swathe of a New Mexico national forest after a White House task force intervened on its behalf, a move that has become a hot issue in the battleground state before next week's presidential election.
Oil giant Pennzoil donated the 40,000-acre (16,187-hectare) parcel in northern New Mexico known as Valle Vidal for conservation in 1982, and it has been a protected wildlife and recreation area as part of the Carson National Forest.
According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Houston-based oil company El Paso Corp., a large donor to Republican campaigns and candidates, asked the White House's energy task force in 2003 to intervene on its behalf with the Forest Service.
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Politics, Gas Fuel Battle Over New Mexico Forest