WP, pg1: In Valle Verde, NM, environmentalists, hunters oppose drilling

[DeepModem Mom]

Growing Coalition Opposes Drilling
In N.M. Battle, Hunters Team With Environmentalists
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 25, 2006; Page A01

....The natural beauty of this area of the (Carson National Forest), known as Valle Vidal, remained largely unblemished as the 101,000-acre mix of scenic conifer forests and open meadows became a sporting playground for Hollywood stars and moguls, and later for oil company executives, before the land was donated to the government in 1982 by Pennzoil Corp. and opened to the public.

Now, Valle Vidal has become a battleground in the drive to expand energy exploration on public land, attracting the attention of a growing coalition of hunters, anglers, environmentalists, ranchers, homeowners and politicians across the ideological spectrum.

Here and elsewhere in the Western United States, this coalition is starting to resist the push for energy exploration in some of the nation's most prized wilderness areas. Although it remains unclear how successful they will be, these new activists -- including many who treasure Valle Vidal as a place to fish for cutthroat trout, hunt for elk and ride horses across its wide expanses -- have brought a new dynamic to the public debate over energy development in the West....

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The debate over Valle Vidal began in 2002 when El Paso Corp. announced it wanted to explore drilling for coal-bed methane, which involves tapping into beds of coal and extracting water to release the trapped natural gas. The Forest Service must decide whether to allow it....In the case of Valle Vidal, two of the groups fighting hardest to preserve it are hunters, who vie for a once-in-a-lifetime state permit to shoot elk here, and devotees of the Philmont Scout Ranch, which is next to Valle Vidal and brings 3,000 Boy Scouts there to hike each year....

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"The Bush administration's drill, drill, drill philosophy is really upsetting many traditional recreationalists in the West," (New Mexico Governor Bill) Richardson said. "This will have political repercussions for the Republican Party in the West, and for Republican candidates."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/24/AR2006072400951.html

[MasonJar]

1. Environmentalists need any ally they can dredge up. Thank

goodness for a Dem. guv. Good luck, Nevada!