Last week, April 2nd, there was a meeting between several company representatives, the BLM and members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation. The topic of the meeting was the potential merger of the New Mexico BLM and the Arizona BLM due to budget constraints. The Department of Interior is planning to move only the State Director from Arizona over to New Mexico to run the New Mexico office. Thus, the 12.2 million acres currently managed by the BLM will be added to the 13.5 million surface acres and 26 million subsurface acres already managed by the Santa Fe Office. It is also interesting to note that the Arizona office does not manage any oil and gas resources while the New Mexico office has the largest office in the country. As an IPANM member, it is important that our congressional delegation hears from us on this issue. Please consider contacting them.

In addition, today, the NM BLM announced that is has postponed the April 22, 2015 lease sale due to “priority workloads.” The 17 parcels totaling 3,295 acres from the Oklahoma Field Office will be added to the July 22, 2015 lease sale. This newest development is very concerning given the move to combine offices without a significant increase in personnel.

If you have any questions regarding the NM BLM lease sales, please contact Becky Hunt, Natural Resource Specialist at 505-954-2154 or rhunt@blm.gov.

Contacts for NM Congressional Offices –
Rep. Steve Pearce: 202-225- 2365
Rep. Michelle Lujan-Grisham: 202-225-6316
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan: 202-225-6190
Sen. Tom Udall: 202-225-6621
Sen. Martin Heinrich: 202-225-5521