Rebecca Hauschild
For the Artesia Daily Press

Drilling for a new groundwater well in Artesia was at a standstill due to an “unheard of” mishap at the site, the contractor reported to city councilors during their June 10 meeting.

The Bulldog water well project on the west side of Artesia is headed by Albuquerque-based Souder Miller & Associates, which conducts similar projects throughout southern New Mexico, including Carlsbad and Roswell. The drilling problem could add thousands of dollars to the cost of the project, according to Matt Earthman, a geologist with Souder Miller & Associates.

Earthman said drilling began on May 14 and the mishap occurred at a depth of 640 feet, when crews encountered what at first was a “minor” case of “loss of circulation.”

Typically, drilling fluid – often referred to as “mud” – is pumped down the drill string to cool and lubricate the drill bit while carrying rock cuttings back to the surface, Earthman said. At the Bulldog well, the fluid began seeping into the surrounding underground rock formation instead of returning to the surface.

This can happen when the pressure of the drilling fluid exceeds the formation’s ability to contain it, allowing the fluid to escape into natural fractures, cracks, or porous zones within the rock and reducing the fluid’s pressure at it is pumped underground, the geologist said.

To address the initial loss of circulation, the drilling team applied a “loss control material” intended to block the drilling mud from escaping into the surrounding formation.

Earthman said the measure initially appeared to be effective. However, at a depth of 740 feet, the crew encountered another area that again began drawing fluid into the formation and circulation was lost entirely.

The drilling tools were stuck in the hole, Earthman said. After 60 hours of labor to free the drill, he said, contractors resumed the operation with additional loss-control measures but the formation absorbed approximately 500 barrels of mud almost immediately.

“This is an unheard-of circumstance,” Earthman said. “The driller said they have not seen this level of circulation loss in this shallow of a hole.”

The councilors, per the contractor’s suggestion, opted to have the contractor continue drilling and as soon as circulation is lost, inject cement to harden the hole, and continue drilling down through it.

Earthman said the operation could be conducted up to three times and still may not fix the problem. He said it could cost $61,000 for each attempt, or $187,000 if all three attempts are needed.

The second option was to partially case the hole which mitigates some of the risk of losing the tooling again. The third option was abandoning the hole and selecting another location at least 1,000 feet away.

“We’re less than 100 feet to hit the top of the aquifer formation,” Earthman said. “Then we would case it and go another 200 feet and that’s where we’ll get the water production.”

Other business

Byron Landfair, the city’s director of development and infrastructure, reported that improvements to 26th Street are moving to the next phase – new paving on the retainer wall.

Landfair also said the water-line replacement project on Grant Avenue is close to all the tie-ins, and the South 2nd Street and Richardson Avenue rehab project is complete. Pickleball courts were prepped for slab last week and should be in concrete this week, he said.

The city of Artesia will hold a drone exhibition instead of fireworks on the Fourth of July but Police Chief Kirk Roberts said police don’t expect the event to inhibit the use of fireworks in neighborhoods around town.

“Please be smart about it” Roberts said. “Don’t drink and set off fireworks.”

The council accepted the donation of a 1950 Dodge Stake Bed Truck from C. Brewer & Co. LLC. Brewer Oil Co. was established in Artesia in 1958 and the donated truck was the company’s original delivery vehicle. The truck will eventually be on display at the Artesia Historical Museum & Art Center.

The council also voted to donate a 2013 Chevy Tahoe used by the Artesia Police Department to the New Mexico Military Institute Police Department in Roswell.

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
ahedden@elritomedia.com

A tax levy that produced about $7 million in revenue for Artesia General Hospital last year was rejected by voters in a June 3 mail-in election as hospital leaders sought a four-year renewal.

Officials with the Artesia Special Hospital District blamed the levy’s defeat on low voter turnout in the special election and hoped to see the levy reinstated via in-person ballots in November’s regular election. The levy was established when the hospital district was created in 1979 and had been renewed by voters every four years until this month’s rejection.

The levy is collected by the hospital district, which functions as a government agency, similar to a school district, and as such is allowed to place the levy on the ballot for voters. The funds are used to support operational costs at the hospital, which serves patients throughout Eddy County and in Chaves County.

The hospital district will need approval from Eddy County to put the matter before voters a second time this year.

The levy charges 2.70 per every $1,000 of a property owner’s net taxable property value for those within the district – defined in state statute as “the Artesia public,” which is most land within the city of Artesia.

Voters rejected the levy despite a heavy public relations campaign conducted in the city in the weeks leading up to the election. Eddy County Commissioners voted June 10 to canvass the results: 638 against and 605 for the levy’s renewal.

That meant only 1,243 Artesia voters returned their ballots to the Eddy County Clerk’s Office during the May 6 to June 3 voting period. That’s out of about 10,000 ballots that were sent out, said Jarrod Moreau, chair of the Artesia Special Hospital District.

He said the results were disappointing but explained that the mill levy does not expire until the end of the year, and an affirmative vote in November could revive it in time for funding in 2026.

He said the levy provided between $4 million and $7 million annually to the district over the past four to eight years.

“We were all disappointed. It was advised that we do a mail-in because we all thought it was a home-run thing, and we thought we could save some taxpayer money,” Moreau said. “The next thing to do is run it again in the regular election.”

The last time the levy was up for renewal, in 2021, Moreau said it passed by 400 votes which he said was the approximate difference in turnout between that in-person election and this year’s mail-in ballot.

He also said there may have been some misperception that supporting the mill levy meant raising taxes. Moreau countered that it would keep a tax in place, one he said is mostly – about 80% to 90% – paid by larger corporations such as oil and gas companies, rather than the local residents voting in the election.

Moreau also said the mill levy was not intended to fund a proposed project by the Special Hospital District to build a new hospital campus on the north side of town, replacing its existing main facility with a “state-of-the-art” health facility and potentially adjacent land for affordable housing.

“People ask if this is for that. This (the levy) is status quo for what we’ve been doing for the past 40-plus years,” Moreau said.

Hospital Chief Financial Officer Cory Yates said the turnout was “abysmal” and should the levy be defeated a second time in November the hospital planned to continue driving its revenue by expanding its options and health care offerings throughout southeast New Mexico.

That includes adding providers and specialists for general surgery, urology and family practice, she said.

The mill levy funds operational costs, including salaries for medical personnel and recruiting of specialists. Having those expenses largely covered by the mill levy, Yates said, allows the hospital to focus more of its revenue on infrastructure and capital investments.

Yates said the hospital is “always looking” for new lines of service and ways to bring new providers to the community. “Our intent is to increase access, so we can increase revenue to replace some of the mill levy money.”

Director of Public Relations Khushroo Ghadiali said supporting the levy, and the hospital’s overall operations, means improving rural health care in southern New Mexico and preventing patients from having to travel long distances.

“It’s an investment for Artesia’s local health care. It keeps medical services local, so they don’t have to travel out of town,” he said. “It helps the hospital perform.”

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.