Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
achedden@currentargus.com

About 7,500 acres of public land in southeast New Mexico was scheduled to be sold to the oil and gas industry at auction July 24.

The Bureau of Land Management auctions leases to federal land each quarter of the year, allowing oil and gas companies to nominate tracts that are then used to drill for fossil fuels.

Leasing the land is the first step to energy production, as operators are also required to apply to the bureau for permits to begin drilling.

Here’s what to know about the most recent upcoming land sale to the oil and gas industry.

Where are the lands being leased?

The proposed lands in the sale include 7,302 acres on 14 parcels in Eddy County and 200 acres on two parcels in Lea County.

How can you get involved?

A 30-day protest period – April 14 to May 14 – was opened by the bureau to allow those interested to submit comments opposing the sale of specific lands offered in the auction.

Protest comments can be submitted by mail to the BLM New Mexico State Office, Attention: State Director, 301 Dinosaur Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508.

Protests can also be submitted by email to BLM_NM_Q3_2025Protest@BLM.gov with the subject line: Q3 July 2025 Protest.

The protest should include the name and address of the protester and should state whether the protest is for a person or organization along with reference to specific parcels being protested and reasons to support the protest.

The current protest period followed a scoping period, when technical feedback was requested by the bureau, and an additional public comment period that closed in February.

What are the terms of the leases?

All the leases would be offered at the recently updated 16.67% royalty rate paid by the operator to the federal government on the value of oil and gas extracted. The rate was raised from 12.5% in June 2024 when the bureau enacted its Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Rule.

That also meant minimum bids were raised from $2 to $10 an acre and operators were required to buy bonds of at least $150,000 per lease and $500,000 for all leases statewide. Bonds act as insurance policies to pay for cleanup should a well be abandoned.

Federal oil and gas leases are for 10 years or for as long as oil or gas is produced.

What other leases are planned this year?

The Bureau of Land Management’s fourth quarter lease sale in New Mexico was planned for November on a proposed 8,860 acres.

This auction includes 4,479 acres in Eddy County, on about nine parcels, along with 312 acres on one parcel in Roosevelt County.

The sale also included lands in New Mexico’s northwest San Juan Basin with 1,997 acres on three parcels in McKinley County; 1,520 acres on three parcels in Sandoval County; and a single parcel on 320 acres in Rio Ariba County.

Another 322 acres on four parcels in Oklahoma will be included in the November sale.

Feds pull back on environmental analysis

Federal oil and gas leases will no longer require the bureau to complete environmental impact statements, a document that specifies potential impacts to water, land, air and other aspects of the regions where fossil fuels are produced.

The Bureau of Land Management announced April 10 it was rescinding an order requiring the statements that was issued by January 16, 2025 – four days before President Donald Trump took office.

The decision applied to 3.5 million acres of federal land in New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

The cancellation was in response to Trump’s executive order “Unleashing American Energy” which sought to roll back several environmental regulations related to oil and gas production.

Rebecca Hauschild
For the Artesia Daily Press

A new style of barrier will be used by the Artesia Police Department after city councilors approved a donation of about $546,000 for the project Police Chief Kirk Roberts said was needed as local events get bigger and require improved traffic and crowd control.

Councilors voted at their April 22 meeting to accept the donation from the Greater Artesia Foundation for a modular vehicle barrier system and trailer for police to use for safety during events. The system will take the place of current fencing used by the city.

The new barriers can link together quickly and pivot out of the way easily, Roberts said.

“Events are getting bigger, the car show for example,” he said. “We can open them where we want traffic to flow out and can move them very rapidly.”

Mayor Jon Henry said the improved barrier system will benefit residents attending events in the city, improving safety and the adaptability of stationed security.

“It’s a testament to our city that we have foundations that care about the safety of our citizens. We take it seriously and I know the commander worked hard on figuring this out,” Henry said. “It’s awesome that Artesia is that much further ahead than so many towns our size.”

Roberts also reported the police department was in the process of acquiring new vehicle cameras, body cams, virtual reality equipment and drones. He said police vehicles will be outfitted with new cameras that include automatic license plate readers to compare plates of stolen vehicles and give police an alert if a theft is suspected or if a plate is associated with a missing person report.

“You guys stepped up and are putting us at the forefront of the application of technology,” Roberts said.

He said the new body cameras will be able to translate between English and Spanish in real time, while automatically transcribing recorded interviews. Training was underway for drone piloting and virtual reality components, Roberts said.

“It’s getting more and more complex to bring a case in front of a jury,” Roberts said. “When I started, everything was written by hand. No one had video of anything. Nobody even had tape recorders back then. Now you can hardly get a case heard unless you have a body cam video. If there’s no video, they’re not even going to hear your case.”

Other business

Community Development/Infrastructure Director Byron Landfair reported the city’s annexation has been officially filed and the city now has new official city limits.

In response to concerns about speeding at Jaycee Park, Landfair reported city staff are adding pedestrian crossings, barrels, flashing signs and speed signs.

John Anguiano, facility maintenance supervisor, said the city received conditional approval for a splash pad and anticipates opening it soon after fixing a small issue with a concrete slab. Crews added a fence in the middle of Jaycee Park in all directions, updated the lighting so all are working now and installed a new flagpole at the Senior Center – making that seven flag poles maintained throughout the city. New lighting was installed at every intersection on 26th Street from Ray Avenue through Centre Avenue, completing a four-year project.

Rosemary Braswell, gifted education teacher at Artesia Intermediate School, appeared with four 7th grade students who presented their passion projects:

• Brodie Becker – Cleaning up Artesia

• Conner Summers – Aeronautical engineering

• Brooks Sexton – Pros/cons of electric vs. gas cars

• Santiago Padilla – Helping the homeless

During the Government Committee report Councilor Wade Nelson reported Artesia Clean and Beautiful is asking permission for a mural on three sections of cinder block fence at the Dr. JJ Clarke Park.

The Artesia Library will have several flight-focused events and programs leading up to the National Championship Air Races planned this summer in Roswell. STEM labs on airplanes and rockets and a birthday party for Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man on the moon will be held at the library.

The Artesia Historical Museum & Art Center is considering hosting an exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution for two years. The committee also discussed adding murals at the Artesia Airport that depict air races, and the Artesia Senior Center is making flight-themed quilts.

The Senior Center is planning to repair the parking lot and dance floor with capital outlay money that New Mexico State Sen. Jim Townsend helped secure.

El Rito Media News Service

New Mexico Health officials reported one additional New Mexico measles case April 25, this time an adult in Eddy County, bringing the total reported infections to 66.

The slow drip of cases in recent weeks does not indicate the outbreak is abating, according to New Mexico Department of Health Communications Director Robert Nott, who told Source NM that symptoms can appear a week or more after infections.

“The seemingly slow increase in measles cases in New Mexico should not be taken as a sign we are anywhere near out of the woods with this outbreak,” Nott said in a written statement. “We see continued measles spread in bordering areas — Mexico and Texas, for example — so there is always the potential for a new introduction of cases in New Mexico.”

Nott also noted that cases may rise in coming weeks after recent Easter weekend gatherings, given that “symptoms of measles do not appear until roughly a week (or more) after infection.”

The majority of measles cases in New Mexico remain in Lea County, which has 61 cases; the state has had six hospitalizations since the outbreak began in neighboring Gaines County, Texas, just across the state line. Cases in Doña Ana and Chaves counties remain unchanged, with one reported case each.

Texas health officials on April 25 reported cases increased by an additional 22 infections, bringing the total there to 646.

Measles is highly contagious, spread through contact with airborne droplets from an infected person. Infected people can spread the disease several days before symptoms such as fever, red eyes, cough or spotty red rash appear. Two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine offers 97% protection against catching the measles, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control.

While the majority of health professionals continue to recommend two doses of the vaccine as the safest and most effective prevention from contracting measles, a recent poll from nonpartisan health research organization KFF found nearly a quarter of their sample believed false claims about the vaccine.

Also last week, researchers from Stanford Medicine published findings that determined if vaccination rates drop further, measles (and other infectious diseases) could return in the U.S. after decades of eradication. Using a mathematical model to simulate the spread of diseases, researchers also found that if vaccination rates remain the same, measles may still make a comeback in the next two decades.

Pediatrician Dr. Melissa Mason told Source NM she sees a measles comeback as a matter of potential life and death.

“With vaccination rates as they stand, without dropping more, we’re still gonna see people get measles — get sick and die from this,” she said.

Mason, who chairs the immunization committee for the New Mexico Pediatric Society, said she’s been impressed with efforts from New Mexico health officials to vaccinate people in the Southeastern corner of the state. Statewide vaccination rates are nearly double from the same time frame last year, according to data released April 22.

“These are gold star efforts, and that’s going to make a difference,” she said. “But nationally, in other areas that continue to have lower rates than 95% coverage, we’re going to continue to see measles.”