by Rev. David Grousnick

According to Greek mythology, Sisyphus was once a cruel King of Corinth. And when he died, he was eternally condemned to push a giant boulder to the top of a steep hill. The closer he got to the top, the steeper the hill became, and the harder it was to push the boulder.

Every time he had almost gotten the boulder to the top of the hill, he would lose control of it. It would roll over him and down to the bottom of the hill, where he would have to start all over again.

On this Labor Day weekend I hope that none of you are feeling like Sisyphus. I hope that you don’t wake up every morning feeling like you have to push a giant boulder up a hill. Some people do.

Like the teacher who was complaining about her job. She told about her principal who was lecturing the faculty quite unmercifully.

One by one, he presented them with a painful list of all their failures, flaws and shortcomings. He rebuked them for over an hour for all the mistakes they had made over the year.

Then he announced that the science club was sponsoring a blood drive and that he would donate the first pint of blood. An anxious voice piped up from the rear of the room and asked, “But whose blood?”

I hope your work environment is a little better than that. At least I hope your boss is a little more sympathetic.

Eiton Mayo, a professor at Harvard, once did a five-year study at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago to find out what effect fatigue and monotony had on productivity. He stumbled onto a motivation principle that revolutionized the theory and practice of management.

Mayo took five workers off the assembly line and put them under the watchful eye of a friendly supervisor. Then he started to make frequent changes in their work conditions. But he always discussed the changes in advance.

He changed their work hours, number of breaks, and lunch times. Occasionally, he would switch back to the original, more difficult working conditions. To his surprise, changing back to the tougher conditions didn’t adversely affect production. Instead, it kept going up.

The professor realized that by singling out certain workers, he raised their self-esteem. They developed a friendly relationship with the supervisor and soon began to feel more like part of a team. Exercising a freedom they never had before, the workers talked, joked, and began meeting socially after work. Mayo and the supervisor had their cooperation and loyalty. That explained why production levels rose even when rest breaks were taken away.

The part of the study dwelling on positive effects of benign supervision and the effort to make workers feel like they’re part of a team became known as the Hawthorne Effect. We still see this used in management today.

There is, I think it is true to say, something a little bit depressing about Labor Day weekend. For Labor Day weekend signals the psychological end, at least, to summer with its periods of refreshment, and the start again, for many of us, of the more hectic rhythm of life and work at school, in college, at office or, in home.

Let me ask you: How is your work? Are you giving of yourself at work? Is work a place where you sacrifice for a cause?

I find it helpful to remember the story of the little girl who, in the process of growing up, discovered that more than anything else she wanted to be able to mow the lawn. But each season she was told that she was too young.

The great day came, however, when her parents decided that, at last, she was old enough to do the task.

She did it with surprising skill and great delight, and having finished admiring her work, she began to cast long, envious glances across the fence at the neighbor’s lawn, which also needed cutting.

The neighbor, seeing her interest, said, “Sally, would you like to cut my lawn?” And the little girl enthusiastically said ‘yes.’

“Well, let’s see…how about $3.00?” said the neighbor. The little girl’s face fell, and she turned away, shaking her head. “What’s the matter?” asked the neighbor. “I only have $2.00,” said the little girl.

May God bless all those who labor. I pray you enjoy a great and restful Labor Day weekend!!

David Grousnick, is the Pastor at the First Christian Church in Artesia.

Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media

A new medical facility is coming to Eddy County as Artesia General Hospital announced plans to build a campus on the north end of town, replacing the hospital’s primary facility in the next five years.

The facility will serve all of Eddy County, including patients from Artesia and Carlsbad, along with smaller communities like Loving or Hope and bigger cities like Roswell to the north.

Project Manager Jeremy Kern said the project began with a “master plan” process developed three years ago by the Artesia Special Hospital District.

The land, about 250 acres near the corner of Mill Road and U.S. Highway 285 near Tractor Supply, was purchased by the district about two years ago, he said.

“We really wanted to evaluate our current building and the functionality of it,” Kern said. “That led us to the conclusion that a new structure would be more cost effective. In the last year, we’ve been really focused on developing this north campus.”

The 157,000 square-foot facility will only require about 65-acres, Kern said, meaning the rest of the property will likely be developed for housing, dining or retail businesses. He said developers are being sought to add to the location.

The property was designed to host 146 houses, likely valued at $300,000 or less, Kern said, along with 82 smaller townhomes in a walk-able area.

“The space itself is a healthcare village,” he said. “You want people to be able to walk and also the appeal of being near a gorgeous healthcare facility.”

But the old facility won’t be forgotten. Kern said Artesia General Hospital plans to continue using the current building on 13th Street for a purpose yet to be determined as the district engages with local stakeholders.

The hospital was first build in 1981 and expanded in 2006. Kern said the new facility will be able to better take advantage of technological advancements in several medical sectors.

The building will expand the operating room capabilities and its emergency room capacity, while growing beyond the currently available 25 internal beds at the facility. Overall, Kern said, the facility will provide a “more modern rural healthcare clinic.”

“Medicine has come a long way since both of those dates,” he said about the initial construction and expansion. “This build will be heavily used by those that use the facility.”

A more state-of-the-art facility, Kern said, will also bring in more well-trained specialists to work at Artesia General Hospital.

“That’s what will attract these people to the medical field to be involved in something on the cutting edge of technology and the healthcare industry,” Kern said.

He said the project is in the “programming phase” when the interior of the new facility is designed. This phase develops the kinds of services, technology and how the facility’s operations are organized. That was expected to last about two years, with construction planned for late 2027, Kern said.

“We’re going to get down to how many steps our nurses take in a day and how we can make that more efficient,” he said. “In the early concepts, you just put the shell on, then you dive into the interior.”

Artesia General Hospital Public Relations Director Khushroo Ghadiali said the new hospital is part of an agenda for the hospital system, which also includes offices in Carlsbad, to improve healthcare for the entire region.

The hospital recently added a cardiologist, urologist and nutritionist to improve its offerings to patients.

“We all know rural healthcare is a challenge,” Ghadiali said. “We’re not going to be able to do everything, but it’s one step at a time.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 734-972-6855, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Adrian Hedden
Carlsbad Current-Argus

A Permian Basin-based pipeline company sought to up its presence in the region by buying up almost a billion dollars in midstream assets in a merger announced last week.

Enterprise Products Partners said it was acquiring Pinon Midstream in an about $950 million deal, adding natural gas gathering and processing facilities to its portfolio in the eastern side of the Delaware Basin, a sub-basin of the Permian that straddles the New Mexico-Texas border.

The deal was expected to close by the end of 2024.

Pinon’s assets included in the sale were about 50 miles of natural gas pipelines both for gathering and re-delivery, along with five gas compression stations.

The assets also have a hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide treatment capacity of 270 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d), and a planned expansion to 450 MMcf/d by the second half of 2025.

The sale also included two acid gas injection wells, and Enterprise is considering locations for a third, according to a company announcement, which will mean a total injection capacity of 750 MMcf/d.

The company estimated the area of the assets, mostly in Lea County in the Delaware Basin, had more than 7,500 remaining well locations but drilling was restricted due to a lack of gas treating capacity in the area.

Chief Executive Officer A.J. Teague said the acquisition would help Enterprise capitalize on this demand, and increase Enterprise’s presence in the booming Permian Basin.

“These assets accelerate our entry into this region by at least three or four years. These assets are highly complementary to our midstream energy system and provide us an excellent entry point into the eastern flank of the Delaware Basin for us to expand our natural gas processing footprint,” Teague said.

“Our entry will provide producers a choice for reliable and value-added processing services.”

Brazos adds pipelines on Texas side of Permian

Brazos Midstream based in Forth Worth, Texas said it completed multiple projects to build pipelines that would serve oil and gas operators throughout the Permian Basin.

The company completed a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic gas processing plant in Martin County, Texas, going into operations in October, and is finishing an about 175-mile natural gas gathering line and other associated infrastructure spanning the region.

Upon completion, Brazos will operate about 260 total miles of natural gas lines and 10 compressor stations in the Midland Basin, the eastern sub-basin of the Permian.

Brazos also planned to build another 300 MMcf/d processing facility in service by the second half of 2025, increasing the company’s capacity to 500 MMcf/d.

Brad Iles, Brazos CEO said the Permian Basin accounted for about a quarter of natural gas produced in the continental U.S., with production expected to grow in the coming years.

“These expansion projects are a testament to our continued commitment to build high-quality assets in the Permian Basin and provide the highest level of service for our producer customers,” Iles said. “Our asset base represents mission critical infrastructure that provides reliable capacity for existing Permian gas production that has been historically underserved.”

Analysts predict continued growth in Permian

U.S. oil production was forecast to grow by 13.7 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), while natural gas would grow to 114.3 billion cubic feet per day (cf/d).

The EIA said most of that growth centered in the Permian Basin in southeast New Mexico and West Texas, driven by high productivity of newly drilled wells.

Newly-completed wells in the Permian were producing an average of 433,000 barrels per day in their first month, the report read, while natural gas wells averaged 780 million cf/d.

“In the Permian, increased rates of production from new completions are offsetting existing wells’ production declines and leading to higher crude oil and natural gas output,” read the report. “These productivity increases indicate significant efficiency gains and technological advancements in the drilling and completion process.

“This new well production is more than offsetting the declines in production from existing wells.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 734-972-6855, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media

Another $35 million in federal money was made available to New Mexico to help plug more than a thousand abandoned oil and gas wells throughout the state.

The Department of the Interior announced a total of $775 million offered to 21 states on Aug. 14, part of a $4.7 billion effort to clean up the wells, which often sit abandoned when oil and gas companies deem them nonviable financially.

Not monitored and unplugged, the wells can leak pollution into the air, water and land as they sit idle in New Mexico’s oilfields – both in the Permian Basin to the southeast and San Juan Basin in the northwest.

The money to fix the problem came via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which offered $444 million in the first phase of the formula grant process. The money announced this month, including the $35 million in eligibility for New Mexico, was the second phase of the program.

In total, New Mexico was eligible for about $72.3 million via the program for the work.

“President (Joe) Biden’s Investing in America agenda is enabling us to confront long-standing environmental injustices by making a historic investment to plug orphaned wells throughout the country,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. 

“These investments are good for our climate, for the health of our communities, and for American workers. With this third round of additional funding, states will put more people to work to clean up these toxic sites, reduce methane emissions and safeguard our environment.”

Missi Currier, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said energy companies in New Mexico planned to work with regulators, using the increased funds to aid in remediating abandoned wells.

“Our member companies are committed to the continued remediation of abandoned wells,” Currier said.

Conservation groups urged the federal government to take more action to prevent wells from being abandoned in the first place, rather than paying for their remediation with public dollars.

The Center for Biological Diversity noted 3,300 inactive oil wells in New Mexico the group said operators should be required to clean up rather than seeing the State or federal agencies pick up the tab.

And New Mexico regulators should enforce state law to require companies address their abandoned wells, said the groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity in an Aug. 21 letter to New Mexico’s Oil Conservation Division (OCD) – the state’s lead oilfield compliance arm.

OCD data showed more than 300 companies drilling for oil and gas in New Mexico have wells listed as abandoned or “orphaned” in industry terms, read the letter.

Companies are required to pay into bonding for financial assurance to the state to pay for well clean up, but the groups argued this was inadequate to fund the work.

“It’s high time that oil and gas companies in New Mexico are forced to clean up their toxic mess, rather than leaving the rest of us to deal with it,” said Gail Evans, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Albuquerque. “The state must start prioritizing the health and well-being of New Mexicans and our environment by enforcing its own laws.”

At the state level in New Mexico, this would mean increasing the bonding rates required of companies who extract fossil fuels, the letter read.

In June, former-Acting OCD Director Dylan Fuge estimated the state had $107 million in bonds against up to 35,000 well statewide. That would pay for “less than half” of the cost if 1 percent of those wells should they be abandoned, Fuge said, about $200 million.

He’s now an attorney for nonprofit Earth Justice in Santa Fe and said higher bonding rates would better support state regulators, while protecting the environment.

If 5 percent of the wells in New Mexico were abandoned, Fuge estimated remediation would cost up to $500 million and more than $1 billion if 10 percent of New Mexico’s wells needed clean up.

“Industry is doing plugging continuously, hundreds a year,” Fuge said. “They plug them for a whole host of reasons. It’s not reasonable for us to assume all wells would be abandoned, but there has to be a balance.”

That’s why Fuge supported House Bill 133 during the 2024 Legislative Session, which ended in February, that would have created a “tiered” bonding rate based on the size and production of oil wells drilled in New Mexico. Smaller, low-producing wells would be grandfathered into their current bonding rates, Fuge said, if the bill had passed.

The idea was likely to be brought up again in the 60-day session starting January, he said.

“We know macroeconomic situations can change, increasing state liabilities and we need assurances to cover those liabilities,” Fuge said. “It’s like any insurance, the key is finding a path forward that reflects the right balance in terms of adequately insuring against future risks and not add undue costs.”

Currier, NMOGA president argued oil companies already pay into the state’s Conservation Tax which Currier argued should be used more via legislative action to pay for the well clean up, rather than raising bonding rates.

“Increased bonding requirements will only serve to limit opportunity for small, New Mexico-owned businesses,” Currier said. “An unnecessary increase may actually grow the number of abandoned wells as smaller companies become unable to secure a bond.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 734-972-6855, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.