The Threat: Lexam Exploration’s Proposal to drill
 While millions of acres of Colorado’s public and private lands and ecosystems have been impacted by fossil fuel development, the relatively pristine San Luis Valley has been spared until now. In August 2006, Lexam Explorations, Inc. (Lexam), a Canadian wildcat corporation, announced its intention to begin exploration in its 100,000-acre mineral interest holdings in the San Luis Valley. Purchased for a mere $2 million in the 1980’s, Lexam owns 75% interest in the subsurface minerals estate beneath the original Luis Maria Baca Land Grant that today encompasses significant portions of the Baca NWR, the 16,000-acre Baca Grande subdivision (neighboring the town of Crestone), the Rio Grande National Forest Mountain Tract and northern sections of the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The people of the United States paid $33 million dollars to protect these lands in perpetuity. Unfortunately, the subsurface mineral rights owned by Lexam were not available for purchase when the refuge lands were purchased.
When Lexam notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) of its intention to explore for oil and natural gas, the position of USFWS was that it “will not attempt to stop Lexam from exercising their right to explore for oil and/or gas [in] the Baca NWR.” The primary concern of USFWS was “the potential for long-term irreversible damage to the environment and they will work to prevent these above all other concerns.” Because of the dual ownership, which is often known as a “split-estate”, the agency maintained that it did not have the authority to regulate Lexam under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).
In April 2007, the Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) filed a lawsuit against USFWS asserting that the agency has ample legal authority to protect the Baca NWR even where the subsurface mineral interests are privately owned.
Not only does the USFWS have the legal duty to implement NEPA, but the surface owners – the American public – have the right to be fully informed of Lexam’s drilling plans for the Baca NWR. The potential impacts shall be thoroughly analyzed through an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that considers a full range of alternatives and mitigation measures and that the public owners of these federal lands have a right to have a say about what happens to the Baca NWR.
As a result of the lawsuit, USFWS abruptly reversed its position and is currently preparing environmental assessment documents as required under NEPA. Over 48,000 public comments were submitted to USFWS during the 30-day EA scoping process, virtually all in favor of protecting the Baca NWR from gas and oil development. Clearly, the American people have had enough of seeing their most precious and irreplaceable public lands destroyed for fossil fuel energy development.
In Dec. 2007, the Federal District Court ruled in favor of SLVEC including issuing an order to the USFWS to “prohibit all ground disturbing activities related to the exploration and development of the mineral estate underlying the Baca National Wildlife Refuge during the National Environmental Policy Act process.”
What’s at stake?
Once again the waters – the lifeblood of the wildlife, cultures and communities of the San Luis Valley and beyond – are at risk. This time by a short-sited, wildcat gas and oil development scheme.
Lexam is proposing to drill two test wells to an unprecedented depth of 14,000’ through a highly complex but poorly understood geohydrologic environment that underlies the Closed Basin Aquifer system of the upper San Luis Valley. Ancient barriers that have separated the pristine upper aquifer waters (to 3,000’) from the deep toxic waters (to 14,500’) for millions of years, will have to be destroyed in order to reach and release the hydrocarbons that Lexam seeks. Unknown quantities of “produced” waters will have to be removed, potentially causing declines in artesian pressure that maintain the recharge dynamics of the Closed Basin Aquifer system1.
More than 171 products containing over 245 chemicals are commonly used in natural gas production in Colorado. Of these, 92% are known to have one or more adverse health effects, the four most common being skin and sensory organ toxicity, respiratory problems, neurotoxicity, and gastrointestinal and liver damage4.
There are many risks with Lexam’s proposal to drill to these extreme depths. Volcanic intrusions are common throughout the Closed Basin Aquifer system. Drilling in the 1930’s unleashed a previously isolated 118oF geothermal source that was exposed by drilling a relatively shallow well (7,000’). Release of these highly mineralized, high temperature waters caused permanent ecological change to the surrounding lands. Such an event in the Baca NWR could devastate the vulnerable, endangered Rio Grande sucker fish population that occurs within the proposed drilling project site.
A thorough assessment of these, and other potential impacts on the quality, quantity, directional flow and artesian pressure that could result from drilling 14,000’ deep wells, unprecedented in the San Luis Valley. Until such an assessment is completed it would be folly to allow oil and gas exploration to proceed.
Lexam is proposing to drill in the midst of highly sensitive wetland and riparian areas in the Baca NWR that support rare plants and animals, important subsurface archeological sites and critical habitat for resident and migrating wildlife. The proposed drilling will have highly significant impacts on these exceptional resources.
 The proposed drilling sites are also less than one mile from the Baca Grande subdivision where many of the retreat centers are located. The air, noise and light pollution and scenic impact of gas and oil industrialization will have significant long term impacts on important Sense of Place values that local communities base their very existence on.
The lands within the Baca NWR were only recently transferred to the Federal government. USFWS has not had the time or funding to inventory its lands or complete a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) to evaluate resources and guide the use of refuge lands. Until a CCP is in place, the American public – and surface owners – will not be allowed access to the Baca NWR. Hikers, bird watchers, students, educators, researchers, painters, photographers, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts will find a multitude of opportunity in the diverse, spectacular lands of the Refuge. Allowing recreational use will provide the surrounding communities with long term, sustainable economic opportunities.
 Lexam’s high-risk, speculative drilling proposal is currently taking precedence over the development of a CCP, and thus all other uses and purposes of the Baca NWR. The American public paid $33 million to set aside these lands for current and future generations. It would be a tragic mistake if the USFWS allows degradation of the invaluable natural resources contained within the Baca NWR – Colorado’s unknown National Treasure.
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