Obama to talk energy in NM

MALJAMAR, N.M. (AP) - President Barack Obama plans to visit New Mexico's petroleum fields on federal lands outside of Maljamar Wednesday to tout the fact that domestic oil and gas production has increased each year he has been in office.

The White House said in a news release that the stop will "highlight the Administration's commitment to expanding domestic oil and gas production." Oil production is at an eight-year high and natural gas output is at an all-time high, it said.

But Steve Henke, president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said production could be even higher. The Bureau of Land Management office in Carlsbad is unable to keep up with demand for the drilling permits needed to accelerate the development of federally owned oil and gas resources in the state, he said.

"We feel that if the administration wants to invest with a partner to create jobs and revenue, that they should invest in the BLM and the Carlsbad field office," Henke said.

Obama is stepping into solidly Republican territory dominated by an industry upset with his administration's environmental policies and what it says is inadequate funding to push production to the levels needed to bring fuel costs down.

The industry is also upset over the administration's consideration of listing the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species, which it fears could curtail development.

The listing of the lizard has been a hot-button issue for the industry, which is concerned it would mean curtailed development and job losses across the Permian Basin, which makes up a large chunk of New Mexico's oil and gas industry and accounts for more than two-thirds of Texas' total oil production.

Nearly one-third of the basin's 8.1 million acres is made up of New Mexico trust land. State officials said there are more than 6,000 oil and gas leases in the area and more than 70 active drilling rigs.

Henke said he was surprised to hear Obama would be visiting oil fields in New Mexico, "so I am cautiously optimistic that he is going to bring good news" on at least one front.

No decision has been made regarding the lizard, and the administration continues to work with the industry on the issue, said Adam Fetcher, a spokesman for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

"As the president has made clear, we will continue to take steps to expand production in a responsible way," Fetcher said in a written statement.

Maljamar is about 280 miles southeast of Albuquerque near the Texas border.