Compiled by Dave Itzkoff
Published: October 13, 2009
The Santa Fe Opera’s plan to drill for oil and gas in two New Mexico counties is meeting with resistance from local residents, The Associated Press reported. In 2002 the Santa Fe Opera received permission to drill on nearly 27,000 acres in Mora and San Miguel counties as part of a bequest from a donor, who wanted any revenue to be used to support an apprentice program for young singers. More recently residents learned that in April the opera company signed a lease with an independent company that acquires leases on behalf of oil and gas producers. Opponents say the drilling will harm water, air, wildlife and agriculture in the area. “To see an art company sell out the environment, that was a very egregious act as far as I was concerned,” Kathleen Dudley, the co-chairwoman of the watchdog group Drilling Mora County, told The A.P. Charles MacKay, the general director of the opera, said it would seek a resolution that would address its opponents’ concerns.
