Methane, nitrogen and other gases are flared off at a recently drilled oil well near Nageezi, New Mexico. Carbon dioxide is used to stimulate oil and gas production.
Much of the drilling and fracking is done by contractors that may come from as far away as Texas or Wyoming. When locals are hired for the well-paying jobs, the money doesn’t stick around in the rural communities because there’s no economic infrastructure in place for capturing the cash and leveraging it for the benefit of the community.
Most of the recent oil drilling in the Chaco region has been done by WPX Energy, an Oklahoma-based company. The company recently sold all of its San Juan Basin assets.
A natural gas processing plant outside of Bloomfield, New Mexico, has virtually swallowed up a Catholic cemetery. Virgen de Guadalupe with men working on distilling columns.
Jonathan P. Thompson 