Aztec, New Mexico's Story
 

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The following excerpt is from Tweetie Blancette's moving and personal account of her story and what happened to her historic New Mexico ranch. No one tells the tale like the one living it.

Why I fight: The coming gas explosion in the West

"Here’s what I once believed: that if the president knew about the damage done to our land by the energy industry, the damage would cease.

. . . .

We once ran 600 cows on those 35,000 acres. Today, we can barely keep 100 cows. Grass and shrubs are now roads, drill pads or scars left by pipeline paths. We have trouble keeping our few cows alive because they are run over by trucks servicing wells each day, or they are poisoned when they lap up the sweet antifreeze leaking out of unfenced compressor engines.

I have not taken this quietly. I have been on a mission for 16 years. In the beginning, I wanted to save the 400-acre farm and the adjacent piece of wild land in northwest New Mexico that I care most about. That’s not much out of 35,000 acres. My family thought I was nuts. My son was a senior in high school, and resisted my attempts to enlist him. My husband said I was wasting my time.

They knew I was going against an industry that sharpened its teeth chewing on little people. They thought industry had the upper hand, legally speaking. But I believed industry had the upper hand because it threatened and intimidated. I once met Rosa Parks. I thought: If that little lady could sit, alone, in the front of a bus filled with hostile passengers, then I could act to protect where I live.

. . . .

At times, it seems hopeless. Then I hear from people facing similar situations in Colorado, in Montana, in Wyoming, in Utah. Many are like us — conservative, Republican, pro-free enterprise people. Others are environmentalists, or just care about land and animals.

Shortly, there will be a huge natural gas explosion, but it won’t be pipelines or gas wells that blow. The explosion will come from the average Westerner, who is tired of being used by the oil and gas industry, with the help of state and federal officials.

Tweeti Blancett is a rancher who has become an activist in Aztec, New Mexico. She is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an essay service of High Country News (hcn.org)."

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