Mayor deals with oil, gas and water issues
By John Earp
At the January 22nd meeting of the Jal City Council, Mayor Stephen Aldridge started out by commenting about updates the council was to receive regarding legislative, water quality control commission legislation, and the state finally making a move on reuse of produced water. He said, “There’s going to be a lot of legislation to kick around.” He said, “I spent a week up there [Santa Fe] the 10th through the whatever that was.” He then noted that [City Manager] Wes [Hooper] came up to Santa Fe the following week for legislative council. It’s that time of year. It’s a 30-day session and will run through this time next month.” Aldridge mentioned that he may have to go up and testify regarding the oil and gas legislation. He said, “There has been a lot going on. A lot more will come to me as the meeting goes on.” Aldridge said, “The state is going to call for a request for information around brackish water and produced water, and then, once that’s done, after the session is closed, they’re going to call for RFP” [request for proposal], according to Aldridge. He noted that the ongoing water litigation has to be discussed in executive session, saying that he wants the council to be ahead of the curve by looking at the material before February 5th. Look for more coverage of the January city council meeting in next week’s edition.
