Another massive ranch in West Texas is for sale and a Fort Worth water company could end up being the new owner with intentions of selling water for oil and gas exploration in Texas and New Mexico. But New Mexico officials might not like it.
The Dallas Morning News reported the Hanging H Ranch near Pecos is made up of 67,500 acres of land. RRIG Water Solutions of Fort Worth made a recent offer to buy the ranch from the family of the late Roy O. Lindsay Sr. who died in 2012. A court-appointed receiver was named to help sell the ranch last fall and RRIG Water Solutions made an unsolicited offer.
Bloomberg News has reported that the company recently signed a letter of intent with the family.
Research firm Oilfield Water Connection LLC says energy firms spent $11 billion on water in the region last year.
“It’s a bold thing they’re trying to put together,” Steve Spurgin, an El Paso-based attorney for one of the family members, told Bloomberg.
Recently there has been a flurry of ranch sales and offerings in Far West Texas.
An El Paso billionaire paid $32.5 million in February for the 37,000-acre KC7 Ranch in the foothills of the Davis Mountains near Interstate 10 in Reeves and Jeff Davis counties.
The Gearhart Ranch near Fort Davis has more than 9,150 acres and is on the market for more than $30 million.
The largest of the West Texas properties for sale is the Lely Ranch, which has over 70,000 acres in far West Texas near Big Bend State Park.
But the sale of the ranches for oil and gas use has angered New Mexico state officials. They contend new owners are pumping water out of wells in Texas and selling it across the state line in New Mexico and as a result are lowering the level of aquifers in New Mexico.
New Mexico has tighter water restrictions than Texas.
“Texas is stealing New Mexico’s water,” said New Mexico State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn. “If you put a whole bunch of straws in Texas and you don’t have any straws in New Mexico, you’re sucking all the water from under New Mexico out in Texas and then selling it back to New Mexico.”
Last year, Dunn claimed to have discovered seven unpermitted water lines from Texas into New Mexico and contends millions of gallons a day are being pumped into his state for oil and gas exploration.