Artesia family nation's biggest oil and gas leaseholders - by a massive ma

WASHINGTON -A single New Mexico family - the Yates family of Artesia - and a dozen big oil companies now control one-quarter of all federal lands leased for oil and gas development in the continental United States despite a law intended to prevent such concentration, federal records show.

Since 1997, mainly as a result of mergers and acquisitions, six companies have exceeded the limit of 246,080 acres in leaseholdings on public lands in a single state other than Alaska. But the Bureau of Land Management, in charge of enforcing the 1920 law, has chosen to extend compliance deadlines for years.

Individuals and companies affiliated with the Yates family, which is by far the biggest leaseholder, have given $276,926 to Republican candidates and efforts since 1999. Democrats have received $11,400 from those companies and individuals during the same period.
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news04/053104_news_oil.shtml

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