The New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission (OCC) has resolved — for now — a dispute over use of a geothermal water resource in the remote Animas Valley of southern New Mexico.
AmeriCulture Inc., a desert fishery that raises tilapia fingerlings, and a local water conservation board protested a plan by Cyrq Energy Inc. to expand its Lightning Dock geothermal power plant, which has a deal to produce electricity for Public Service Company of New Mexico.
The three-member OCC has OK’d Cyrq’s plan, with conditions that seem to have appeased all parties, but at least two lawsuits could keep the issue simmering for some time.
The tilapia fish farm and $43 million Lightning Dock power plant are a stone’s throw from each other in the dry Animas Valley near Lordsburg. Both draw water in the area: the fishery from a shallow water source and the power plant from a 250-plus-degree, deep geothermal source.
