Drilling Santa Fe
(an unincorporated gathering formed by ranchers Johnny W. Micou and his wife Nancy Louise Seewald, and fiscally sponsored by Concerned Citizens of Cerillos)
http://drillingsantafe.blogspot.com
Phone: Johnny Micou: (505) 474-3061
Email contact:  drillingsantafe@earthlink.net
EIN: No Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Founded: 2007
Exempt since: Not an exempt organization listed in IRS Publication 78.
Linked to: Common Ground United; Oil and Gas Accountability Project; Earthworks; New Mexico Wildlife Federation; National Wildlife Federation; Concerned Citizens of Cerrillos
 

Self-description: The mission of Drilling Santa Fe is to protect the cultural, environmental, and economic resources of Santa Fe County from the adverse impacts of oil and gas exploration and production within the County. We are a growing number of citizens concerned about the impending oil & gas drilling in Santa Fe County. Tax deductible donations [501(c)3] for DSF should be made to the Concerned Citizens of Cerrillos for the Drilling Santa Fe Fund, P.O. Box 23921, Santa Fe, NM 87502. 

Actual: Aggressive campaigning to destroy America's energy production and resource use near Santa Fe, New Mexico, viciously demonizing oil and gas development.

History: Drilling Santa Fe appeared on the Web in June 2007 as a blog of rancher Johnny Micou. DSF is not incorporated and has no formal structure or accountable officers. Founder Johnny Micou, who lives between Cerrillos and Galisteo, New Mexico has said he and his wife learned about oil and gas exploration by Tecton Energy of Houston in April, 2007 after seeing several petroleum-drilling trucks near their home. Micou said they formed Drilling Santa Fe and created a Web site at drillingsantafe.com "to at least bring to light that Santa Fe County has thousands of acres leased for drilling, exploration and then maybe development. Some of those areas are highly sensitive areas, such as water aquifers or archaeological sites. It's something that this county has really not been up against before." The blog is almost entirely material from other sources with a minimum from DSF.

Micou and Seewald have been most successful at bringing out crowds to meetings, hearings and town hall-type gatherings and at networking groups and individuals into a mobilized force. Their hot rhetoric against oil and gas reflects the language and attitudes of the major groups in the NoDOG Cluster.

Johnny Micou, born 1959 in Amarillo, Texas attended West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, about 15 miles south of Amarillo, where he was a member of the Eta Delta Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, as did Nancy Seewald, born 1950, who was also from Amarillo. Micou and Seewald were married December 19, 1985 in Austin, Texas. He was 26 and Nancy was 35 at the time. They returned to Amarillo afterward.

Seewald's grandfather, William H. Lynn, was a successful Amarillo banker and manager of ranching properties. Her father, Hughes "Buddy" Seewald, put together the Seewald Ranch north of Amarillo in the 1950's and 60's. Nancy Seewald and husband Johnny Micou most recently ran the ranch in partnership with Corsino Cattle Company. Nancy Seewald remains principal of Seewald Livestock in Amarillo, with $82,000 annual sales (Dun & Bradstreet). Her brother William Hughes Seewald of Amarillo is an investor and substantial donor to Democratic candidates.

Micou is also executive director of Common Ground United.