Tweeti Blancett is the proverbial force to be reckoned with. And she has a remarkable tale to tell. She’s married to Linn Blancett, a sixth-generation rancher in Aztec, New Mexico. They have grown children, and grandchildren, to continue the family business. But the ranching business isn’t what it used to be, according to Tweeti. The rise of oil and gas exploration in the West has created an increasing conflict over what’s known as “split estate”... the fact that people who own or lease the land don’t control access to the mineral resources beneath their land.
Years of ranching in harmony with the oil and gas industry as co-tenants ended with the growth in political power of the oil industry. The new multinational industry wasn’t as rancher-friendly as the all-American version. Hundreds of Blancett cattle (and untold wildlife) have died after ingesting toxic ethylene glycol (antifreeze). Their grazing land was ruined by over 500 active gas wells, each with its concrete well pad, access road, and distribution pipeline. High-handed energy executives repeatedly blew off her family’s concerns.
So, early in this decade, Tweeti started taking her case to Washington. She had reason to assume she’d get a fair hearing, because in 2000 she was a major fundraiser for Bush/Cheney and ran their campaign in northwest New Mexico. She went to Washington soon after President Bush’s inauguration, fully expecting to have reasonable access to powerful players in the departments of Interior and Energy. Instead, she was snubbed. Nobody who could truly help her would give her an appointment. So she got mad... and began telling the world about her family’s experiences.
Tweeti has become an outspoken critic, not only of the oil and gas industry, but also of the Bush/Cheney administration that she helped put in office. She’s a popular figure on the speaking circuit and is being increasingly recognized and quoted for her courage and commitment to protecting land in the West.
Tweeti was elected to REP’s national Board of Directors in 2004, the same year that she spoke at our Land Conservation for Conservatives conference in Albuquerque. (The photo above shows her speaking at that event.) She has become increasingly engaged with REP, reflecting her growing appreciation of our organization’s potential to turn the GOP around on conservation issues.
Earlier this summer, she ran for and won a seat on our New Mexico Chapter’s Executive Committee.
As Tweeti told a reporter recently: ranchers like herself “should form an alliance with conservationists, farmers, hunters and fishermen, liberals and conservatives, and Republicans and Democrats to force the government to make sure that the energy industry treats our public lands responsibly.” With Tweeti’s guidance and input, we at REP are working to make such alliances a reality.
Here are some articles by and about Tweeti Blancett:
