Fashion designer Tom Ford's road to tranquility in New Mexico has been anything but smooth. A couple of years ago he had to
fight for approval to build his Santa Fe home. Now
he has bought mineral rights beneath his Galisteo ranch in order to protect his land from possible oil exploration in the region. Ford paid $84,000 for the rights on his more than 1,400 acres of land. In the region the state maintains the rights to sell leases to energy companies. Ford's team tried to persuade the Land Office not to sell oil and gas leases to
Tecton Energy, a company which plans to drill eight exploratory wells on 65,000 acres, or 101 square miles, in the Galisteo Basin. The agency however is charged with using the state trust land revenues to help fund public education. Ford's attorney, Janet McKay offered this quote to the press: "We are protecting our land by holding these rights." Ford's ranch is home to a working cattle ranch and an Old West movie set that has been used for several films, including "3:10 to Yuma."
