NEWS
Trump appoints new chair for Pecos River Compact Commission
Midland oil and gas executive joins three-member board
Published
President Donald Trump has appointed businessman P. Lourcey Sams of Midland, Texas, to the commission overseeing the Pecos River Company between Texas and New Mexico.
The three-member commission oversees the distribution of water from the Pecos as provided in the agreement by the two states in 1948 and approved by Congress in 1949. The governors of New Mexico and Texas each appoint a member along with a federal appointee.
The river extends 926 miles from Mora County, rising near the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, across New Mexico and empties into the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas.
Sams will chair the commission and sit on its committees but will do so as a nonvoting member, according to a news release.
鈥淚鈥檓 honored to be designated by the president,鈥� Sams said in a written statement. 鈥淭he Pecos River Commission is an important component to the valuable resource of the Pecos.鈥�
Sams was among the founders of Pennant Development and Production LLC and has served as president of Banner Energy Inc., both involved in oil and gas. Sams鈥� business ventures have also involved municipal water, real estate and finance. In 2007, he helped found the nonprofit Pecos River Resolution Corp., focusing on the history, research and potential solutions for the river鈥檚 challenges.
Phelps Anderson of Roswell, New Mexico's commissioner and a former state legislator, said the commission 鈥渋s fortunate to have a man with such longstanding interest in the waters of the Pecos.鈥�
The Texas representative is Rick Tate, a cattle rancher from Marfa appointed in 2017.
The commission holds annual public meetings in the spring, gathering last month at Indian Lodge State Park in Fort Davis, Texas, to hear committee reports pertaining to engineering, surveys and federal agencies鈥� work across the river鈥檚 length.
Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.
