El Paso County Commission and City Council Want Otero Mesa Protected LAS CRUCES, NM (krwg) - Monday the El Paso County Commission passed a resolution asking Congress to permanently protect the Otero Mesa from oil and natural gas drilling and exploration. As KRWG's Evan Woodward reports, the resolution cited the need to protect a large salt basin aquifer, which the United States Geological Survey estimates may contain as much as 57 million acre feet of water. © Copyright 2009, krwg