New Mexico needs strong methane safeguards

New Mexico has a methane waste and pollution problem – it’s costing our schools millions in revenue, ruining our air and harming our climate for future generations.

Sign our petition to request strong climate-saving methane safeguards in New Mexico. 

Methane is a powerful climate-change pollutant responsible for 25 percent of the warming we experience today. It is also the primary component of natural gas and a valuable energy resource. Each year in New Mexico, oil and gas companies waste $275 million worth of natural gas through venting, flaring and leaks that cost the state more than $40 million in royalties and tax revenue that could be funding public education. Oil and gas operations also release ozone-forming pollutants that aggravate respiratory diseases such as emphysema and trigger asthma attacks. Those living closest to oilfield development are exposed to cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and toluene.

We applaud Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s commitment to reducing methane pollution as her administration begins the process of drafting regulations, starting with public meetings in July. Effective regulations should require oil and gas companies to cut methane emissions and repair leaks to stop energy waste, stem lost taxpayer revenue and protect our air and climate for future generations.

Please attend one of these meetings if you can to encourage strong methane safeguards:

• 1-5 p.m. July 29, San Juan Community College, Farmington
• 1-5 p.m. July 30, University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque
• 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Aug. 7, Nuclear Waste Partnership Building, Carlsbad

We need to hold oil and gas companies accountable with commonsense methane and air pollution rules that protect air quality and our climate. A New Mexico methane rule is a win-win that reduces pollution, increases education funding and creates jobs in New Mexico’s growing methane-mitigation industry.

Methane Waste Costs New Mexico Taxpayers, schools & our economy

When oil and gas companies waste natural gas by deliberately burning it, releasing it into the air or by not fixing leaky equipment, New Mexico taxpayers lose out on tax and royalty revenue that could fund New Mexico schools.

Venting, flaring and leaks waste $275 million of natural gas per year in New Mexico, depriving the state of more than $40 million in royalty and tax revenue that could fund public education. That is enough royalty and tax revenue to increase Pre-K enrollment by 80 percent and offer more than 7,000 additional New Mexico kids access to quality early childhood education.

Methane should be heating our homes, not polluting the air: act to stop methane waste in New Mexico. 

Moreover, cutting methane waste creates jobs. Enacting a commonsense methane rule will ensure responsible oil and gas development and foster new jobs in the emerging methane mitigation industry. New Mexico is already home to 11 companies that specialize in methane mitigation, and this industry is primed to provide even more highly skilled, family-wage jobs.

New Mexico is home to two energy-producing regions that are among the nation’s most-polluted.

• Oil and gas operations in New Mexico emit at least 1 million metric tons of climate-warming methane a year and hundreds of thousands of tons of smog-producing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can trigger asthma attacks and worsen other respiratory diseases such as emphysema.
• Rural communities and tribal communities, children and the elderly are especially at risk. A recent analysis made clear that tribal communities often suffer from disproportionately high pollution levels.
• Eddy, Lea, San Juan, Rio Arriba and Chavez Counties – the five New Mexico counties home to 97 percent of the state’s oil and gas wells – are all at risk of violating federal ozone standards of 70 parts per million.
• Oil and gas operations also release hazardous air pollutants such as benzene and toluene that are proven to cause cancer, putting those living closest to oil and gas operations at the greatest risk. More than 130,000 New Mexicans live within a half-mile of oil and gas development.

More methane pollution means accelerated climate change and an uncertain future for New Mexico’s children

Methane is potent greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the near term. In fact, about 25 percent of the global warming we are experiencing today is attributable to methane pollution.

• Here in New Mexico, oil and gas operations release more than 1 million metric tons of methane every year. That has the same short-term impacts as 22 coal-fired power plants or 28 million automobiles.
• NASA discovered a methane cloud the size of Delaware hovering over the Four Corners region in 2014, the highest concentration of atmospheric methane in the United States.
• According to the EPA, snowpack has been decreasing in New Mexico and the Rocky Mountain West since the 1950s, which could threaten the Rio Grande, Pecos and San Juan rivers and drinking water supplies. The risk of water scarcity and drought is increasing, and in 2018 the entire state of New Mexico was in a drought.
• Climate change will lead to life-threatening heat waves in New Mexico. Extreme heat poses severe health risks, including death. This threat is especially acute for those without access to electricity, including 40 percent of residents in the Navajo Nation.

New Mexico is poised to be a national leader on cutting methane waste and pollution

In January, Gov. Lujan Grisham announced that she was going to make New Mexico a national leader in cutting methane waste and pollution by adopting rules “to eclipse states that are successfully doing this work.”

• In 2014, Colorado became the first state in the nation to limit methane emissions from oil and gas operations with the support of the state’s largest independent oil and gas producers and environmentalists. Three years later, the state strengthened rules for its largest oilfield with the support of the two largest oil and gas trade groups. And in 2019, the Colorado legislature passed a directive to strengthen state methane regulations.
• In December 2018, Wyoming adopted new rules to cut oil and gas air pollution from new development across the state. This came after the Trump administration proposed cutting federal methane standards. Wyoming’s new source rules build upon progress made in 2014, when the state adopted regulations that successfully cut emissions from new and existing sources in the Upper Green River Basin.
• In June 2018, Pennsylvania adopted new permit requirements to reduce methane emissions from new, unconventional natural gas operations. The state will officially embark on a rulemaking this summer to cut emissions from existing unconventional natural gas operations.
• In 2015 and again in 2018, Ohio adopted rules to cut emissions from new oil and gas facilities. Last year, the state announced a stakeholder effort to cut emissions from existing operations.

Q&A

Is the oil and gas industry already doing enough to reduce its methane emissions?

No. While some companies have made commitments to reduce methane emissions, that only represents a fraction of the overall industry. All of New Mexico’s oil and gas producers should follow the same commonsense standards and use technologies that limit the amount of methane gas and pollution that is leaked, vented or flared from oil and gas facilities statewide. Moreover, the latest science has shown that methane emissions are five times higher than the oil and gas industry has reported to the EPA.

Why does New Mexico need a methane rule? Isn’t this a national issue?

The Trump administration is revoking federal safeguards reducing on methane pollution and waste.

• Both the Bureau of Land Management and the Environmental Protection Agency are walking away from their oversight and enforcement of the oil and gas industry, leaving New Mexico unprotected from methane waste and pollution.
• Other states are stepping up with commonsense protections to control methane. New Mexico needs to act to protect taxpayers and the health of local communities.

What is Gov. Lujan Grisham doing about methane?

Earlier this year, Gov. Lujan Grisham issued Executive Order 2019-03, directing the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and the New Mexico Environment Department to work together to develop rules that would cut gas waste and clean up air quality in rural communities. There is no time to lose. We’re calling on the governor to issue draft rules within her first year in office, and the state has begun the process with public meetings.

Would a state methane rule threaten oil and gas jobs in New Mexico?

No. Other states, including Colorado, have successfully enacted rules to curb methane waste and pollution while still allowing for growth and new jobs in the oil and gas industry. Moreover, cutting methane actually creates jobs in the methane-mitigation industry.

Who supports creating a methane rule in New Mexico?

There is broad agreement for New Mexico to act on methane. Fully 87 percent of voters say that it is important for all of New Mexico’s oil and gas companies to follow the same standards to limit methane waste and pollution. Public health advocates, children’s advocates, tribal communities, environmental organizations, business leaders, elected officials and local communities across New Mexico have all supported action to cut methane waste and pollution.

Please sign our petition to let Gov. Lujan Grisham know you support strong methane safeguards.