EPA cites 2 oil and gas firms over Permian Basin pollution – Michael Biesecker, Associated Press
Two Texas companies have resolved Clean Air Act violations with the Environmental Protection Agency by agreeing to reduce emissions of planet-warming methane and other harmful pollutants wafting from the nation's largest oil and gas producing region.
EPA announced Monday that Matador Production Company has agreed to pay $6.2 million in fines and mitigation measures related to 239 oil and gas well pads in New Mexico. Permian Resources Operating agreed earlier this month to pay $610,000 and make improvements to its equipment to settle environmental violations.
The enforcement actions came after EPA flew a helicopter equipped with a special infrared camera that can detect emissions of hydrocarbon vapors that are invisible to the naked eye.
EPA announced a new round of overflights in August, four days after publication of an investigation by The Associated Press that showed 533 oil and gas facilities in the region are emitting excessive amounts of methane and named the companies most responsible.
Colorless and odorless, methane makes up about 95 percent of natural gas and a potent greenhouse pollutant that traps 83 times more heat in the atmosphere over a 20-year period than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide.
The AP used 2021 data from the group Carbon Mapper to document massive amounts of methane venting into the atmosphere from “super emitters” across the Permian Basin, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border.
A partnership of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and academic researchers, Carbon Mapper used an airplane carrying an infrared spectrometer to detect and quantify the unique chemical fingerprint of methane in the atmosphere. Hundreds of sites were shown persistently spewing the gas across multiple overflights.
EPA has said the timing of its 2022 overflights was not related to AP’s story and that similar aerial surveillance had been conducted in years past. The federal complaint filed against Matador said unlawful emissions were observed in 2019, while Permian Resources was cited for evidence collected during overflights in 2020.
EPA spokesman Timothy Carroll said federal regulators have initiated additional enforcement actions based on the agency's 2022 flyover. He declined to provide the number of additional companies currently facing potential sanctions, citing the ongoing investigations.
Methane emissions in themselves are not illegal under current federal law, but the Clean Air Act does regulate other pollutants also contained in the gasses emitted during fossil fuel production, such as volatile organic compounds that contribute to health problems including asthma, lung infections, bronchitis and cancer.
“Air quality in the Permian Basin is at risk of not meeting national standards,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. "We will continue to work with the State of New Mexico to ensure that oil and gas production operations are operating within the law to improve air quality and public health in surrounding communities.”
EPA said its settlement with Matador will result in a reduction of more than 16,000 tons of air pollutants that are harmful to human health. There will be additional reduction in emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases equal to about 31,000 tons of carbon dioxide — equal to taking more than 6,000 gasoline-powered vehicles off the road for one year.
Emails and a voicemail seeking comment from Matador Resources Company, the Dallas-based corporate parent of Matador Production Company, received no response.
Emails to Permian Resources, based in Midland, Texas, also received no response. The voicemail for a phone number at the company listed for media inquiries was not accepting new messages on Tuesday.
Application for camp site for Albuquerque homeless withdrawn; supporters plan to try again — Albuquerque Journal
The organization behind Albuquerque’s first planned and approved safe outdoor space has withdrawn their application.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Brad Day, a consultant with Dawn Legacy Pointe—the company that had sought to house homeless victims of sex trafficking in tents in an empty city-owned lot—said they will submit another application.
In fact, Day said, the organization plans to submit multiple applications in order to give the city’s unhoused population options of safe spaces to set up camp.
The original location chosen was a fenced in lot off of Menaul Boulevard north of the Big-I, but Day said he was unsure if they will seek out the same location.
After the site was first approved, several appeals were filed and multiple nearby businesses and residents fought the project.
Safe outdoor spaces are managed, organized locations that give unhoused people a safe spot to sleep overnight, and basic amenities like toilets and showers.
NM district turns to gun-detection AI in effort to prevent school shootings — Source New Mexico
Clovis Municipal School District recently began using artificial intelligence technology designed to detect guns, and potential shooters on school campuses. The software can even alert law enforcement before a single shot is fired.
Source New Mexico’s Ryan Lowery reports the AI technology is designed by ZeroEyes, a Philadelphia-based company founded by a group of former Navy SEALs. The company’s software installs in line with the district’s existing camera systems and operates in the background, constantly analyzing every frame of video as it searches for signs of a firearm. If a gun is detected, the software sends still images to a human who will determine if the gun is real and if lives are in danger.
That human review is often completed within five seconds, according to the company. And if the gun is determined to be real, they can notify both district officials, and law enforcement directly in a matter of seconds.
The district signed a four-year, $345,000 agreement for a subscription to the software and its monitoring services, and funded the technology with money from the coronavirus aid bill.
Special prosecutors appointed in Baldwin set shooting case — Associated Press
Santa Fe's district attorney has appointed two veteran New Mexico lawyers to serve as the new special prosecutors in the manslaughter case against Alec Baldwin and a weapons supervisor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer during a 2021 movie rehearsal.
The appointment of Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis to the positions will allow District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies to focus on New Mexico's "broader public safety needs," her spokesperson Heather Brewer said in a statement Wednesday.
The original special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, resigned earlier in the wake of missteps in the filing of initial charges against Baldwin and objections that Reeb's role as a state legislator created conflicting responsibilities.
Carmack-Altwies subsequently had been preparing to appoint a new special prosecutor and also guide the complex case as co-counsel.
But Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said on Monday the district attorney should either lead the case on her own or turn it over entirely to another prosecutor.
Baldwin and movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and fines.
Hutchins died shortly after being wounded Oct. 21, 2021, during rehearsals for the Western film "Rust" at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at Hutchins when the gun went off, killing her and wounding the director, Joel Souza.
A defense attorney for Gutierrez-Reed objected to Carmack-Altwies' earlier plans to serve as co-counsel, arguing it would be illegal under New Mexico law and fundamentally unfair to a 25-year-old defendant with limited financial resources.
Brewer said the appointment of Morrisey and Lewis, with their "extensive experience and trial expertise, will allow the state to pursue justice for Halyna Hutchins and ensure that in New Mexico everyone is held accountable under the law."
A weekslong preliminary hearing in May will decide whether evidence against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed is sufficient to proceed to trial.
Poet Sara Daniele Rivera wins First Book Award – Associated Press
A Cuban-Peruvian poet from New Mexico has won the Academy of American Poets’ First Book Award. Sara Daniele Rivera will receive $5,000, a six-week residency at an artist community in the Umbria region of Italy and a book deal with Graywolf Press, which next year will publish her debut collection “The Blue Mimes.”
Poet Eduardo C. Corral chose Rivera's manuscript for the first book prize. In a statement Tuesday released through the academy, he praised Rivera for her “beautifully and deftly crafted” poems, and her compelling evocation of loss.
"I felt deeply the grief in this book. I felt less alone after reading it," Corral wrote.
The 33-year-old Rivera is a writer, artist, translator and educator who lives in Albuquerque. Previous winners of the first book award include John Canaday, Elaine Terranova and Jenny Xie, a National Book Award nominee in 2018.
US, New Mexico settle with oil company over emissions – Associated Press
Texas oil company has reached a $6.2 million settlement with the federal government and the state of New Mexico to resolve air pollution violations.
State and federal environmental regulators announced the settlement with Matador Production Co. on Monday.
They say the company agreed to comply with clean air regulations at all of its 239 oil and natural gas well pads in New Mexico, which is home to part of the Permian Basin, one of the most productive oil and gas regions in the world.
Regulators had accused the company of failing to capture and control emissions from its storage tanks. They also say the company failed to obtain required permits at more than two dozen of its production operations in the state.
Matador said it already has seen improvements in operations and emissions controls since 2019. The company pointed to 2022 emissions data for its gross operated production and exploration operations, saying the intensity of direct greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 55% and methane emissions by 70%.
The company said it made changes to its maintenance and repair program to help avoid preventable emissions and noted that using aerial monitoring and other technology will help in what Matador and government regulators describe as an ongoing effort.
State and federal officials said the alleged violations had resulted in excess emissions of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. The emissions were identified through flyover surveillance and field investigations done in 2019.
Under the settlement agreement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department said Matador will be the first producer to implement measures that will serve as a model in future resolutions involving other producers.
“This settlement begins to hold the ninth largest oil and gas producer in our state accountable and mitigate the harmful impacts to our communities and ability to breathe clean air,” state Environment Secretary James Kenney said in a statement.
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim, with the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said air quality in the Permian Basin — which also spans parts of West Texas — is at risk of not meeting national standards and that federal regulators will continue working with New Mexico regulators to make sure oil companies follow the law.
The EPA and the state estimate that Matador’s compliance will result in a combined reduction of more than 16,000 tons of nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. Greenhouse gases such as methane also will decrease as a result.
As part of the settlement, Matador will pay a civil penalty of $1.15 million and will pay for aerial monitoring of its New Mexico facilities and for a supplemental environmental project involving diesel engine replacements.
New Mexico court upholds Native American actor convictions – Associated Press
The New Mexico Court of Appeals has upheld the rape and voyeurism convictions of Native American actor and film producer Redwolf Pope.
A jury in 2020 found Pope guilty of taking photos and video of himself sexually assaulting a Seattle woman in a Santa Fe hotel room in 2017.
The jurors acquitted Pope of kidnapping, which was the most serious charge against him and carried up to an 18-year prison sentence.
According to evidence presented at trial, the woman Pope was convicted of raping had asked him to give her a ride home from a party.
In an appeal filed in 2021, attorneys for Pope argued that his convictions should be overturned because the District Court had erred by not granting him a change of venue.
They also said the evidence didn’t support the convictions and the convictions violated double jeopardy rules, which prohibit defendants from being punished more than once for the same act.
A panel of three Court of Appeals judges rejected each of the arguments.
Pope also is an activist who has been described as having assisted elders and others during 2016 pipeline protests at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.
New Mexico court weighs fight over coal-fired power plant – Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
New Mexico’s largest electric provider wants the state’s highest court to overturn a 2021 decision by regulators who rejected a proposal to transfer its shares in a coal-fired power plant to a Navajo energy company.
The state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could determine how long the Four Corners Power Plant will continue to operate. Providing power to customers in Arizona and New Mexico, it's one of a handful of remaining coal-fired plants in the Southwestern U.S. that are slated for closure over the next decade.
Navajo Transitional Energy Co. had sought to take over Public Service Co. of New Mexico’s shares, saying that preventing an early closure would help soften the economic blow to communities that have long relied on tax revenue and jobs tied to coal-fired generation.
The arrangement was proposed as PNM looked for ways to remove coal from its portfolio. A condition of a multibillion-dollar merger with a subsidiary of global energy giant Iberdrola required the New Mexico utility to show that it was taking steps to do so.
In rejecting the plan, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission said PNM had failed to specify how lost power would be replaced to ensure the lights would stay on for the utility's more than 500,000 customers. The concerns were amplified at the time since the utility already was warning about delayed solar and battery storage projects that were meant to replace the capacity lost with the closure of another major coal-fired power plant in the region.
Jason Marks, an attorney for the Sierra Club, told the court Tuesday that the New Mexico utility had rushed to submit the application to abandon the Four Corners Power Plant because of the pending merger with Avangrid.
“If this was a normal case, they could have developed their replacement resource portfolios. There was more than enough time to do that but they came in with what they had on the shelf. They repackaged it and they came in with a case of hypotheticals," said Marks, a former commissioner.
PNM attorney Rick Alvidrez argued that the Navajo energy company was the driver of the filing, not the merger. He asked the court to declare that the commission was wrong in dismissing the application since it had decided in an earlier case to approve the abandonment of the other power plant — the San Juan Generating Station — based on modeling and potential replacement power sources.
PNM’s abandonment request sought to recover $300 million it has invested in Four Corners using bonds that would be paid off by utility customers. While considering the application, commissioners had raised questions about what costs the utility should be allowed to recover and how much authority regulators have to determine whether those costs are prudent.
PNM had argued the arrangement would benefit its customers as well as the Navajo Nation.
The plant is located on tribal land between Shiprock and Farmington in northwestern New Mexico. The majority owner — Arizona Public Service Co. — hasn't indicated any plans to end operations before 2031 because doing so could undermine the reliability of that utility’s network.
Marks told the court Tuesday that the purpose of New Mexico's Energy Transition Act — passed in 2019 — was to shift from coal to renewable resources and to forbid regulated utilities from using transactions to move coal plants off their books to an unregulated entity.
“This form of the abandonment was against public policy and that really needs to be considered,” he said. “It definitely goes head on into what the Legislature wanted with the ETA.”