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With the EPA hamstrung by the Supreme Court and shaky state funding, New Mexico could face a future with reduced protections.
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A state Environment Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inspection of oil and gas facilities in New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin found more than half may be violating air quality rules. Environment Secretary James Kenney said the results are “cause for alarm.”
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In the last legislative session, no reforms were made to oil and gas regulations despite bills to impose fines for oil spills, limit fresh water use and create buffers around schools. Looking forward to next year's session, the Legislative Finance Committee met in oil-rich southeastern New Mexico Tuesday to discuss reintroducing one of those failed proposals — setbacks for wells.
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The House Judiciary Committee advanced a bill overhauling New Mexico's primary oil and gas law. Indigenous activists have been tracking the legislation and KUNM spoke with Wendy Atcitty from New Mexico Native Vote about why she came to the Roundhouse.
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Earlier this year, New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney said the Environmental Protection Agency would declare parts of the Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas an Ozone Nonattainment Area by the end of the year. However, as 2023 comes to a close, the EPA still hasn’t made its move.
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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced at the U.N. climate summit that New Mexico will invest $500 million into reusing brackish and produced water to boost green energy production while withstanding drought. Reporter for Capital & Main Jerry Redfern told KUNM that, at this point, all we know about what the program would look like are the "broad strokes."
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The Department of the Interior announced on Thursday that it will invest nearly $40 million to help Native American tribes clean up and plug orphaned oil and gas wells across Indian Country to help reduce harmful pollutants.
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The Bureau of Land Management has proposed comprehensive changes to its rules for oil and gas leasing on federal land for the first time since 1988. The revision is designed to increase industry returns for taxpayers while also reducing harm to wildlife and cultural resources as part of the agency’s effort to better balance development with conservation. New Mexicans are invited to attend an information session in Albuquerque Tuesday to learn more about it ahead of submitting input.
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An oil company with wells in both New Mexico and Texas has agreed to pay a $5.5 million penalty to the U.S. and New Mexico in a settlement over violations to the Clean Air Act and New Mexico state law. The company is also on the hook for $4.6 million in projects to reduce air pollution.State officials worry a lack of personnel could keep them from assuring the company complies.
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New Mexico’s top environment official says the federal government is going to move forward with addressing high levels of ozone in parts of the Permian Basin by the end of this year, ramping up air quality regulations in the highly productive and profitable oil and gas region. The state is ill-equipped to take on the additional work, according to State Environment Secretary James Kenney, which could mean losing its permitting power to the U.S. government.