Al Braden
For advocates of clean air and environmental protection, there was reason to celebrate in December 2023. That is when, after years of research, community engagement, and discussion with the industry, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final, critical Clean Air Act protections against methane and other harmful pollution from oil and gas producers.
These safeguards addressed emissions from existing equipment, while also strengthening standards for new equipment. This moment marked the culmination of years of advocacy by and on behalf of our members, families, communities, especially here in New Mexico.
This was a major win for climate and public health, but also for families like mine. I am the mother of two young children, one of whom developed asthma while living in Southern New Mexico’s poor air quality.
There was hope for cleaner and safer air as the standards were set to go into effect soon. Now, though, the Trump administration is needlessly delaying the implementation of critical national standards for methane by a year and a half.
Changing the deadlines for the oil and gas industry to comply greatly impacts the quality of air of countless people who live, work, and recreate in New Mexico every day. Any delay in implementing these rules deeply harms the health, quality of life, the climate, and the air quality of our communities.
Methane is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas, more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20 year timeframe. And air pollution from oil and gas operations risks the health and safety of workers and the communities living closest to extraction. In fact, the American Lung Association State of the Air Report shows our rural oil and gas counties with F grades for smog, something you’d more likely expect from big cities.
According to EPA’s own estimates, a one year delay of the implementation of the methane standards for existing sources will result in 3.8 million tons of methane, 960,000 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 36,000 tons of toxic air pollutants that otherwise would have been prevented. Instead, the agency seems to be willing to let industry off the hook for good neighbor standards they’re already committed to and complying with in states like ours and Colorado.
This delay will do nothing but harm public health, make extreme drought already happening even worse, and give a government handout to the worst actors in the fossil fuel industry.
We are grateful to the New Mexico congressional delegation for speaking up against this short-sighted, dangerous delay. While New Mexico has nation-leading methane and smog rules, Texas is essentially unregulated. That puts many in our state at risk because while New Mexico has already taken important steps, air pollution doesn’t recognize state boundaries.
If allowed to take effect, over 144,000 New Mexicans that live within half a mile of the more than 62 oil and gas wells, compressors, and processors would benefit as Texas would have to comply and our state would have to update its rules. Almost half of those in this radius are people of color, a quarter in this radius children, and low income housing is more dense within the radius.
Living with oil and gas air pollution commonly leads to nosebleeds, headaches, respiratory issues, and other symptoms - then depending on the cooling system, many feel like they are suffocating in their own homes. There is no escape. Especially for communities bordering states lacking meaningful protections. States like New Mexico would have benefited the most from prompt implementation and enforcement of these federal rules.
For kids like my daughter this is urgent. Her asthmatic symptoms when we travel out of state improve dramatically. People living on the frontlines of oil and gas development will continue facing unnecessary exposure to dangerous air pollution as a result of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin delaying the dates by which methane polluters comply with commonsense protections.
It makes no sense and there are no legitimate reasons to delay the current methane rule, commonsense safeguards that hold oil and gas polluters accountable. There is still time to demand the EPA do their job and implement the standards on time. Act now!