Commentary: On Jan. 5, a large group of New Mexico citizen groups submitted comments to the New Mexico Environment Department on its revised draft general construction permit for oil and gas facilities. The signatories of the comments believe this permitting proposal would constitute some of the weakest oil and gas air quality regulations in the country, for which NMED designated a permit review and comment period of an astonishingly minuscule four business days over the New Year holiday, ending today.
"The Environment Department needs to expand the ridiculous four-day comment period and then significantly strengthen this draft. This administration keeps trying to sneak through proposals that would hurt people at the behest of the drilling industry. New Mexicans didn't fall for their anti-science science curriculum, and they aren't falling for this." said Camilla Feibelman, Director of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club