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New Mexicans join Hundreds of Thousands Urging Pruitt to Keep Methane Protections in Place

Four Corners Power Plant. Photo courtesy of EcoFlight and San Juan Citizens Alliance

  Commentary: Washington, DC -- Today marks the final day of the comment period on Scott Pruitt’s plan to delay implementation of key safeguards limiting methane pollution from new oil and gas operations. The agency itself has acknowledged the public health threat this delay poses, particularly to children. But at the request of the oil and gas industry, Pruitt has moved to stay enforcement of this critical rule by two years.

 

Efforts to implement a separate 90-day stay of the rule were defeated in court recently, as Pruitt continues to overreach in his efforts to prop up the fossil fuel industry and limit environmental protections.

 

There are 1500 wellsin New Mexico that would normally be subject to this rule, and $13 billion of new investment in the Permian Basin alone.

 

The public has until 11:59 EST today to comment on the rule delay.

 

Quotes from impacted New Mexicans commenting to the EPA:

 

Sug McNall, an Aztec Resident, wrote in her comment the EPA, "I ask you to please consider the health and welfare of WE, the people who have to "exist" near an oil or gas facility.  These unhealthy emissions can be captured.  Leaks are easy to detect and fix.    Our health is too precious to sacrifice for energy production   Please begin to enforce the EPA Methane Rule at once.  Please do not prolong the process of leak detection and repair any longer.  Every day that the American people are being exposed to toxic oil and gas emissions is another nail in our coffin." (hear full testimony in recording below)

 

"On and around our ranch in Northwest New Mexico, there are 122 natural gas wells and each and every one is leaking or venting. These wells are part of the 30,000 wells drilled in the San Juan Basin since the 1940's and all of them are leaking or venting or flaring and building, as it turns out, the infamous methane hotspot that you've heard so much about....“Mr. Pruitt, Do you live next to a leaking or venting natural gas well?" As these natural gas wells are leaking and venting, the taxes and royalties that are due to state and local governments are lost. Forever," wrote Don Schreiber in his testimony to the EPA (hear full testimony in recording below)

Several NM organizations issued statement on the close of the comment period:
 
“As demonstrated at the EPA public comment meeting in D.C., there is overwhelming support for methane protections among U.S. citizens. We hope the EPA listens to the voices of the people it is charged to protect. Here at ground-zero in the Four Corners, the swift implementation of these rules is critical to our health, environment, and economic well-being. We cannot afford a delay.” - Emily Bowie, Campaign Organizer, San Juan Citizens Alliance

 

"As people of faith, we are called to care for creation and our neighbors, particularly those who are most vulnerable. National standards on methane will help care for these vulnerable communities by curbing climate change, improving air quality, and responsibly stewarding finite resources. Just as our bodies are temples of the holy, so is our earth, land and water we share. Our bodies and communities are only as healthy as our land, water and air. It is a moral responsibility to curb methane. We must implement the methane rules now." Sister Joan Brown,osf, Executive Director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light

 

"The EPA's methane rules are good-neighbor, health-improving, job-creating and royalty increasing.  Exxonmobil, Marathon Oil and BP are making billion dollar investments in New Mexico with plans to export their profits to Denver and Dallas.  Methane capture and leak detection and repair are the minimum that these companies can do to be good corporate citizens in our state," said Camilla Feibelman, Director of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. 

 

“Industrial methane and toxic air pollution from the oil and gas industry threatens public health,” says Demis Foster, Executive Director of Conservation Voters New Mexico. “The methane hot spot disproportionately impacts New Mexico's rural, indigenous and Latino communities in the Four Corners region -- an area with high asthma rates that is already coping with a legacy of air and water pollution from coal plants.”