Media contact: Antoinette Reyes, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Organizer, antoinette.reyes@sierraclub.org 

New Mexico methane coalition condemns EPA rollback as state moves to strengthen methane protections

NEW MEXICO-— [10/07/26] — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft rollback of the 2024 federal Methane Rule, a rule that established new requirements to reduce methane and other harmful air pollution from oil and gas operations.  The New Mexico Methane Table, a coalition of community, tribal, health, and environmental organizations working to cut oil and gas methane pollution, condemned the proposal, calling it a giveaway to polluters that would worsen climate change and air quality and threaten public health in New Mexico, the nation’s second-largest oil-producing state.

The announcement came at today’s New Mexico Oil and Gas Association meeting, a large coalition of groups, led by Sierra Club’s Rio Grande chapter, protested the rollback plan.

The rollback proposal comes as New Mexico moves in the opposite direction. The New Mexico Environment Department has petitioned the state Environmental Improvement Board to adopt a new state Methane Abatement rule (20.2.51 NMAC). A public hearing is scheduled to begin Dec. 1, 2026.  The proposed rule would strengthen the state’s existing methane standards and establish a statewide super-emitter program requiring large methane leaks to be identified and repaired quickly.

In 2022, New Mexico became the third state to establish a comprehensive state-based methane program. While some oil-and gas-producing states have relied primarily on federal standards, New Mexico and other states have adopted their own requirements to reduce methane emissions. The proposed federal rollback could allow states with weaker methane protections to maintain or increase emissions while New Mexico and other states pursue stronger standards.

Methane is a potent climate pollutant, with more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.  Oil and gas operations also release methane alongside other co-pollutants, including volatile organic compounds, carcinogens, and other chemicals that contribute to ozone, soot and other harmful air pollution, which disproportionately affect communities near oil and gas development in New Mexico.

Recent peer-reviewed research has linked elevated levels of ozone and radioactive materials in Loving, a town adjacent to the Permian Basin’s oil and gas operations. Meanwhile, New Mexico recorded tens of thousands of flaring events over the past year, despite state and federal efforts to limit routine flaring. Researchers also tied airborne radiation and ozone spikes in the Permian Basin town of Loving directly to nearby oil and gas operations.

In the San Juan Basin near Chaco Canyon, the inequitable impacts are significant with a large majority of the state’s oil-and-gas-related water contamination and some of its worst methane release plumes concentrated in and around Diné communities.

The low-producing wells the federal rollback would exempt from leak monitoring requirements are a significant source of methane pollution. New analysis using MethaneSAT satellite data finds that low-producing wells account for just 5% of U.S. oil and gas production but roughly 60% of production-related methane emissions. In New Mexico and Texas, low-producing wells make up the majority of oil and gas wells, making the proposed exemption particularly significant for the Permian Basin. Experts have documented significant public health risks associated with pollution from oil and gas operations, including increased risks of premature deaths and childhood asthma.  linked these emissions  to hundreds of premature deaths and tens of thousands of childhood asthma attacks each year.

The 2024 Methane Rule followed extensive public input, including more than 900,000 public comments and input from communities, health, legal experts, investors, environmentalists and industry. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, since theEPA stopped fully enforcing federal oil and gas methane standards, the industry has leaked, vented, or flared over 7 billion worth of natural gas.

The New Mexico Methane Table plans to defend the 2024 federal methane rule during the upcoming public comment period; will participate in the NMED’s December Environmental Improvement Board hearing. The table also plans continue pressing the administration for stronger methane protections, including through meetings with the Office of Management and Budget. Additional quotes from coalition partners are available in the accompanying quote sheet.

PRESS QUOTE SHEET

Antoinette Reyes, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Organizer, said: “New Mexico cannot afford a federal retreat on methane. The 2024 EPA safeguards were designed to do basic, practical things: find leaks, stop routine flaring, catch super-emitter events, and require operators to use cleaner equipment that already exists. Rolling those protections back — including protections for low-producing wells that make up a majority of active wells in both New Mexico and Texas — would create a sweeping industry loophole. Oil and gas pollution is like secondhand smoke from the industry: communities are exposed without consent, and the people closest to the source carry the heaviest burden. With the Permian spanning both Texas and New Mexico, pollution knows no boundaries, which is exactly why New Mexico and other states must codify these methane protections into state law and make them strong enough to withstand political rollbacks in Washington.”

“The weakening of the federal methane rule makes it easier for oil and gas companies to pollute New Mexico’s air. This impacts all New Mexicans who live and work near the industry. It  especially impacts the nearly 150,000 people living within half a mile of oil and gas infrastructure, and the 119 schools and nearly 30,000 students going to school within half a mile of oil and gas sites. It impacts people’s health – children’s health. There is no reason to rollback air pollution rules other than lining the pockets of billionaires at the expense of people. This decision is devastating, yet par for the course for the Trump Administration. New Mexicans are counting on our state government now to protect us from methane super polluters.” Mandy Sackett, New Mexico Lead Campaigner, Earthworks

“In southeastern New Mexico, communities in the Permian Basin are on the frontlines of methane pollution. The Permian Basin emits more methane than any other oil and gas basin in the country, placing nearby communities at increased risk from harmful air pollution while accelerating the climate crisis. Weakening methane protections means asking frontline communities to bear even greater costs. New Mexicans deserve strong safeguards that protect our health, our air, and our future.” Carlos Matutes, New Mexico Program Director, GreenLatinos New Mexico

“These rollbacks are a slap in the face to families who are exposed to methane pollution where they live, work, and play. For over a decade, Moms Clean Air Force has been fighting for protections—and we have made progress in states like New Mexico, but all families deserve clean air. Over 900,000 comments were submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency in support of the commonsense methane pollution protections that EPA finalized in 2024, including many of the moms, dads, and caregivers with Moms Clean Air Force. Now frontline communities must once again show up and demand EPA provide strong federal methane pollution standards that protect Americans from this known public health threat and climate super pollutant. It is outrageous that we have to fight so hard just for our children’s right to breathe clean air.”  Celerah Hewes, Senior Manager of State Field Campaigns, Moms Clean Air Force

“As New Mexico strengthens methane protections, federal rollbacks put our progress, and our kids’ health at risk. Communities near oil and gas production face greater exposure to pollution. New Mexico is doing its part to reduce methane, super-emitter events, and flaring, but we all share the same air. Strong EPA safeguards are essential to protect our children and hold operators accountable.” said Maya Anthony, with NM Voices for Children 

Contact: Camilla Feibelman, camilla.feibleman@sierraclub.org 

Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Responds to Haaland Data Center Announcement

“New Mexico’s progress on curbing climate pollution stands to be erased by massive data centers that emit more greenhouse gases than our largest cities. These facilities also deplete our water resources, harm our quality of life and could massively increase electric bill affordability. We support a moratorium on data centers until serious and enforceable guardrails are in place. Today we were encouraged to see gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland announce that she’d enact a moratorium on her first day, if elected, and support guardrails in the legislature. Our communities shouldn’t have to fight alone to protect themselves. Now that the Supreme Court has allowed Project Jupiter’s Air Pollution Permit process to go forward, this kind of policy is more important than ever.”
— Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter

Paid for by the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter PAC.

Stop Trump from Desecrating the Greater Chaco Landscape

Removal of buffer exposes communities and sacred landscapes to oil and gas extraction

SANTA FE — The Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter is joining our Pueblo, Diné, and Tribal neighbors as well as other environmental and community groups in opposing Trump’s plan to expose the Great Chaco Landscape to oil and gas drilling.

“New Mexicans have said over and over again, in no uncertain terms, that our sacred landscapes and public lands must be protected. Chaco means so much to so many: those who originate from these lands, those who have found our homes here, and those who visit.  We will continue to comment and to protest until our call for the protection of the Greater Chaco landscape and its communities are protected.” Diane Reese, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Chair.

Late Wednesday night, Trump’s Bureau of Land Management moved to remove a 10-mile buffer zone that protects the Greater Chaco Region from new oil and gas leasing. This came a day after the administration attempted to slash protections for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, apparently to also allow for expanded mining and drilling.

Chaco Canyon, whose National Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is sacred to Native peoples in the region. The broader ancestral landscape outside of the park boundaries  is already inundated with nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells that threaten land, air, water, sacred places, and public health. The buffer zone is critical to prevent damage to the thousand-year-old Chacoan architecture, as well as harm to the irreplaceable cultural resources throughout the landscape. The buffer zone also offers needed protection to the health and wellbeing of tribal communities in the area.

“The Trump administration’s move devastates cultural heritage and hands tribal and public lands to oil companies harming our irreplaceable history. As we saw in April, the administration is trying to sneak this past with a truncated public-comment period. The administration offered just seven days for scoping in April, bridging the Easter holiday when many people are with their families, but nevertheless New Mexicans and people across the country responded with more than 100,000 comments,” continued Reese.

Our coalition is asking for New Mexico’s help again. Please take a moment to submit a comment  opposing Trump’s “environmental assessment” and tell his administration that these are not his lands to sell out to his cronies in the oil and gas industry. That link is here: Sc.org/chaco. The deadline to comment is midnight, July 29, 2026.

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Contacts:
Tannis Fox, Western Environmental Law Center, 505-629-0732, fox@westernlaw.org
Robyn Jackson, Diné C.A.R.E., 505-862-4433, robyn.jackson@dine-care.org
Andrew Forkes-Gudmundson, Earthworks, 507-421-9021, andrewfg@earthworks.org
Bill Rodgers, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, 330-881-9918, bill.rodgers@sierraclub.org

New Mexico modernizes oil, gas industry bonding, cleanup rules, now among nation’s strongest

Commission vote ensures corporations pay to clean up wells

Santa Fe, NM – The New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission voted Wednesday to reform outdated oil and gas bonding and cleanup rules, adopting some of the strongest safeguards in the country to prevent orphan wells and ensure oil and gas corporations pay to clean up the wells they drill and operate.

“This decision comes down to the simple idea most New Mexicans agree on: If you drill it, you clean it,” said Tannis Fox, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “After a thorough, evidence-based process, the Commission acted to protect our water, our communities, and our state budget – ensuring the public isn’t left paying for industry’s messes.”

The Commission’s decision followed months of hearings, expert testimony, legal briefing, and negotiations among parties. In its deliberations, the Commission largely affirmed the legal and evidentiary basis for modernizing New Mexico’s bonding system and adopted most of the reforms included in the parties’ negotiated agreement, including reaffirming that HB80 complements, but does not replace, a modernized bonding system.

Why It Matters

New Mexico faces between $700 million and $1.6 billion in current and near-future oil and gas well cleanup liabilities, according to state data, with nearly 700 wells already abandoned and more than 4,400 likely to be abandoned in the near term.

When wells are not properly plugged, they can leak methane and toxic chemicals into the air and groundwater, threatening the climate, public health, drinking water, agriculture, and nearby communities.

State data show the average cost to plug a well is approximately $163,000, yet outdated rules have allowed operators to post bonds for far less – leaving taxpayers exposed when corporations walk away or go bankrupt.

What the Rules Do

The updated rules:

• Update bonding requirements to $150,000 per well for oil and gas wells at highest risk of abandonment – including low-producing and inactive wells – more closely aligning with the Oil Conservation Division’s actual plugging costs.
• Require operators with high-risk portfolios – more than 20% inactive wells – to post single-well bonding of $150,000 for all their wells, reducing the risk that large portfolios of aging wells are left without adequate cleanup funds.
• Strengthen well transfer rules to prevent poorly funded or noncompliant operators from acquiring aging wells – a common pathway to well abandonment.
• Require the most marginal wells (producing fewer than 90 barrels of oil equivalent in 12 months) to demonstrate they still serve a useful purpose or properly plug them.
• Tighten rules for inactive wells by requiring operators to show wells will return to production in the future, preventing non-producing wells from lingering indefinitely without cleanup.

Frontline and Community Voices

“After more than a century of living with oil and gas operations and seeing the remnants of aging infrastructure across Diné communities in the San Juan Basin, our communities know what happens when corporations fail to clean up after themselves,” said Robyn Jackson, executive director of Diné C.A.R.E. “These stronger rules are an important step toward ensuring oil and gas corporations are responsible for protecting our water, air, lands, and communities.”

“New Mexicans have been clear: Corporations should clean up the wells they drill,” said Ahtza Chavez, chief executive officer at Naeva. “These rules move us closer to that standard by protecting our communities, our water, and making sure the public isn’t left paying for industry’s mess.”

“In Carlsbad, we’ve seen firsthand what happens when corporations don’t have the financial backing in place to fix problems they create,” said Haley Jones of Citizens Caring for the Future. “These rules are a practical step to make sure corporations clean up their wells so communities like ours aren’t left with the costs or the uncertainty.”

Broad Public Support

The decision reflects strong, statewide support:

• 89% of New Mexicans support requiring corporations to pay to clean up wells they drill
• 91% say industry should be financially responsible for cleanup
• 90% say protecting drinking water and public health is essential
• Support spans political parties and regions across the state.

A Strong National Standard

With today’s vote, New Mexico establishes one of the strongest oil and gas regulatory systems in the nation to prevent orphan wells and ensure timely closure of inactive wells in the country, demonstrating that New Mexico is committed to protecting public health, safeguarding taxpayers, and requiring corporate responsibility.

Looking Ahead

The updated rules mark a major step toward preventing future abandoned wells and protecting New Mexico communities, land, air, and water. By requiring corporations to plan for cleanup upfront, the state reduces long-term environmental and financial risks. At its core, the decision reflects a simple principle: The people who drill and operate wells should be the ones who clean up.

In the coming weeks, the Oil Conservation Commission will issue a written Final Order and publish the rule in the New Mexico Register. Typically, rules become effective 30 days after publication in the Register.

Coalition Support

“Conservation Voters New Mexico (CVNM) Education Fund congratulates the frontline and fenceline communities who have been pushing for better bonding and other oil and gas industry rules for decades,” said Doug Meiklejohn, water quality & land restoration advocate at CVNM Education Fund. “Hard-working New Mexicans and their families and communities are resilient–they deserve clean air, land, water, and good health. These new financial assurance rules are a significant victory that will help ensure oil and gas companies benefitting from our state’s resources will pay to clean up their mess.”

“Low-producing wells can actually be very high-polluting,” said Mandy Sackett, New Mexico lead campaigner for Earthworks. “I’ve documented emissions near schools, improperly functioning flares, and continuous leaks with zero accountability for harms to communities from Counselor to Carlsbad. The new rules make corporations that drill in New Mexico put real money toward cleanup, and that matters for every community I’ve worked in.”

“Orphaned oil and gas wells threaten public health and safety, the water we drink, and the climate,” said Adam Peltz, senior director and lead counsel for energy transition at Environmental Defense Fund. “Far too often, New Mexicans have been left to foot the bill for cleaning up after oil and gas companies, and the state faces billions of dollars in decommissioning risks from low- and non-producing wells. Today, New Mexico finalized reforms to right-size historically insufficient financial assurance, inactive well management and well transfer regulations in order to ensure all wells are plugged in a timely manner at the end of their useful life by their operators. We commend the state for its strong leadership on this critical issue.”

“All religious traditions believe caring for Earth is an ethical and moral responsibility. The oil and gas industry has a responsibility to Earth, our communities, health, and future generations. These state bonding rules are a small way to be responsible and address pollution and harm in favor of the sacredness of Life,” said Sister Joan Brown, community advocate at New Mexico and El Paso Interfaith Power and Light.

“New Mexico families deserve clean air and the assurance that corporations, not hardworking families, are responsible for cleaning up the wells they drill,” said Celerah Hewes on behalf of Moms Clean Air Force. “These stronger protections help safeguard children’s health, reduce harmful methane pollution, and ensure communities across our state are not left with the long-term costs and consequences of abandoned oil and gas wells.”

“When oil and gas companies walk away from cleanup obligations, the costs fall to taxpayers, putting stress on local governments and diverting public revenue away from schools, infrastructure, and essential services,” said Jessica Pace, program director at Western Leaders Network. “By modernizing the state’s bonding program, the Commission establishes New Mexico as a national leader, holds industry accountable for its own mess, and stands up for the natural resources that local elected officials and their communities rely on.”

“New Mexico is finally starting to align oil and gas bonding with the real-world costs and risks communities are already facing across the state,” said Rebecca Sobel, climate and health program director at WildEarth Guardians. “In 2025 alone, industry spilled over 38,000 times, releasing over 9.4 million gallons of toxic liquids across New Mexico. Stronger bonding matters because spills are active, recurring risks tied to aging infrastructure, repeat bad actors, and fracking waste contamination. Today’s vote moves New Mexico closer to a system where corporations, not the public, are responsible for the damage they create.”

“New Mexicans should not be left paying to clean up oil and gas pollution after companies move on. Strong bonding requirements help ensure that taxpayers are not stuck stuck footing the bill plugging wells and restoring land, and that those responsibilities stay with industry. Oil and gas operators should be responsible for cleaning up their mess after they privately profit from extracting public resources. As a parent, I want our public dollars invested in schools and health care, not spent cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells. Updated bonding requirements are an important step toward protecting our communities, our water, and our future,” said by Antoinette Reyes, Sierra club Rio grande chapter organizer.

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REPORT: Despite federal obstacles, New Mexico making progress on spending EV charging dollars

Amid high gas prices and Trump rollbacks, New Mexico has key opportunity to swiftly spend federal funding for EV charging to help drivers go electric.

SANTA FE — New Mexico has led on transportation electrification and made meaningful progress on rolling out federal EV charging dollars in 2025, but the vast majority of that funding remains unspent, according to a new Sierra Club report out today.

“New Mexico’s Department of Transportation moved quickly and decisively to set aside nearly $64 million for heavy-duty charging along the I-10 corridor, an important early win that is now shifting the state from planning to real-world implementation,” said Camilla Feibelman, Director of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter. “This progress will help reduce toxic diesel pollution and climate emissions in frontline communities, including in the Las Cruces area and west toward Arizona. Now is the time to build on that momentum for light and heavy duty charging across the state. New Mexico should continue accelerating deployment and ensuring these investments deliver cleaner air, lower fuel prices,  and healthier communities.”

In February 2025, the Trump administration illegally froze the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. Sierra Club, New Mexico, and other states and nonprofit partners challenged that action in federal court and successfully lifted the freeze. NEVI funds were unavailable to New Mexico for nearly five months in 2025 and only fully secured after a final court order in January 2026. Despite these months-long obstructions, 2025 was still the most productive year in the program’s four-year history.

States have to jump through a lot of hoops to implement and spend federal funds for EV charging — including developing statewide plans for NEVI, selecting projects, “obligating” funding (which legally binds the federal government to reimburse their spending), and moving ahead with permitting, design, and construction. New Mexico led in obligating funds and now has a key challenge of expending the funds and opening charging stations to the public. By the end of 2025, New Mexico had:

• Obligated 43% ($16.4M) and spent 14% ($5.6M) out of its $38M of available federal dollars for EV charging stations along highways
• Obligated 100% ($64M) and spent .001% ($.001M) out of its $64M of available federal dollars for public EV truck and bus charging stations
• Opened at least one NEVI charging station to the public

Crucially, New Mexico was able to obligate all of its Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) funding before the Trump administration unlawfully froze the program at the start of 2025. Sierra Club, allied organizations, and over a dozen states challenged the Trump administration’s freeze of the CFI program in federal court in December 2025. That litigation is currently pending and a decision from the federal court is anticipated before the end of 2026.

To speed up the rollout of federal EV charging funds, the report recommends New Mexico and other states use their attorneys general offices to address issues with access to funds, engage with utility regulators and public service commissions to stretch funding, set targets and timelines for rolling out funds, and maximize coordination between state agencies, project applicants and electric utilities.

The State of New Mexico has led on EV policy by enacting EV tax credits for new and used vehicles as well as chargers, passing clean cars and trucks rules to bring more EV to the state, and recently finalizing a clean transportation fuels program (CTFP) that supports transportation electrification. CTFP will generate tens of millions of dollars to invest in electric vehicles and charging infrastructure every year, which will help make the federal investment go further and help more New Mexicans acquire EVs.

Beyond federally-funded projects, 2025 was also the biggest year on record for deployment of privately-funded EV charging stations. According to data released by Paren, more than 18,000 new fast-charging ports were installed nationwide in 2025 (a 30 percent year-over-year increase). As of today, New Mexico has roughly 458 charging stations with 1,169 charging ports open to the public, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Roughly 344 of those ports opened in 2025, marking a roughly 30% year-over-year increase in fast-charging ports in New Mexico.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

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Contacts:

Antoinette Reyes, Southern New Mexico Organizer, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, Antoinette.Reyes@sierraclub.org
Erick Meza, Borderlands Coordinator, Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, Erick.Meza@sierraclub.org
Sherman Neal, Military Outdoors Deputy Director, Sierra Club National | sherman.neal@sierraclub.org

Sierra Club Opposes Feds Seizing NM Lands for Border Wall

SANTA FE — The Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter stands with State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard in opposing the Trump regime’s plan to seize seven acres of New Mexico lands for Border Patrol facilities.

“The Trump administration’s move, after New Mexico was clear that NO state lands would be sold for border wall construction, is a violation of our laws and rights as a state. This is an
assault on our precious ecology, waters, and diverse wildlife through the corrupt militarization of our border communities,” said Sierra Club Southern New Mexico Organizer Antoinette Reyes.

On Friday the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the federal government would file condemnation paperwork to take the land near the Santa Teresa border crossing for border wall construction, surveillance technology and roads. This proposed theft comes after the U.S. failed to purchase the land in a fair deal with the state. The area in question is located in the NM Bootheel, in Luna County.

Land Commissioner Richard said she would use any available means to resist the “thugs” in Trump’s regime, citing that this land was granted to New Mexico in 1898 in order to raise money for New Mexico schools.

The Sierra Club opposes all despoilment of our lands and their resources. In addition to this latest outrage, the border wall represents a violation of human rights in the form of migrant deaths in the desert and ecological disasters in the form of water pathway and migratory wildlife disruptions. We urge our elected officials to join Garcia Richard in opposing the Trump regime and its attempt to steal land for its fascist agenda.
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Additional Information about Border Environmental Impacts:

1. Arizona and New Mexico: Wildlife corridor in the Peloncillo Mountains on the Arizona and New Mexico border.

This wildlife corridor is important for jaguar movement and consists of specially designated Bureau of Land Management lands including Guadalupe Canyon Wilderness Study Area, and Guadalupe Canyon Outstanding Natural Area and Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The Peloncillo Mountains create a biological bridge between the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. Far ranging species such as jaguar, and black bear used to be able to move along the Peloncillos from the mountains of Mexico north to the Gila River watershed.

The most spectacular example of this connectivity was the jaguar photographed in the Forest in 1996. The large male spotted here is believed to have moved north from a population in Sonora. The bridge of the Peloncillos straddles the eastern edge of the Sonoran Desert and the western edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, while the Animas Valley on its eastern side is the southwestern most extension of the Great Plains. Opening from the spine of the Peloncillo range south toward Mexico and Rio Bavispe, Clanton Canyon and Guadalupe Canyon contain excellent riparian habitat. These canyons support many species of concern, as well as the highest avian diversity, in the state of New Mexico. Many species of butterflies, most famously the monarch, also travel the continental pathway of the Peloncillos between the tropical south and temperate north.

There are very few mapped springs in this area which highlights the importance of the water sources like Guadalupe Canyon for wide-ranging wildlife and sensitive species like the Chiricahua Leopard frog and other amphibians that need to complete their life cycle in a water source.

Status and source: Under construction, on-the-ground reports, January 2021 (missing from CBP map )

2. New Mexico bootheel: Wildlife corridor in Hidalgo County

This wildlife corridor is important for pronghorn, jaguar, and the only white-sided jackrabbit locale in the U.S., and a migratory route for the Janos-Hidalgo international bison herd.

Status and source: Under construction, CBP map , January, 2021

3. New Mexico: Chihuahuan Desert wildlife corridor in Luna County

This 2-mile section of 30’ pedestrian fencing cuts through the rugged Carrizalillo Hills, blocking the movement of wildlife between the Sierra Alto mountains in Mexico and the Cedar Mountains Wilderness Study Area and extensive surrounding BLM public lands in New Mexico. Species affected include mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, javelina, gray foxes, badgers, mule deer and endangered Mexican gray wolves.

Status and source: Under construction, CBP map , January, 2021

4. New Mexico: Chihuahuan Desert wildlife corridor in Luna and Dona Ana Counties

This 34.6-mile section of 30’ pedestrian fencing blocks movement of wildlife between Mexico and the sky island mountain ranges of the Florida Mountains Wilderness Study Area and Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument in southern New Mexico. Species affected include pronghorn, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, javelina, gray foxes, badgers, mule deer and endangered Mexican gray wolves. We recommend beginning this process by removing walls or conversion to wildlife-friendly vehicle barriers.

Status and source: Under construction, CBP map , January 2021

New Mexico communities win stronger air protections as environment board approves historic fee update

Contacts:
Justin Wasser, Earthworks,  jwasser@earthworksaction.org
Morgan O’Grady, Western Environmental Law Center, mogrady@westernlaw.org

Today, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)’s Environmental Improvement Board approved a landmark update to its air quality permit fee structure that increases essential funding for inspections, monitoring, and enforcement. These changes will help deliver stronger protections to frontline communities who need them the most without creating additional burdens to taxpayers.

“The Permian Basin is one of the most active oilfields in the world, and Carlsbad families like mine have paid for that with their health and peace of mind, while oversight agencies were starved of the funding to protect our air quality,” said Haley Jones, organizer with Citizens Caring for the Future. “That imbalance ends today. This rulemaking is long overdue.”

The board unanimously decided in favor of the fee update following three days of public hearing. At the hearing, industry representatives argued that the fee increases were unnecessary, contending that taxpayers, rather than polluters, should shoulder the costs of administering the state’s air quality programs. The updated fee schedules should now be sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of administering New Mexico’s Title V and construction permit programs, as required by the Air Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Air Act. The updated fee schedule will take effect on June 1, 2026.

The public submitted hundreds of comments to the board. In-person testimony was provided by advocates and frontline community members who have been disproportionately exposed to industrial pollution and consistently left out of the decisions that shape their environment. All expressed the hope that this fee adjustment will translate to a more responsive NMED serving the people of New Mexico, including more air monitoring stations, faster enforcement and response to complaints. Twenty-nine state senators and representatives also joined the call for comprehensive funding by submitting a joint letter to the board.

The people of New Mexico have long borne the burden of pollution in the form of respiratory illness, dangerously elevated particulates, and degraded landscapes. This rulemaking begins to rebalance that equation. Industries, not communities and taxpayers, should bear the costs of inspections, monitoring, and enforcement.

“New Mexico’s air quality permit fee structure has been flat for about 20 years, meaning that each year, the Environment Department has had to perform its increasingly complex public health and safety duties with fewer and fewer resources,” said Morgan O’Grady, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “It is fair and proper for industry applicants to bear the true cost to ensure their enterprises do not endanger the communities in which they operate.”

“Current fees were insufficient to fund the enforcement staff that is needed to handle complaints in a timely manner,” said Haley Jones, organizer with Citizens Caring for the Future.

Recent enforcement actions have been related to complaints from nearly four years ago, which is unacceptable. Our communities deserve enforcement actions immediately following complaints, not years later. These enforcement delays cause real harm to people. They mean more asthma attacks and more premature deaths, as well as more costs to our healthcare system. We suffer the consequences of air pollution while corporations profit off our natural resources. These fee increases are critical for the Air Quality Bureau to be able to do its job for all New Mexicans and to enable them to increase their air monitoring network so we can know what is in the air we are breathing.”

“New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light has been working with communities in the Permian Basin for more than 10 years,” said Sister Joan Brown, community advocate with New Mexico and El Paso Interfaith Power and Light. “As people of faith and conscience we are called to care for our kin, our communities and sacred land, water, and air. The region has been in air ozone non-attainment for some time with many people suffering from asthma, bronchial and heart problems related to unchecked oil and gas industry pollution and terrible air quality. The Air Quality Bureau needs adequate and long-term funding for ethical actions, oversight, and accountability. The new fee rules will help our communities.”

“The Environmental Improvement Board’s decision today is great news for the people of New Mexico,” said Nini Gu, Senior Regulatory & Legislative Manager at Environmental Defense Fund. “This funding is essential to ensure the Environment Department has the necessary resources to protect communities from the impacts of energy development, which has grown exponentially over the last decade. With more resources, the Environment Department can expand monitoring efforts and build on its progress of cutting harmful oil and gas methane and air pollution. Businesses that profit from New Mexico’s resources have a responsibility to minimize harm, and today’s decision ensures industry, and not taxpayers, cover oversight costs.”

“For too long, New Mexico communities have been left to breathe the consequences of inadequate oversight while polluters faced no real accountability,” said Antoinette Reyes, Methane Campaign Organizer for the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter. “Today’s decision by the Environmental Improvement Board begins to change that. When industries profit from our state’s resources, they must also bear the cost of ensuring our air is safe to breathe — not taxpayers, not families in Carlsbad or Hobbs, not the people already living with ozone non-attainment and elevated methane emissions. This funding gives NMED the tools to do its job. Now we need to make sure those tools are used.”

“As a thermographer, I see firsthand how industrial activity impacts our land, our air, and our health,” said Mandy Sackett, New Mexico lead campaigner at Earthworks and certified thermographer. “This win isn’t just about fees, it’s about ensuring that the true costs of pollution are accounted for, and that our communities have the resources and the voice to demand better. NMED now has more capacity to protect our environment and our future, and that’s a victory for all New Mexicans.”

With the fees now finalized, Earthworks and its partners will push for robust enforcement, compliance and oversight of the oil and gas industry to ensure these resources translate into real, measurable protections for New Mexico’s most impacted communities. Earthworks’ petition to the Environmental Improvement Board in support of the fee adjustments is available here. Other documents related to the rulemaking are available here (click Environmental Improvement Board and then EIB 25-77 under that drop-down menu.)

Press Contacts:
Madeline Bove, Food & Water Watch: mbove@fwwatch.org
Gail Evans, Center for Biological Diversity: gevans@biologicaldiversity.org
Bill Rodgers, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter: bill.rodgers@sierraclub.org
Morgan O’Grady, Western Environmental Law Center: ogrady@westernlaw.org

Environmental Orgs File Protest Against Green Chile Pipeline in Southern New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE — Today, the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, Center for Biological Diversity, and Food & Water Watch filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) challenging the Transwestern Pipeline Company’s attempt to fast-track the proposed Green Chile Pipeline. The 17-mile pipeline in Doña Ana County would provide gas to a new, massively-polluting power plant for the proposed “Project Jupiter” data center.

The organizations argue that Transwestern cannot proceed under a FERC “blanket certificate,” which is essentially a rubber-stamp permit that automatically approves minor projects and repairs; rather, FERC must instead conduct a full review of the project as required by section 7 of the National Gas Act. The organizations also urge FERC to deny the application under section 7 because it is contrary to the public interest.

In March, the New Mexico State Land Office denied Transwestern’s application for their project to cross state land, forcing the company to reroute a section of the pipeline. It is not possible for FERC to fully consider Transwestern’s application without knowing the exact route, and key information such as the cost of the project and the expected environmental impacts. If the reroute were to increase the cost of construction by even by 2.5%, it would no longer qualify for a blanket certificate review.

STATEMENTS

Camilla Feibelman, Director of Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter
“To approve this pipeline without a thorough and conclusive review could be a disaster for New Mexico families and their communities. We urge FERC to pace themselves and not allow major polluting industries, such as data centers, to skirt regulations when so much is at risk.”

Gail Evans, New Mexico Climate Director, Center for Biological Diversity
“We’re urging FERC to reject this pipeline because it would harm both people’s health and the environment. Its sole purpose is to feed a massive new gas plant that would produce twice as much air pollution as Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined, just to serve a huge data center. New Mexicans are already burdened by extensive oil and gas infrastructure. It’s time to move away from filthy fossil fuels and invest in clean energy.”

Morgan O’Grady, Staff Attorney, Western Environmental Law Center
“Transwestern’s efforts to fast-track this proposed pipeline without environmental review are inappropriate given the massive impacts and uncertain future of the sole client it would serve, the Project Jupiter data center. Transwestern’s application is premature and should be rejected—New Mexicans do not need more stranded oil and gas infrastructure.”

Alexa Reynaud, Food & Water Watch Rural Organizing Manager, Food & Water Watch
“New Mexico has no need for more pipelines, and especially no need for more of this dangerous infrastructure to power the massive Project Jupiter data center. For too long, we have been treated as a sacrificial state, and this pipeline would only continue that legacy of corporate polluters taking our resources and threatening our air, land, and water. AI data centers – and the pipelines proposed to fuel them – have no place in New Mexico.”

Contacts:
Tannis Fox, Western Environmental Law Center, fox@westernlaw.org
Robyn Jackson, Diné C.A.R.E., robyn.jackson@dine-care.org
Andrew Forkes-Gudmundson, Earthworks, andrewfg@earthworks.org
Bill Rodgers, Sierra Club, Rio Grande Chapter, bill.rodgers@sierraclub.org

New Mexico regulators near final rules strengthening oil and gas bonding and cleanup

Parties in the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission (OCC) case to modernize oil and gas clean up and bonding rules filed their final post-hearing briefs on Friday, March 20, a key step as the OCC prepares to decide whether to update decades-old financial safeguards meant to prevent orphaned and abandoned wells.

“This case has made one thing very clear: New Mexicans expect oil and gas corporations to clean up the wells they drill and operate,” said Tannis Fox, senior attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center, who represents community and environmental organizations that filed the petition for new rules. “The Commission now has the opportunity to adopt smart, fair rules that protect our water, our communities, and our state budget while ensuring corporations meet the plugging and cleanup responsibilities they agreed to.”

Following weeks of hearings last fall, the OCC directed parties to negotiate areas of agreement where possible. Over the past several months, those negotiations have narrowed differences among stakeholders. The final rules proposed by the petitioners create a clear path for the OCC to adopt stronger safeguards to prevent oil and gas well abandonment.

Modernizing bonding requirements would better align financial assurances put up by oil and gas operators with the real cost of plugging wells, helping protect New Mexico families, drinking water, land and public funds.

New Mexico faces a growing unplugged well crisis with thousands of aging wells at risk of being abandoned without adequate cleanup funding. A June 2025 report from the Legislative Finance Committee estimates the state could have more than 5,000 abandoned wells and between $700 million and $1.6 billion in cleanup liabilities in the coming years. Strengthening the system will help prevent the orphaning of these wells in the first place and provide the state and the public with greater financial protection if the wells are orphaned.

“For many Diné families in the San Juan Basin, oil and gas wells sit close to our homes, our grazing lands and our critical water sources,” said Robyn Jackson, executive director of Diné C.A.R.E. “When wells are not properly cleaned up, they emit harmful pollution that threatens our air, our health and the land our communities depend on. Updating oil and gas rules helps ensure oil and gas corporations follow through on their responsibility to clean up wells so our communities are not left with the risks.”

“For communities like Carlsbad, we’ve seen firsthand what happens when corporations abandon oil and gas wells,” said Haley Jones with Citizens Caring for the Future. “These rules are about making sure corporations clean up their wells so our communities aren’t left with the bill or the risks to our health, our water and our land.”

“The system is broken when polluters can walk away from polluting oil and gas wells and leave taxpayers to clean up their mess,” said Andrew Forkes-Gudmundson, Senior Manager of State Policy at Earthworks, a party in the rulemaking. “The wells polluters leave behind can leak methane and health-harming toxics into people’s homes. Rules that prevent those harms and require that companies clean up the mess they made is simple common sense and common decency.”

“We need agencies that are funded to protect New Mexicans who stand to lose the most from abandoned or potentially orphaned wells,” said Camilla Feibelman, Director of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter. “The industries doing business here must act as good neighbors, limit their impacts to our health, air and water, and provide the funding for clean up, up front.”

Why it matters

When wells are not properly plugged at the end of their productive life, they can leak toxic chemicals into the air and groundwater, posing risks to public health, agriculture, wildlife and nearby communities. Abandoned wells are also a major source of methane pollution, a powerful greenhouse gas that accelerates climate change.

Under the current bonding system, oil and gas corporations can operate hundreds or even thousands of wells while posting only a small fraction of the money needed to plug them. When operators walk away from wells or declare bankruptcy, the cost of cleanup falls on the state.

Recent enforcement actions by the state, including a lawsuit filed by the New Mexico Attorney General alleging that operators used shell companies and bankruptcy to avoid cleanup responsibilities, underscore the risks when financial safeguards fail.

Bonding functions like a security deposit: Oil and gas corporations must set aside funds in advance to ensure wells are properly plugged and cleaned up when drilling ends.

What the proposed rules would do

The rule changes under consideration would:

• Update bonding requirements to $150,000 per well for oil and gas wells at highest risk of abandonment – including low-producing and inactive wells – more closely aligning with the Oil Conservation Division’s actual plugging costs.
• Require operators with high-risk portfolios (more than 20 percent inactive wells) to post single-well bonding of $150,000 for all wells, reducing the risk that large portfolios of aging wells are left without adequate cleanup funds.
• Strengthen well transfer rules to prevent poorly funded or noncompliant operators from acquiring aging wells – a common pathway to well abandonment.
• Require the most marginal wells (producing fewer than 90 barrels of oil equivalent in 12 months) to demonstrate they still serve a useful purpose or properly plug them.
• Tighten rules for inactive wells by requiring operators to show wells will return to production in the future, preventing non-producing wells from lingering indefinitely without cleanup.

Broad public support

New Mexicans across the state have voiced strong support for modernizing bonding rules.

• More than 900 written public comments support reform.
• Twenty-five elected officials from across New Mexico signed letters and gave public comment supporting stronger bonding requirements.
• Statewide polling shows 89 percent of New Mexicans support requiring oil and gas corporations to pay to clean up the wells they drill.

What’s next:

The OCC will now review the post-hearing briefs as it prepares to deliberate on potential updates to the state’s bonding rules.

Commissioners now have the opportunity to adopt modern safeguards that better reflect today’s cleanup costs and ensure oil and gas corporations are responsible for cleaning up the wells they operate.

Sierra Club Statement on Trump Administration’s Attempt to Expand Drilling at Chaco Canyon

ALBUQUERQUE – This week, the Trump administration advanced the process of increasing oil and gas drilling on a landscape considered sacred by Pueblos and Tribes.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration began a 7-day Public Scoping period, the next step in its proposal to open the Greater Chaco Region to oil and gas drilling. The comment period is much shorter than the standard 30- or 60-day comment periods on leasing proposals.

The administration began the process of overturning Public Land Order 7923, which protects public lands in the Greater Chaco Region from industrial development, on October 30, 2025. The order, which was finalized in 2023, protected 336,400 acres surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from extractive development for 20 years. If the proposal is approved, new oil and gas leasing and development on federal lands will be allowed within 10 miles of the park’s boundaries, including on lands directly bordering the park, threatening the irreplaceable cultural resources throughout the landscape.

In response, Diane Reese, ExCom Chair, Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club released the following statement:

Opening up the Greater Chaco region to oil and gas drilling threatens the health and safety of nearby communities and the integrity of this sacred landscape. The people who call this place home have made their voices clear – they want this place protected, not sold out. Revoking protections for Chaco Canyon would damage relationships with Tribal Nations and sacrifice cultural and historical resources to boost corporate profits. We stand with local communities who continue to ask for permanent protections for this special place.

Click here to read this release on our web site.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.