Greater Chaco Advocates Rally at BLM to Protest Sale of Over 89,000 Acres for Fracking
Over 200 clean air and water advocates rallied in front of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) state office in Santa Fe today to protest the December 5th and 6th online auction of over 89,000 acres of public and ancestral tribal lands, including over 44,000 acres in the Greater Chaco region, and over 40,000 near Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Tribal leaders, environmental groups, and advocates expressed growing outrage at BLM’s chronic disengagement with the public, its lack of meaningful tribal consultation, and its failure to consider the public health and environmental impacts of selling off federal and tribal lands for fracking ...
Hundreds of Thousands Speak Out Against Rollback of Methane Protections
At EPA’s only public hearing on the proposed methane rule rollback held in Denver last month, the overwhelming majority of speakers testified in favor of existing protections. Opponents of rolling back these commonsense protections had submitted nearly 400,000 comments urging EPA to keep them in place ...
 New Mexicans testify in Denver against gutting of EPA methane safeguards
On Wednesday, Nov. 14, starting at 8 a.m. Mountain, an array of New Mexicans are testifying at a public hearing in Denver, speaking out against the Trump administration’s plan to gut EPA’s New Source Performance Standards for oil and gas facilities.  Their testimony will be live-streamed at www.facebook.com/NMSierraClub/.  ...
Trump Administration Guts Second Oil and Gas Waste and Pollution Rule in a Week
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rolled back its Methane Waste Rule just seven days after the Trump administration gutted EPA rules to reduce methane pollution ...
EPA: Oil and Gas Wells Can Keep on Polluting and Wasting Methane

For Immediate Release: September 11, 2018

Contact: Camilla Feibelman, camilla.feibelman@sierraclub.org, 505.715.8388

Agency Guts Leak-Reduction Safeguards; Citizens Protest

Today, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler proposed weakening the EPA’s Methane Rules, which have been in force for almost a year, for the oil and gas industry. When first proposed under the Obama Administration, more than 27,000 New Mexicans commented in favor of these rules meant to stop oil and gas waste and pollution.

These common-sense safeguards limit the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas infrastructure, and also protect communities from other harmful pollutants released alongside methane, such as benzene and volatile organic compounds.  Residents throughout New Mexico are directly affected by this pollution and ...

Zinke Proposes More Fracking in Greater Chaco, Despite Need for More Analysis
Lease sale targets the same region as a March sale deferred due to need for more cultural review and consultation ...
Zinke meets privately in New Mexico while public is locked outside
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was in New Mexico July 25 for an unannounced, closed-door event at the Tamaya resort. The citizens who showed up to protest Interior Department actions were locked out, and not even allowed on Tamaya grounds ...
Community, Tribal, and Faith Leaders Protest DOI Royalty Policy Committee in Albuquerque
Community, religious, and Tribal leaders rallied in Albuquerque June 6 outside of the Interior Department’s industry-packed Royalty Policy Committee meeting to protest further attempts to reduce royalty rates for extraction of fossil fuels on public lands and the Trump Administration’s prioritization of industry voices over the public good ...