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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