New Mexico & El Paso
In New Mexico alone, there are more than 3 million acres currently leased to oil and gas companies for exploration and drilling. Because of outdated rate structures, these leases go for far less than market value, creating huge revenue losses to the state.
On September 16, conservation groups joined hundreds of others in urging Gov. Lujan-Grisham’s state agencies to take advantage of the opportunity to slash our state’s climate pollution and make the air healthier for all of us.
The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, Environment New Mexico, and Western Leaders Network are co-hosting a webinar on Thursday, August 27th at 2pm with U.S. Representative Ben Ray Luján to highlight the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis’ report on Solving the Climate Crisis and its importance for New Mexico.
We are grateful that the Lujan Grisham Administration is moving forward with rules, addressing the global climate crisis, even while facing the urgency of the pandemic
On August 14, the US EPA finalized its proposals to eliminate methane protections from the EPA’s New Source Performance Standards. This rollback undermines EPA’s own mission by threatening public health, and disproportionately hurts Black and Brown communities who are already exposed to air pollution from oil and gas development at much higher rates – the same communities that are already suffering the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 16, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California invalidated the Trump Administration’s rollback of the Obama-era Waste Prevention Rule. This ruling means that the Waste Prevention Rule goes back in effect in 90 days, and the oil and gas industry will have to comply with the Rule’s requirements to prevent waste of gas on federal lands.
Moving to protect the climate, public health, and to further environmental justice, a coalition filed suit to overturn the sale of leases on nearly 41,000 acres of public land in New Mexico for oil and gas drilling. The BLM did not allow a comment period on the lease sale’s draft environmental assessment, and held only a lightning-quick, 10-day protest period. In addition, the coalition charges that for this lease sale.
As we all deal with the uncertainty of this difficult time for our health and economy, it is more important than ever that New Mexico stays the course on critical public health initiatives to protect our children, our air and our climate. The New Mexico Environment Department and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department are hosting an online meeting to gather public input about methane regulations and community impacts.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Farmington Field Office and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released their long-awaited Mancos-Gallup Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Greater Chaco region on Friday, February 28, 2019. With the release of this draft plan, it’s clear the agencies have broken their many promises.
On September 5, 2019, environmental advocates gathered in front of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) State Office in Santa Fe to protest the agency’s September 5 online auction of nearly 3,000 acres of public land in the Permian Basin of New Mexico’s Greater Carlsbad region for industrialized fracking.