New Mexico environmental groups are pushing back against the formal announcement this week of President Donald Trump’s rollbacks of Biden-era methane policies, while industry officials say changes in the federal rules won’t affect their efforts to reduce emissions.
The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board, meanwhile, will consider more stringent state-led methane rules in early December.
Environmental policy groups say this latest federal regulatory action puts such state policies on center stage for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas operations.
“New Mexico cannot afford a federal retreat on methane,” Antoinette Reyes of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter said in a statement. “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.”
‘Responsibly produced energy’
Trump has finalized a slew of methane emission policy changes that were announced in Santa Fe earlier this month by the Environmental Protection Agency at a oil and gas industry conference. The proposed changes seek to deconstruct Biden-era regulations that sought to reduce methane emissions, and increase monitoring and enforcement of oil and gas operations.
The rollbacks stem from Trump’s executive order to “Unleash American Energy,” which began a series of regulatory changes aimed at increasing the quantity and speed of oil and gas development, as well as energy-related infrastructure.
The EPA said in a statement the policy changes will save $45 billion and increase oil and gas production.
Environmental advocates argue the risks do not outweigh the rewards.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in Santa Fe on Oct. 7 the final rule proposal would be coming in “days, not weeks.” The agency did not provide an explanation on what delayed the final announcement until Tuesday.
When the final rule is published in the Federal Register, a virtual public hearing will be held within 15 days, and the public comment period will last 45 days.
Gabriela Campos/New Mexican file photo
The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association said in a statement it will carefully review the proposal “and engage constructively throughout the comment process.”
Its commitment to emissions reductions “does not depend on any federal rule,” the organization said.
“New Mexico is home to some of the most responsibly produced energy in the world,” association President and CEO Missi Currier said in a statement.
“Through technological innovation and a sustained commitment to stewardship, operators in our state have driven significant reductions in emissions, and they have done so under some of the most rigorous state standards in the nation,” she added. “… New Mexico producers will continue to innovate toward cleaner, more efficient production, because it is the right thing to do for our communities, our environment, and our economy.”
Emissions estimates rise
The new rule changes would primarily reduce regulations for certain marginal, or low-producing wells, which contribute about 5% of the total U.S. oil and gas production but make up 60% of production-related methane emissions, according to a September report from the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental advocacy organization.
Other changes would allow increased venting and flaring of natural gas, and would eliminate a program that allows increased monitoring of large methane leaks known as “super-emitter” events.
The 2024 Biden-era policies were projected to prevent 58 million tons of methane emissions by 2038, according to announcements made by the EPA in 2023 and 2024.
The EPA’s newest analysis estimates an additional 60 million tons of methane, 17 million tons of volatile organic compounds and over 2 million tons of hazardous air pollutants will be emitted between 2027 and 2050 as a result of the rule change.
This regulatory shift also signals more deregulation of oil and gas to come, said Nini Gu, a policy expert with the Environmental Defense Fund.
“This is just a proposal,” Gu said Wednesday. “It’s possible that the final rule that we see will be even more different than the proposal we saw yesterday.”
Attention shift to state rules
The proposed changes make state-led methane regulation more imperative, Gu said. While federal regulation over air pollutants is preferred, Western states like New Mexico have an opportunity to safeguard their residents through their own rules, Gu noted.
“New Mexico has authority to regulate the emissions produced within the border, does not have to just sit by and accept these subpar rules,” Gu said. “New Mexico policymakers can recognize deficiencies and take action at the state level to protect their residents.”
New Mexico passed its methane rules in 2021, requiring operators to minimize gas venting and flaring, use cleaner air-driven equipment, conduct regular leak detection and repair, and develop gas capture infrastructure.
Gu noted data shows oil and gas production in the state has continued to increase, even after the 2024 federal policy rollout, and state officials agree.
“New Mexico has demonstrated that strong environmental protections, robust enforcement and a thriving oil and gas industry can coexist,” New Mexico Environment Department spokesperson Drew Gortezka said in a statement. “Since the state adopted its methane regulations in 2021 and ozone regulations in 2022, oil production has more than doubled from 2020 levels, while the industry continues to generate billions.”
The proposed new methane abatement rule, which will undergo final consideration by the Environmental Improvement Board in early December, would create its own super-emitter program, which would allow certified third-party entities to identify and report large methane leaks and make that data publicly available.
Gortezka said the “commonsense, science-driven safeguards reduce pollution and wasted natural gas while supporting responsible energy development.”
Concerns about health impacts
Rhoda Adeky, the Indigenous energy organizer for the nonprofit, Indigenous-led NAEVA, said New Mexico communities should be able to grow and thrive without the industry dictating “what air quality they deserve.”
“Flares from oil wells were seen rarely under the 2024 methane rule,” she said, “and recently they’ve been more common to see.”
Albuquerque-based NAEVA works to educate and advocate for Indigenous people in New Mexico, including on environmental quality of life.
“In New Mexico, 150,000 people live within a half of a mile of a well site,” said Adeky, who works with communities across the Navajo Nation. “That includes 26,000 Native Americans and more than 11,000 children under the age of 5. The methane doesn’t travel alone. It comes with benzene, which is linked to cancer, and hydrogen sulfite, which causes headaches and nausea.”
She noted students at a school in Lybrook “are screened daily for headaches and nausea, and when they do have these symptoms, that is days missed from school if a child is not feeling well enough to endure the environment at school.”
