Testimony on State Methane Rules: Rhonda Newby-Torres

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Members and supporters of New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light have prepared testimony for hearings held by the Environmental Improvement Board. The hearings, held the week of Sept. 20-24, are in support of the The New Mexico Environment Department’s (NMED) strong proposal to cut ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and methane released by the oil and gas industry. The following statement comes from Rhonda Newby-Torres, lay pastor at Luther House (Lutheran Campus Ministry for UNM and CNM).

Dear Pamela Jones, NMED, and Governor Lujan Grisham,

I am writing to ask you to protect New Mexicans. 

I am from Carlsbad, NM where you no doubt know that the oil and gas industry is centralized. I have watched the beautiful community of my hometown deteriorate over the last 15 years as the oil and gas industry has “boomed” and created chaos in Carlsbad. It is heartbreaking to watch my home community suffer because of the oil and gas industry.

However, it is far more heartbreaking when my friends and community members die due to the negligence of the oil and gas industry. Two young men who I grew up with both died due to gas leaks at a work cite. In addition, families and communities in Carlsbad are experiencing a multitude of health issues related to the excessive amount of oil and gas wells within the residential communities. 

We must protect our communities from the negligence of the oil and gas industry! Just 1 year ago the  gas cite directly across the street from my parents house exploded in the middle of the night. The fire did not make it to my parents house, but they did have to evacuate for their lives. This kind of negligence is unacceptable.

Finally, New Mexico is experiencing extreme weather conditions and drought. Our climate warming is directly linked to the amount of methane gas released during oil and gas production. We cannot continue this way.

NM needs more frequent inspections to find and fix leaks. We need stronger requirements for operators and we need to strengthen requirements to cut pollution from pneumatic controllers that are used in oil and gas production. 

Thank you for your time, consideration, and action,

Pastor Rhonda Newby-Torres

Lutheran Campus Ministry of New Mexico

Op-Ed: Fix Oil & Gas Leasing System

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Here is an excerpt of an opinion piece that James Jimenez,  executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, wrote in the (Santa Fe) New Mexican.

In New Mexico, we have lived through many boom-and-bust cycles of the oil and gas industry. But recent years have shown just how much we need to break this cycle — particularly as we plan for the transition from oil and gas to clean energy — by tipping the scales away from the oil and gas corporations and back toward New Mexicans who have shouldered the consequences. That’s especially true for our state’s children, whose school funding is too dependent on the vagaries of international oil and gas markets.

Thankfully, this could all be changed, but it will require a commitment from the Biden administration to fixing the federal government’s out-of-date oil and gas leasing system and putting our communities before oil and gas CEOs.  Read full article

 

Testimony on State Methane Rules: Dr. Kathleen Mezoff

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Members and supporters of New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light have prepared testimony for hearings held by the Environmental Improvement Board. The hearings, held the week of Sept. 20-24, are in support of the The New Mexico Environment Department’s (NMED) strong proposal to cut ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and methane released by the oil and gas industry.

Dear Members of the Environmental Improvement Board,

I am Dr. Kathy Mezoff, a retired pediatrician who practiced in Gallup at
RMCH for 34 years. You would be right to suspect that, as a pediatrician, I have
a very special place in my heart for babies and children. New Mexico is home to
some of the worst methane one ozone precursor pollution In the country; we
know that babies and children, with their small lungs and developing brains, are
at great risk from the pollutants and toxins from oil and gas operations. It is
therefore imperative from a public heath perspective that we stop the one million
tons of climate-warming methane and the hundreds of thousands of tons of
volatile organic compounds that endanger the health especially of those in the
rural areas of southeast and northwest New Mexico — cancers, asthma, and
heart disease —to name a few. Leaks due to equipment malfunction and lack of
maintenance account for over half of the oil and gas industry’s methane
emissions in the state.


In addition to the health and quality of life concerns in Eddy, Lea, and San
Juan counties, methane pollution accelerates climate change, which will
especially affect the futures of our children as it worsens and accelerates. Our
weather is already causing frequent catastrophes across the world.
Rules to curb methane waste and pollution through updated equipment
and technology can actually create jobs in the methane mitigation industry —as
well as saving our state millions of dollars.


Please — let’s get this done — for the sake of our children, society, and
our world!


Dr. Kathleen Mezoff – Gallup, New Mexico