Sister Joan Brown, Kayley Shoup React to Updated Methane Rule
Early this morning, President Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an updated draft rule to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations across the U.S. This proposal is an important step towards addressing the climate crisis, protecting the health and safety of communities across the country, and prioritizing the creation of quality, family-sustaining jobs – but there is more work to be done. Here are reactions from two important local leaders to this development.
“We all have an ethical and moral responsibility to care for our land, water, air and communities, which are sacred gifts. The EPA holds a particular public responsibility to address pollution from oil and gas industries and must adopt strong rules that cut pollution from flaring and small well sites. President Biden and the EPA have taken vital action to care for Our Common Home and those who are most vulnerable, whose voices and concerns are often not heard. People of faith are grateful for reforms that cherish life, and we look forward to ensuring the strongest possible rules are adopted in early 2023 that will phase out pollution from the wasteful practice of routine flaring which occurs throughout the Permian Basin.” Sister Joan Brown, Executive Director, New Mexico and El Paso Region Interfaith Power and Light
“This revised draft rule is a welcome reprieve to those of us living in the most prolific oil field in the United States, the Permian Basin. This rule raises the bar on the use of zero-emitting equipment and will finally clamp down on emission from abandoned wells. EPA should build upon the strong foundation of this rule by following the lead of New Mexico and strictly limit pollution from routine flaring across the Permian Basin. Pollution doesn’t stop at the state border, and New Mexico alone cannot solve the pollution issue for those of us in frontline communities of the Permian Basin. We hope that these rules can be implemented and enforced swiftly, as the Permian faces down ozone pollution levels that are in violation of the Clean Air Act.”
Kayley Shoup, Organizer, Citizens Caring for the Future
