New Mexicans Testify at EPA Hearing: Donna Detweiler

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EPA Methane Pollution rules hearing statement, November 30, 2021

Good evening, Protectors of the Environment!

I am Donna Detweiler in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Honored to share with you my perspective as a landlord.

My tenants and I use methane (as natural gas) every day to heat water, heat air, heat food. We are grateful for the modest cost of this fuel and would be sad if it were no longer available to us. We are disturbed, however, that some of this precious energy is being wasted in flaring and in leakage from wells and pump or compressor stations. We are also disturbed that methane hurts the health of those directly subjected to breathing it as well as the health of the biosphere that nurtures each of us. We already have methane leaking from thawing permafrost so cannot afford to bleed any more into our common air space without eventually annihilating ourselves. And because NM greenhouse gas emissions have risen 50% under the current administration, we desperately need to get this under control!

So when one of my tenants smells a gas leak, they call NM Gas Company to find the source and then me to get it fixed. I could be tempted to say, “Oh, just open the window.” Or, “If you don’t like living around gas leaks, find another home.” Or “The average leakage of all the apartments together is really quite small and plumbers charge bucubucks for their services.” Tempting as these responses might be, I just fix the leaks. I encourage you to do likewise. I am calling on you to sniff for methane (i.e., step up the monitoring at every stage of its capture and transport) and to make sure the leaks get fixed forthwith, regardless of whether the US Senate passes a methane fee.

I ask your indulgence to take this landlord analogy one last step. I have the responsibility as apt manager to call out tenants who endanger the health or safety of their neighbors. Like if a tenant is running a meth lab, I can go to court for damages, and if they don’t stop the hazardous activity, I can evict them. Now they might offer me chocolates or extra rent under the table to overlook the transgression, but I wouldn’t want to expose myself to the liability of taking it. Not saying that you folks take kickbacks, but the State of NM does in the form of royalties from oil and gas. And I urge you to rule for the welfare of the community as a whole – its air, land, and water – over its methane labs. Thanks so much for taking your responsibilities as landlords seriously!

New Mexicans Testify at EPA Hearing: Odile Coirier, FFM

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EPA Methane Pollution rules hearing statement, November 30, 2021

Hello, my name is Odile Coirier, I am a Catholic Sister, working with Interfaith Power and Light New Mexico-El Paso Region. I live in El Paso Texas.

I strongly approve EPA’s step forward to advance President Biden’s commitment to action on climate change and protect people’s health by proposing comprehensive new protections to sharply reduce pollution from the oil and natural gas industry – including, for the first time, reductions from existing sources nationwide.

However, achieving a robust and protective rule will require EPA to fill gaps on critical issues such as frequent inspections for smaller wells and a ban on routine flaring when it finalizes the rule.

I arrived in El Paso two years ago. This beautiful region is surrounded by Mountains. This is a gorgeous landscape. Yet, the oil and gas sector impact our environment. Flaring is a practice that is rampant in this sector. We can see black smoke, fire liberating toxic products in the atmosphere. The bad smell is unbearable. We all know that the contribution of methane emissions to global warming is 25% higher than previous estimates. Methane is a key precursor gas of the harmful air pollutant, tropospheric ozone.

I am deeply concerned about the health of our communities. The most vulnerable are the ones who suffer the most. Some companies are settled in their backyard.

I am concerned about the environment when unceasing pollution create an unhealthy air, hence the high rate of respiratory illness among the adults and the children.

I am concerned because as people of faith we have a moral imperative to care for our common home and to protect the voiceless.

EPA must strengthen their proposed rule to protect public health and the climate, through a supplemental rulemaking or other action, in order to:

  1. End the wasteful and dangerous practice of routine flaring at oil and gas facilities, as states like Colorado and New Mexico have done already.
  2. Require regular monitoring at all smaller, high-polluting and leak-prone wells, and work to incorporate emission monitoring results generated by community groups and other third parties into its standards.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my comments. On behalf of my community and my organization I urge EPA to set stronger standards, eliminate loopholes for smaller operations, and end venting and flaring from oil and gas facilities.

Finally I urge EPA to finalize this rulemaking as quickly as possible, climate change is an emergency and our planet cannot afford further delay.

Thank you!

 

New Mexicans Testify at EPA Hearing: John Maddaus

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EPA Methane Pollution rules hearing statement, November 30, 2021

Testimony by John Maddaus  Albuquerque, NM

I am John Maddaus, and I am a resident of Albuquerque and a member of First Congregational Church UCC.

I support strong ozone precursor rules and strict enforcement of those rules.

The great tragedy of the industrial revolution of the last 300 years or so has been the externalization of costs and the increase of profits by dumping of toxic chemicals on our soils, into our waters, and into the air we breathe.

If this were a case of heavy toxic chemicals, such as mercury, being dumped on the soils of an industrial site and into the adjacent waters, the site would long ago have been designated a superfund site, and the responsible corporation forced to spend millions of dollars on clean-up.

Does dumping gaseous toxic chemicals like methane into the air make it OK, just because there is no identifiable site? No, it is not OK!

Already there are industrial sacrifice zones where these toxic gases have concentrated, and where it is difficult to live because it is difficult to breathe.

And as toxic gases are dispersed in the air, they contribute to heat waves, droughts, wildfires, extreme weather events, ocean acidification and sea level rise.

Already there are climate refugees fleeing our gulf coast, and nations such as Haiti and Honduras. If climate change continues there will eventually to no place to run to.

The atmosphere of our earth, upon which all life depends, is thin and fragile. We must protect it. Stop releases of methane and other toxic gases. NOW!

Thank you to the Environmental Improvement Board for this hearing and for all your work on this issue.