Community members from Citizens Caring for the Future (CCFF) in Southeast New Mexico shared their experiences on bringing their voices to statewide policy discussions on oil and gas – addressing air emissions, waste issues and lack of publicly accessible information.
An article in the news site Capital and Main on Jan. 28 (reprinted by the New Mexico Political Report) illustrates the challenges facing residents of a stretch of southeastern New Mexico dotted with dotted with drilling pads and tank batteries that hold and pump oil and natural gas.
“About 129,000 people live amid more than 20,000 wells actively churning out oil and gas in this panthecake-flat stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert. Despite state regulations that require operators to report accidents, what triggered them, and how much oil, gas and water were lost or spilled, it’s not clear operators always file those reports,” said the article
Here are more excerpts
“Oilfield work is inherently dangerous. Extraction, heavy construction and transportation all play integral parts in the oil and gas industry, and all rank among the country’s most dangerous jobs according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In March 2020, two men were electrocuted and died while working with a forklift in the rain on a pad site south of Malaga. COG, a subsidiary of Concho Resources – which was recently purchased by ConocoPhillips for $13.3 billion – operates the site.
But the dangers don’t end at the edge of the drilling pad.
Throughout the Permian Basin, there are many families like the Gonzaleses, whose homes and ranches are surrounded by drilling operations. Sometimes the pipes carrying gas and oil and contaminated water run right through people’s yards.”
The Season of Creation unites the world’s 2.2 billion Christians around one shared purpose. With so much injustice all around us, now is the time for Christians everywhere to come together and show the world how to love each other and creation.
The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through repenting, repairing, and rejoicing together. During the Season of Creation, we join our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action for our common home.
This year, amid crises that have shaken our world, we’re awakened to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and each other. During the season this year, we enter a time of restoration and hope, a jubilee for our Earth, that requires radically new ways of living with creation.
Watch for special NMIPL inspirational video stories throughout the month (Sept. 1-Oct. 4)!! See who our surprise guests will be and what they have to share!