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!

 

Watch EPA Hearings on New Methane Rule

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Several folks from #NewMexico are participating in the @EPA #Methane Rule hearings over the next 3 days.

You can watch live here

(Note: At this link you can also rewind to watch from the beginning. You can watch at different speeds to catch up)

Sister Joan Brown: We Must Work for Stronger Methane Rules

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“People of faith see climate change as the greatest ethical and moral concern of our time. Not only do frontline communities, communities of color, the young and old suffer the most from climate change, they are affected most from methane pollution which is linked to our warming climate. We must work for strong methane rules. We must act now for life.”   –Sister Joan Brown

 Here is the press release that carried Sister Joan Brown’s comments

EPA New Methane Safeguards Protect Our Common Home

(Oakland, CA – Nov. 2, 2021) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed the first national limits on methane emissions from existing oil and gas operations. At the same time President Biden announced a global pledge to slash the climate-warming methane.

Methane pollution is a profound threat to our health and our climate. The oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane pollution in the United States. Addressing this pollution, in the form of leaks from new and existing operations, is the low hanging fruit of climate solutions. 

Sister Joan Brown, osf, Executive Director, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, said: “People of faith see climate change as the greatest ethical and moral concern of our time. Not only do frontline communities, communities of color, the young and old suffer the most from climate change, they are affected most from methane pollution which is linked to our warming climate. We must work for strong methane rules. We must act now for life.” 

Bill Bradlee, National Organizing Director of Interfaith Power & Light said, “People of faith and conscience, with a shared commitment for stewardship of our common home, support strong and effective methane pollution safeguards. Using currently available technology, the U.S. can do its part to meet a global imperative, achieving a 65% reduction of methane from oil and gas by 2025 and more by the end of the decade.  As the largest historic emitter of climate warming pollution, the U.S. must do its fair share and dramatically reduce its methane pollution.”

Interfaith Power & Light urges the EPA to finalize these strong methane safeguards without delay. IPL supports some additional improvements; for example, it must address methane emissions reductions in smaller wells and issues of routine flaring. These must be included before the proposal is finalized to ensure EPA is fully protecting our health and addressing the climate crisis.