NMIPL IN THE NEWS

(The EPA is hosting three virtual public hearings on January 10-12. These hearings are an important opportunity for communities across the country to make their voices heard, and demand that EPA adopts strong, comprehensive methane safeguards to protect our health and our planet. We share ccomments from New Mexico and El Paso residents).

Hello, my name is Cynthia González. I live in El Paso, Texas, a city on the US-Mexico border. I work for the St. Columban Mission for Justice Peace and Ecology, a Catholic nonprofit organization and I’m serve on the board for Interfaith Power and Light-New Mexico and El Paso región. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with today on why strong federal methane rules are important to me, my community and the communities I work with. Through my work with impacted communities and as a border resident myself, I have witnessed firsthand how harmful methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is to our health, our safety, the livelihoods of entire communities and the overall destruction that it causes to in the biodiversity of our planet. 

In my community and nearby communities in west Texas and New Mexico hundreds of families are being impacted by the activities of the oil and gas industry. With many of them already seeing severe impacts on their health. This rule is an important step to ensure we protect them and protect the future of young people. In a recent visit to a community in South New Mexico, I was able to meet with a group women and mothers who are deeply alarmed by the lack of sufficient monitoring and regulation of the industry.

Through my work with impacted communities and as a border resident myself, I have witnessed firsthand how harmful methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is to our health, our safety, the livelihoods of entire communities and the overall destruction that it causes to in the biodiversity of our planet. 

During a presentation and after hearing from the group on the health impacts that they are seeing, one of the woman asked in Spanish with clear worry and disbelief in her tone, “I just don’t understand if they (meaning leaders, politicians, government) know that this is happening and if harming us, why don’t they do anything to stop it, doesn’t our health matter, don’t we matter”. These words should show us all the desperate need to protect these highly vulnerable communities. 

I trust that through this rule the EPA can begin to grant these families and impacted communities the protections they deserve. 

I’m particularly grateful to the EPA for taking steps to address methane pollution from the oil and gas industry – including by ensuring regular inspections occur at all sites and maintaining strong requirements to use zero-emitting technologies. The EPA and all of society must do everything we can to ensure that we are addressing impacts of climate change and protect the health and safety of communities like mine and those in Texas and New Mexico. These rules are an important step in that direction.

Thank you for your time.