Rev. Nick King’s Testimony at EPA Hearing

I ask you, the EPA, to take your responsibility seriously in setting reasonable and responsible standards in regards to Methane emissions, so that God and history and the rest of the planet will see that we are at least trying to do the right thing.

Rev. Nick King  is one of the faith leaders involved with Citizens Caring for the Future, an affiliate of New Mexico Interfaith Power & Light in Carlsbad. Here is his testimony at the EPA hearing on June 15-16, in which the agency is collecting testimony to develop a proposed rule to reduce methane and other harmful pollutants from new and existing sources in the oil and natural gas industry.

My name is Nick King and I am pastor at the Carlsbad Mennonite Church, Carlsbad, NM in the heart of the Permian Basin. This earth, our home, is a gift of God to us to take care of, and I hope our lives and actions will be an honor to our Creator.  I ask you, the EPA, to take your responsibility seriously in setting reasonable and responsible standards in regards to Methane emissions, so that God and history and the rest of the planet will see that we are at least trying to do the right thing.  In our national attempt to be world leaders, our taking control of climate change is much more important than even the size of our nuclear arsenal, which is another related shameful heresy.  All of us around the world are children of God, and what destroys one, destroys us all, as we see in the effects of climate change all around us.  Anything we, or you on the EPA staff, can do to slow this stampede to self annihilation is important.

None of us like rules for ourselves, but from kindergarten to family to city, state, federal and even international entities-we all have rules that are for the common good.  There are rules that a tire company cannot dump our old tires on an empty lot, or our oil change center cannot dump our used crankcase oil in the storm sewers that go to the river.  Our air is just as sacred as our earth and water.

And now we are dealing with methane and other toxic byproducts that are part of the oil and gas industry that is so important to all of us in this area in SE NM.  And the methane problem may be even more prevalent than what is self reported by the industry.  But we do know that it has dire effects- both locally and globally.  Fossil fuels have been the lifeblood of our culture for more than 100 years, but they are also our poison.

On top of that, there has been virtually NO enforcement of air quality standards for the last 9 years here in New Mexico of even the pollution laws that we do have, and the EPA is little better.  So any reasonable laws for the good of all – all of us and all of the world, as well as realistically feasible for the oil and gas industry, should be created- and enforced.

In this highly competitive oil and gas industry,  reasonable standards would cost a little more to implement, so it would not be fair to those companies that want to do the right thing, if not all operators are playing by the same reasonable rules to contain methane pollution.

We are the wild west, but we are also God’s children that have a responsibility for our siblings around the world, and our posterity.  As world leaders, we as a nation should set pollution standards, and enforce them.

If the EPA doesn’t take the lead on this, who will?