New Mexico oil group appeals ozone pollution rules

Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal

The Impartial Petroleum Affiliation of New Mexico filed a authorized attraction Friday difficult new state rules geared toward lowering ozone air pollution within the oil and gasoline trade.

New Mexico’s Environmental Enchancment Board adopted the brand new guidelines in April they usually went into impact formally on Friday.

Oil and gasoline operators in high-ozone counties should now have emissions knowledge licensed by an engineer.

IPANM government director Jim Winchester stated the rule accommodates provisions that may power firms to plug productive wells and “inflict financial hardship” on residents.

“At a time when the general public helps accountable home manufacturing to scale back gasoline costs and a lower in our dependency on overseas sources of vitality which can be unquestionably worse for the setting, IPANM strongly feels that is the flawed rule on the flawed time,” he stated.

Beneath the brand new rule, firms should rapidly discover and repair leaks, and retrofit management units.

NMED’s new rules apply to operations in Chaves, Doña Ana, Eddy, Lea, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan and Valencia counties, which have excessive ozone air pollution.

When the EIB adopted the foundations earlier this yr, state Surroundings Secretary James Kenney stated the company would start “sturdy and revolutionary” monitoring to make sure oil and gasoline firms are following the rules.

“This rule is a gigantic win for communities impacted by unhealthy air high quality attributable to oil and gasoline operations,” Kenney stated.

The discover of attraction, filed Friday in state appeals courtroom, will possible be adopted by technical arguments submitted to the courtroom inside the month.

IPANM, which represents about 350 members, shouldn’t be citing particular objections to the rule at this level.

However the group and different oil and gasoline teams did object to a number of provisions in the course of the Environmental Enchancment Board deliberations.

NMED eliminated exemptions for low-producing wells, or stripper wells, in its closing rules.

The company additionally required extra leak inspections for wells inside 1,000 toes of properties and faculties.

Ozone guidelines have been designed to work in tandem with the Oil Conservation Division’s methane rules, which deal with the greenhouse gasoline as trade waste.

The state company banned routine venting and flaring of pure gasoline, and now requires operators to report emissions knowledge.

Operators should additionally meet a 98% gasoline seize price by the top of 2026.