Proposed EPA changes raise ire of New Mexico officials, activist groups

• EPA proposal rolls back 2016 regulations related to methane release and oil and gas inspections.
• New Mexico lawmakers questioned the proposed changes as putting the environment at risk.
• Industry executive celebrated the changes as reducing undue burdens.

A recent proposal by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to cut back on regulations designed to reduce methane emissions was met with backlash by environmentalist and New Mexico state officials.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the proposal Tuesday, intending to end unnecessary regulations on the oil and gas industry.

The regulatory changes mostly involve aligning EPA rules with State laws, while also reducing the frequency required for monitoring leaks and encouraging industry-driven solutions and new technologies.

They alter the 2016 New Source Performance Standards, read an EPA news release.

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Wheeler said the changes in the “oil and gas targeted improvements package” could save about $484 million in regulatory costs from 2019 to 2025 – $75 million annually.

“These common-sense reforms will alleviate unnecessary and duplicative red tape and give the energy sector the regulatory certainty it needs to continue providing affordable and reliable energy to the American people,” Wheeler said.

“Removing these excessive regulatory burdens will generate roughly $484 million in cost savings and support increased domestic energy production – a top priority of President Trump.”

New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas vowed to continue fighting the energy policies of the Trump Administration, calling on federal officials to put the environment and health and safety above industry profits.

“By rolling back critical methane waste regulations, President Trump’s EPA continues to put industry profits before New Mexican families’ safety and our environment,” Balderas said. “Wasting New Mexico’s natural resources not only harms our families, but jeopardizes our precious environment, so I will continue to fight these harmful acts with every tool available to me.”

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U.S. Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) said regulations must be left in place on the federal to increase oversight on methane releases, which he called a “super pollutant.”

“Methane gas is a super-pollutant for climate change and today’s EPA action is wasteful and outrageous. Actions by EPA to weaken these commonsense, cost-effective oil and gas emission limits will increase pollution and endanger the health and well-being of surrounding communities,” Udall said.

“This short-sighted proposal is yet another example of the Trump EPA ignoring its responsibility to protect American families.”

Industry celebrates

Oil and gas industry officials applauded the changes as a revision of problematic policies enacted during the administration of former-President Barrack Obama.

Kathleen Sgamma, President of the Western Energy Alliance, said the Obama administration purposely used federal regulations to stymie oil and gas development.

More:Opposition grows against rollback of venting and flaring methane rule

She said the industry is already making strides in reduction of methane emissions, without government oversight.

President Donald Trump’s administration, she said, is leading the United States to energy independence on the global scale.

“Western Energy Alliance is pleased that EPA is fixing a rule that was purposefully designed by the Obama Administration to tie up the American oil and natural gas industry in red tape,” Sgamma said. “By fixing the numerous technical problems with the original rule, EPA will enable industry to continue its four-decade success record of reducing methane emissions.

“This new rule encapsulates the energy dominance agenda that is leading to huge increases in American energy production and jobs with dramatically lower levels of imports from overseas, all while delivering environmental protection.”

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Barry Russel, president and chief executive officer of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) said EPA’s support of the extraction industry is evident with the rule changes, and such acts will ensure America’s energy security for the foreseeable future.

“America’s oil and natural gas producers understand the importance of fair, commonsense regulations. But, for too long, the federal bureaucracy has buried our industry in unnecessary and often duplicative red-tape,” Russel said.

“Today’s EPA proposal reverses the growing mistakes of the past. This proposal not only reassures America’s continued path toward global energy leadership, but also continues to protect the environment and communities where energy production is located.”

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The federal government should look to the states’ regulations for the “best regulatory approaches,” Russel said.

 “It is important for the states to play an important role in decisions that affect their citizens, industries and natural resources,” Russel said. “This proposal does just that: it empowers the states to work with the federal government on the best regulatory approaches.

“IPAA welcomes these proposed changes and is encouraged by these reasonable actions.”

The EPA opened public comment on the changes for 60 days, after publishing the proposal.

Activists attack

Environmentalist groups immediately attacked the changes, accusing the EPA of kowtowing to the industry, favoring private development over environmental protections.

Various groups released statements in opposition on Tuesday, the day the proposal was published.

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Matt Watson, associate vice president of energy for the Environmental Defense Fund said the safeguards proposed to be rolled back would prevent 300,000 short tons of methane pollution, 150,000 short tons of smog-forming pollutants, and 19,000 shorts tons of other toxic pollutants by 2020.

“It’s unfortunate that the Trump Administration is once again ignoring facts and common sense only to put the interests of the nation’s worst-run oil and gas companies ahead of the health and welfare of all Americans,” Watson said.

“To compete in today’s energy landscape, you have to be both cheap and clean. The question now is whether leading companies are going to stand up against this misguided effort or let the Trump Administration take the entire industry backward.”

Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter said the people of New Mexico’s health is at risk.

Efforts to capture methane should be increased, she said, to provide more revenue to the State when the gas is sold.

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“Oil and gas companies come to our state, extract natural resources owned by all of us from our public lands, ship their profits off to Dallas and waste large amounts of gas, shorting the state and our communities on millions of dollars in royalties,” Feibelman said.

“And while they’re at it, they spew poisonous compounds into the air, putting our families’ health at risk. Methane safeguards save money and improve air quality for families.”

Climate change is a threat only exacerbated by reducing regulations, said Laura Pagel, policy director at Earthworks – a Washington, D.C.-based environmentalist group.

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She called for the country to shift away from oil and gas, and embrace more renewable and green sources of energy.

“Even with EPA’s methane safeguards in place, we’re not doing enough to prevent catastrophic climate change,” Pagel said. “To do that, we must end the oil and gas era, and make a just transition to the 100 percent renewable economy as soon as humanly possible.

“But the first rule of getting out of a hole is to stop digging. Unfortunately Trump’s EPA just replaced a shovel with a backhoe.”

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.