Proposed delay in methane rule harmful

It was my great honor to be among the Four Corners citizens who brought their stories of concern, frustration and desperation to the Environmental Protection Agency’s hearing in Washington, D.C., on July 10. We spoke in opposition to the twoyear delay that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has proposed in the rule that limits methane pollution. We told our personal stories.

Personal stories of truths past and present: From the Navajo Nation, an elder says, “When the land is sick, we are sick. What good is money if we lose our health?”; from a family doctor in Durango, “Children are the most threatened by methane leaking and venting.”

A young woman from Twin Pines, N.M., near Chaco National Park: “All the wells are leaking or venting. They all do. If it’s like this now, what will it be like in five years?”

Lawyers, former federal employees, teachers, scientists, a pastor, a missionary, a mother with four children. Another with two.

In all, 116 individuals spoke on behalf of themselves, their communities, their religious groups, their fellow conservationists, their families. Sometimes, a story was about data and more data, certifying again and again the incredible size of the methane cloud discovered in 2014 by NASA. Sometimes about the potency of the methane as global warming’s worst offender — 86 times more potent than CO2.

They talked about the terrible cost to state and local governments. The hospitals, police forces and schools that are desperate for the revenues generated when the wasted gas is captured. Or sometimes, just about the smell and what they know it means, the presence of cancer and other disease-causing chemicals like benzene and xylene.

Two people spoke in favor of the delay. Two. One lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, and one oil and gas corporate representative.

One hundred and sixteen to uphold the existing regulation to stop the leaking and venting and so protect our health and return the rightful royalties and taxes to the citizens.

Two to delay so that they may maximize short-term corporate profits.

What will Pruitt’s EPA say to us?

DON SCHREIBER Blanco