Officials present methane rule-making road map
Draft of regulatory proposals and hearings expected next year
Another packed audience attended the state’s second public meeting Tuesday on ways to control and reduce methane emissions in New Mexico.
About 200 people participated at the University of New Mexico Law School, about the same number who attended the state’s first event in Farmington Monday. Two more meetings are also set for next week in Carlsbad, marking the opening strides in state efforts to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered both the Environment and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources departments last January to craft new regulations to control venting, flaring and leaking of methane by industry operators. The agencies organized the meetings to give environmental, industry and community representatives an opportunity to freely weigh in on the issues.
At the Albuquerque meeting, cabinet officials laid out their next steps and strategies going forward.
The Environment Department will consider regulatory measures to control air pollution, particularly volatile organic compounds that cause ozone, or smog. Reducing VOCs will help protect human health in affected communities, while also cutting methane emissions, which are released alongside VOCs, said Environmental Protection Division Director Sandra Ely.
Eddy, Lea and San Juan counties surpassed permissible VOC emissions levels by about 2 million pounds in 2018.
“That’s the equivalent of 10 natural gas plants,” Ely said. “We need to bring excess emissions down.”
NMED will submit its regulatory proposals to the state Environmental Improvement Board for approval.
EMNRD, meanwhile, is focused on reducing the waste of natural resources through venting, flaring and leaking of natural gas. According to monthly reports that operators submit to EMNRD, the industry vented or flared more than 36.2 billion cubic feet of gas in 2018, costing the state $10 million in potential revenue, said Oil Conservation Division Director Adrienne Sandoval. That’s up from 25.2 billion cubic feet in 2016 and 17 billion in 2017.
“It dipped in 2017, but then shot back up last year,” Ely said. “And in 2019, it’s expected to be up substantially again.”
EMNRD will submit its regulatory proposals to the Oil Conservation Commission for approval.
The agencies will begin drafting regulations in November after receiving feedback from a methane advisory panel of environmental and industry representatives. The panel will meet from mid-August to late October for a “deep dive” into ways to control emissions, Sandoval said.
The OCC and EIB are expected to hold public hearings on the agencies’ proposals some time next year.