Climate action necessary to protect children

Climate pollution is damaging the health of young New Mexicans today and severely impacting the quality of life and prosperity of the world they will inherit. As a mom who has had to keep my school-age child inside for dozens of days this year because of heat and poor air quality, I am fed up.

Our children now spend large portions of the year inside because the air outside is harmful to breathe or due to extreme heat, and scientists are telling us this will only get worse. New Mexico is already experiencing extreme temperatures and exceptional drought — conditions that fuel catastrophic wildfires and strained water supplies.

Oil and gas operations across New Mexico release at least 1 million metric tons of climate-warming methane each year — a leading driver of the climate change impacts we are already seeing. Leaks due to equipment malfunction and lack of maintenance account for 70 percent of the oil and gas industry’s methane emissions statewide.

Without strong action, the state could see twice as many dangerous heat days and a 70 percent increase in drought severity. That will take an increasing toll not only on the health of our children, but on all our communities and businesses that depend on clean water and air.

For parents like me, thinking about what the coming decades will be like for our children can cause real anxiety. The climate crisis is a complex issue and will require many solutions. Right now, there are two important steps toward climate progress for New Mexico and our children that we must support.

First, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a draft rule on methane and other harmful air pollutants from newly built and older existing oil and gas operations. For the first time, there will be methane rules that apply to the nation’s nearly 1 million older, existing oil and gas operations. This important step forward will help protect the health of our children from the impacts of air pollution and climate change.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will soon approve a state rule curbing methane pollution, but the reality is we are impacted by methane pollution that does not respect state boundaries. We need federal action. Cutting methane pollution is one of the fastest ways we can reduce the impacts of climate change and also improve air quality and public health.

Second, we need Congress — still — to pass the Build Back Better Act to advance a historic commitment to climate and justice for generations to come. Any climate policy must take into account who is most vulnerable to climate impacts and invest directly into front-line communities, providing such things as increased monitoring of toxic air pollution and environmental justice block grants. Fortunately, Democrats in our federal congressional delegation are leading the charge on the Build Back Better Act.

Both the EPA methane rule and the Build Back Better Act are especially important to Indigenous and Hispanic communities that already have shouldered a disproportionate impact from toxic pollution for too long and are facing the detrimental health and economic impacts of fossil fuel production while being even more vulnerable to growing climate impacts. It gives me hope that New Mexico’s leaders are showing real climate leadership in pursuing regulations and legislation that reduce methane and other climate pollution that can accelerate the transition to a cleaner energy and a healthier future. Our children deserve nothing less.