We need strong rules to cut methane pollution

As a lifelong Carlsbad resident, I’m no stranger to rampant venting and flaring.

As oil and gas has ramped up in the past decade, the southeastern New Mexico skyline became dotted with the orange glow of methane flares, creeping in increasingly closer to our homes and workplaces.

While I am grateful that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the Bureau of Land Management have proposed a draft rule to address methane waste on our public lands, Secretary Haaland must go further by setting requirements to prevent waste caused by routine venting and flaring.

BLM’s proposal is an important first step, consistent with its long-standing authority to minimize waste. But by taking stronger action to ensure operators capture and sell methane, BLM would conserve domestic energy resources, improve our national energy security, and ensure that taxpayers receive the maximum benefit from the development of publicly owned minerals.

President Biden himself remarked that “climate security and energy security go hand in hand,” and that by stopping the “flaring of the super potent greenhouse gas and capturing this resource for countries that need it, we’re addressing two problems at once.” According to an Environmental Defense Fund analysis, oil and gas operators flared $230 million of natural gas on federal and tribal lands in 2019. That is enough natural gas to meet the yearly needs of 1.2 million households – over one and a half times the number of households in New Mexico.

BLM should implement waste prevention protections, similar to the state rule established in New Mexico, to strengthen its primarily royalty-based approach and reduce wasteful venting and flaring. In addition to minimizing waste, a strong rule would have the important co-benefit of protecting the health of frontline communities like Carlsbad.

Venting and flaring not only waste resources, but also damage the air quality, health, and visibility for local communities. They emit harmful pollutants, including ozone and smog-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous pollutants that have significant health impacts. VOCs can adversely impact the central nervous system; eyes, skin and respiratory tracts; and the liver, kidney, and endocrine systems. The health risks increase the closer people live, work, and go to school near oil and gas facilities – so they are particularly prevalent here in the Permian Basin.

I’ve seen firsthand the impacts of this on my community, as my neighbors have increasingly experienced unexplained cardiovascular issues, rare birth defects, and cancers as drilling has crept closer to our doorsteps.

It is imperative that Secretary Haaland and BLM act to reduce these impacts by implementing stronger waste prevention protections, similar to the state rule in New Mexico, to curtail venting and flaring.

Through this rule, BLM not only has the opportunity to limit waste, but to also provide energy security, benefit taxpayers, and improve air quality and public health in frontline communities like my own.

I urge Secretary Haaland to take advantage of this opportunity and strengthen the BLM’s methane waste prevention.

Editor’s note: Routine venting and flaring of natural gas in New Mexico’s oil fields is restricted under methane regulations adopted by the state Oil Conservation Commission in March 2021.