The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comments until August 9th on stricter standards for methane leaks from new and modified oil and gas operations. The updated rules were put into effect during the Obama administration, and are now at risk of being rolled back.
The New Mexico Wildlife Federation believes that our state would be particularly impacted by any enacted stay of the Oil and Gas NSPS. The San Juan Basin in the Four Corners area of New Mexico is responsible for 14.5 percent of total methane emissions in the United States, according to the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Methane leaks are so prevalent in the Four Corners region that in 2014, NASA satellite imaging revealed a Delaware-sized methane “hot spot” hovering over the area, accounting for the highest concentration of airborne methane in the United States.
