WildEarth Guardians Challenges Failure of New Mexico Environment Department to Safeguard Clean Air from Oil and Gas Drilling in

Lawsuit Filed Against EPA to Overturn Air Pollution Permit that Fails to Account for Pollution from Oil and Gas Wells

Santa Fe—WildEarth Guardians today filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to overturn an air pollution permit allowing Williams Four Corners’ natural gas production operations to jeopardize clean air in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico.

“The oil and gas industry has been drilling away clean air in the San Juan Basin for too long,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “It’s time to confront the cumulative air pollution from oil and gas operations, and that starts with overturning this permit.”

The lawsuit targets the failure of the EPA to respond to a petition filed by WildEarth Guardians last April. The petition called on the Administrator of the EPA in Washington, D.C. to overturn an air pollution permit issued by the State of New Mexico that allows Williams Four Corners to operate its Sims Mesa Central Delivery Point, a natural gas processing plant located in Rio Arriba County. The EPA was required to respond to the petition within 60 days.

At issue is the failure of the New Mexico Environment Department to control air pollution from the oil and gas wells that feed the Sims Mesa natural gas processing plant. Under the Clean Air Act, connected sources of air pollution must be aggregated together when determining what constitutes a single source. That ensures industry doesn’t escape air pollution control requirements.

Oil and gas operations consist of hundreds to thousands of polluting pieces of equipment including drill rigs, compressor engines, and leaking pipelines and tanks that feed centralized processing plants. Collectively, this pollution adds up. Recent state inventories show that oil and gas operations are the largest source of smog forming pollution in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, a fact that has indeed led to unhealthy levels of smog.

In late 2009, the EPA held that states had to aggregate air pollution from oil and gas wells together with natural gas processing plants they feed. Despite this, New Mexico failed to aggregate the oil and gas wells that feed the Sims Mesa processing plant.

“Instead of protecting clean air, the New Mexico Environment Department gave Williams a break,” said Nichols. "Ignoring connected oil and gas wells is ignoring a key contributor to the region's air quality woes."

The air pollution permit was issued to Williams Four Corners under Title V of the Clean Air Act. Under Title V, permits are issued by states, but citizens can petition the EPA to veto them if they fail to comply with the Clean Air Act. By law, the EPA is required to respond to such petitions within 60 days. It’s now been more than 5 months since EPA received WildEarth Guardians’ petition.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.

View the Complaint (PDF)

View the Petition (PDF)


 

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