WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, August 2, 2011
WildEarth Guardians Scores Victory for Clean Air in New Mexico

EPA Overturns Air Pollution Permit Over Failure of State to Account for Pollution from Oil and Gas Wells in San Juan Basin
Contact: Jeremy Nichols (303) 573-4898 x 1303

Additional Contact:

Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan Citizens Alliance New Mexico Energy Coordinator, (505) 325-6724

Santa Fe, NM—Clean air in New Mexico took a leap forward yesterday as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is vetoing a state-issued air pollution permit allowing Williams Four Corners to operate the Sims Mesa natural gas processing plant in the San Juan Basin in 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.  “This ruling ensures the state of New Mexico confronts the cumulative air pollution from oil and gas operations and starts to fully protect public health and the environment.”

The ruling comes in response to a petition filed by WildEarth Guardians and the San Juan Citizens Alliance requesting that the EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson, object to the issuance of the permit under the Clean Air Act.  In her ruling, Administrator Jackson agreed with WildEarth Guardians on all counts, finding that in issuing the permit for the Sims Mesa Central Delivery Point, which is located in Rio Arriba County, the New Mexico Environment Department:

• Failed to provide a reasonable basis for not regulating air pollution from the wells that provide natural gas the Sims Mesa processing plant;

• Failed to demonstrate that the permit requires prompt reporting of permit deviations, as required by the Clean Air Act;

• Failed to ensure sufficient monitoring of air pollution from compressor engines and other sources of harmful air pollution; and

• Failed to provide a basis for concluding that compliance with the permit would automatically comply with relevant ambient air quality standards.

The ruling sets a significant precedent in New Mexico, setting a new and important standard for all oil and gas facilities in the State.  Importantly, it ensures that as the State issues air pollution permits allowing natural gas processing plants and compressor stations to operate, it takes a closer look at whether the wells that feed those facilities should be regulated together as single sources of air pollution. 

“Instead of protecting clean air, the New Mexico Environment Department gave Williams a break,” said Mike Eisenfeld, New Mexico Energy Coordinator for the San Juan Citizens Alliance.  “Thankfully, the EPA intervened and set things straight, holding the Environment Department accountable first and foremost to clean air.”

Currently, natural gas wells are not regulated, even though they are connected to and an interrelated part of processing plants and compressor stations, and even though cumulatively, natural gas wells release large amounts of air pollution.  In the San Juan Basin, for example, venting at wells accounts for 46% of all volatile organic compound emissions released by the oil and gas industry.

Volatile organic compounds are a group of air pollutants that include toxics like benzene, a known carcinogen, and that also react with sunlight to form ground-level ozone, the key ingredient of smog.  The American Lung Association recently gave San Juan and Rio Arriba Counties an “F” due to excessive smog pollution.

Given that oil and gas operations are the largest source of volatile organic compounds in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, this makes wells the most significant source of pollution.

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.  WildEarth Guardians and the San Juan Citizens Alliance filed their petition in April of 2010, calling on the Administrator to veto the Sims Mesa permit. 

The State of New Mexico now has 90 days to fix the flaws in the Sims Mesa permit.  Although the facility will be allowed to operate, if the state fails to fix the permit as required, EPA will be required to deny the permit under the Clean Air Act and shut down the facility.