New Mexico is an outsized methane polluter. According to Mike Eisenfeld, a New Mexico energy coordinator for the advocacy group San Juan Citizens Alliance, NASA released a report last year that shows the Four Corners region is a hot spot, responsible for producing the largest concentration of methane seen in the United States He said the proposed regulations should be implemented with extra focus placed on New Mexico.
Obama is proposing to reduce methane gas emissions by up to 45 percent by 2025, compared with 2012 levels. Methane, which is colorless and odorless and the main element in natural gas, is reported to be up to 80 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide.
Natural gas producers allow methane to enter the atmosphere through venting and flaring. Eisenfeld said the proposed emission standards should create enough pressure that the energy industry addresses the issue.
According to a report from Taxpayers for Common Sense, 51 percent of all natural gas intentionally released into the atmosphere on the nation’s public lands occurs in New Mexico. The report also found that since 2006, more than $380 million worth of natural gas was allowed to burn off or be used by energy companies on public lands owned by Americans.
Without a re-election to consider, Obama is taking more unilateral steps to accomplish his agenda. The Republican Party’s refusal to act productively on any of the environmental agenda has allowed the president to claim executive action as his prime tool of governance, circumventing Republicans in the process. With the effects of climate change becoming more evident, tangible steps like the reduction in methane gas emissions are what we need, not the obstruction of the Republican Party.
Will Brewer is a member of the UNM Wilderness Alliance.
