New Mexico Has 55,000 Active Oil & Gas Wells; State Employs 12 People To Monitor New Emissions Rules

[hatrack]

EDIT

New Mexico is increasing its monitoring programs to control oilfield emissions, and the state has two new sets of rules to plug the leaks and stop the venting that Eddy and Shoup saw. One set recently came online and another is in its final stages of approval. But it will be years before either is fully implemented. And the state’s oil and gas wells are pumping out vast amounts of greenhouse gasses right now.

A study published in Science Advances of satellite measurements in the Permian Basin showed that new facilities are responsible for up to 53% of emissions and “put current practices into question.” Another satellite-based study of the area published in Environmental Science Technology found that massive emissions can be highly intermittent and hard to track without continuous monitoring.

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That’s in part because there are more than 55,000 wells pumping oil and gas and only 12 OCD inspector positions, two of which are currently unfilled. The other state agency, NMED, fields another seven inspectors from its office in Santa Fe to monitor other emissions related to hydrocarbon extraction. The OCD rules demand a 98% reduction in leaks and emissions by 2026, and companies are required to incrementally decrease emissions while increasing their monitoring regimen. How operators reach that goal is largely left up to them, with approval from the division. And the impetus will remain on oil and gas producers to thoroughly monitor and report their operations.

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State Sen. Crystal Diamond, a Republican representing a non-oil-producing part of the state, castigated OCD, calling the rules “overregulation” that “creates outlaws out of the good guys. “Because what happens is that they don’t properly report because there’s no way to meet those expectations … and so they just don’t. They just don’t do it.” Other state senators from oil-producing regions piled on with complaints from producers who said they hadn’t heard of the new rules until they were implemented. After each complaint, Sandoval reiterated that the rules came after years of meetings with oil and gas representatives and other community members — they were not sudden, unannounced creations of her department.

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https://capitalandmain.com/the-stench-of-climate-change

[Bristlecone]

1. They don't self report because the rules are too tough

Only in this bizzaro world does bullshit like this fly

Self regulation is not a real thing.

[abqtommy]

2. Let's see...divide 55,000 by 12. Clench tongue between teeth since I'm using pen and paper.

That's only 4,583.3 wells per inspector. What could go wrong with that? asking for a friend