Citing low compliance rates with air quality requirements, the New Mexico Environmental Department (NMED) has announced it is ramping up compliance assurance and enforcement activities at oil and gas operations within the Permian and San Juan Basins over the next six months. This new initiative follows a surge of enforcement activities against oil and gas operators in New Mexico, including a historic $40 million penalty assessment for air quality violations, as well as EPA’s recent announcement prioritizing the enforcement of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry to tackle climate change.
NMED plans to assess compliance with state and federal requirements by using innovative technologies, including aerial and satellite monitoring, as well as conventional on-the-ground monitoring. After analyzing the data, it will then either refer enforcement matters to the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or directly undertake enforcement action against the operators. Data indicating potential criminal violations will be sent to New Mexico’s Environmental Crimes Task Force.
In the announcement, NMED’s Compliance and Enforcement Director noted that there…
