Enchantment State News

The New Mexico Environmental Department, along with the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) released a plan for the state’s new mission to decrease methane emissions as well as other damaging emissions throughout the state, New Mexico Business Coalition reported. 

EMNRD Secretary, Sarah Cottrell Propst, explained that the draft is going to be reviewed by numerous departments before it is enacted in the fall. 

“We felt it was very important for the public and the regulated community and anyone to be able to take a look at draft regulatory language side by side from our departments and give us feedback,” Cottrell Propst told New Mexico Business Coalition.

The rules find a balance for the involved parties and were created with cooperation from stakeholders, resource producers and environmental groups, to ensure that they are well-rounded and fair to all who are impacted by such changes. 

The standards will be implemented in two phases. First, they will collect data and pertinent information.  

“We know that having accurate data is really important for establishing meaningful baselines and enforceable goals to reduce natural gas waste,” Cottrell Propst told New Mexico Political Report. “Historically, the industry has not reported consistent and complete data for venting and flaring to us. For that reason, a key focus of the draft rule is data collection.”

Second, they will work on putting the requirements for capturing gas into action.

“We want the environmental outcome,” Cottrell Propst told New Mexico Political Report. “That’s important to industry, they made the point to us over and over again that technology is changing and they want to be able to incorporate the latest and greatest, the most efficient, the most cost-effective, the most environmentally protective technologies."

New Mexico Business Coalition reported that the plan will use technology to work around the fact that the industry has very little funding to direct to such projects.