A court hearing is scheduled this week in a lawsuit claiming New Mexico is violating residents' rights to a clean and healthy environment by not holding its oil and gas industry accountable.

Tim Davis, staff attorney for Wild Earth Guardians Climate and Energy Program, said the lawsuit was filed last May by a coalition that includes environmental groups, indigenous communities and frontline residents near extraction sites.

Oil and gas production and their revenues have skyrocketed in New Mexico in the past decade. But Davis said the state is not upholding its constitutional duty to control pollution by providing proper oversight after fossil-fuel projects are approved.

"We haven't increased the number of inspectors or inspections with the increase in production - the state has also not stepped up any enforcement activity," he argued.

According to the court case, several New Mexico laws meant to regulate hazardous waste and groundwater pollution explicitly exempt the oil and gas industry, and those that do apply are not adequately enforced. At the time of the filing, a spokesperson for the governor's office called the lawsuit "misguided," saying it would distract from the government's work on climate issues.

Oil and gas extraction revenues are the largest contributor to New Mexico's general fund, delivering the highest profit ever - $109 million - earlier this year. Production also has grown by about 10% over the past year. Davis believes that requires immediate action to remedy the increasing pollution problem.

"You have more and more production," he added. "We know that leads to more and more pollution, but at the same time we're not doing anything to control that pollution - and so this case at its core is about holding the State of New Mexico accountable."

The First Judicial Court in Santa Fe will hear arguments Friday over whether the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico and the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce can join the lawsuit as third-party intervenors. Davis will address the court case and other issues tonight as part of a climate-change speaker series sponsored by New Mexico State University.


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The environmental group Air Alliance Houston has released its list of the top 12 air polluters in Harris County, calling them the "Dirty Dozen."

The nonprofit used data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. According to the report, the top three polluters are ExxonMobil and Chevron Phillips in Baytown, and LyondellBasell in Channelview.

Inyang Uwak, research and policy director for the group, said the emissions also are worsening climate change.

"From heat waves to an increase in precipitation; I mean, the last past three days, we had high precipitation, you know, the rains just kept coming," Uwak pointed out. "They're also more frequent and severe in nature. We are still getting over the impacts of Hurricane Beryl."

The group's research shows most of the polluters are located in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods in East Harris County. Uwak noted they will share the results with state regulators.

Uwak emphasized members of Air Alliance Houston hope the results of the study will influence regulators on permitting and regulations.

"We need them to have more rules at the state level that take into consideration the cumulative impact of these exposures," Uwak contended. "We also need TCEQ to acknowledge the community's power to advocate for their health."

The Houston area has more than 600 chemical manufacturing facilities. Research shows continuous exposure to toxic chemicals leads to health issues and sometimes death.

Uwak added residents voice their concerns but often feel like they are not heard.

"It is one thing for the community to really show up at these permit meetings," Uwak stressed. "But it is more important that these comments influence TCEQ's decisions."


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Clean-air advocates in Colorado are celebrating new EPA standards, which they believe can play a major role in reducing air pollution impacting national parks and Colorado's Front Range communities.

The rule aims to cut more than seven billion tons of greenhouse gases by requiring carmakers to reduce or eliminate tailpipe pollution.

Travis Madsen, transportation program director for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, said the EPA's goals are achievable, because you can drive where you want to go right now using zero-emission technology.

"Electric vehicles can take us along scenic byways. We've got charging stations between Denver, where I live, and Rocky Mountain National Park. The tools are here now, they're available, they work, they can cut pollution," he said.

The EPA downgraded the Front Range to "severe" for air quality violations in 2022, largely due to ground-level ozone pollution produced by oil and gas operations and tailpipe emissions. The new rule, which applies to passenger cars up to medium-duty vehicles sold between 2027 and 2032, has been embraced by automakers and unions.

The EPA projects that the rule will create $100 billion in benefits each year, including $13 billion in health-care savings due to improved air quality.

Gary Hall, Estes Park mayor, said the air has been so bad lately that it's hard to see the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. He says poor air quality - from wildfires linked to climate change, or ground-level ozone - impacts the national park experience for tourists, and many don't return as often.

"And therefore it impacts the economy. My hotel owners suffer, my restaurants suffer, my merchants selling Estes Park t-shirts and taffy suffer," Hall claimed.

The rule gives automakers flexibility on how to cut emissions. Advanced gasoline, plug-in hybrid, and electric are all on the table. But many expect it to spur U.S. manufacturers to catch up with Europe and China in electric vehicle production. Madsen said once you drive off the lot, EVs offer big savings.

"Electric vehicles are simpler, they're easier to maintain. And fuel, if you're charging at home on a residential electricity rate, is equivalent to less than a dollar a gallon of gasoline," he explained.


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Biofuels are painted as a greener energy alternative to fossil fuels but a new study found the industry produces plenty of its own air pollutants.

American biofuel plants reported emitting nearly 13 million pounds of hazardous air pollution in 2022, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project, trailing only slightly behind the 14.5 million pounds oil refineries released.

Tom Pelton, director of communications for the nonprofit, said South Dakota's 16 biofuel plants, which mostly make ethanol from corn, produce about 1.7 million pounds of greenhouse gases each year and 350,000 pounds of air pollution, including known carcinogens. Biofuel production is concentrated in the Midwest and Pelton pointed out people living nearby could suffer health effects.

"It's hard to detect and hard to track, but a person living downwind from one of these plants might have a few percentage points more chance of getting cancer over their lifetime," Pelton explained.

The report recommended the Environmental Protection Agency increase monitoring and control of air pollutants, improve the accuracy of emissions reporting and end current exemptions for ethanol manufacturers under the Clean Air Act. It also suggested ending government subsidies for biofuels, which benefit area farmers and communities.

According to the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, ethanol production supported nearly 30,000 jobs in the state in 2022 and more than $4 billion in corn production.

Pelton argued expanded agricultural production for the industry can have other negative effects.

"When you subsidize growing corn to make ethanol, more kind of questionable lands are converted from grasslands and forests into row crops of corn," Pelton noted. "That takes away habitat for birds and for insects and for wildlife."

The conversions may also lead to the use of more chemical fertilizers, he added, which can lead to algae blooms and other problems in waterways. Among the 32 U.S. biofuel projects proposed or underway, according to the report, is a new biodiesel facility in Lake Preston, South Dakota.


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