New Mexico has reached a record-breaking settlement with a Texas-based company over air pollution violations at natural gas gathering sites within the Permian Basin.
The $24.5 million settlement with Ameredev announced Monday is the most important settlement the state Department of Environmental Protection has ever reached for a civil oil and gas violation. It is created by the flaring of billions of cubic feet of natural gas that the corporate had produced over an 18-month period but was unable to move to downstream processors.
Environment Minister James Kenney said in an interview that the flared gas would have been enough to power nearly 17,000 homes for a yr.
“It’s exactly the opposite of how it’s supposed to work,” Kenney said. “If they hadn’t wasted New Mexico’s resources, they could have used that gas.”
Flaring, or burning off, the gas resulted in greater than 7.6 million kilos of excess emissions, including hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other gases that state regulators said cause respiratory illnesses and contribute to climate change.
In a press release released Monday, Ameredev said it was satisfied it had resolved what it called a “legacy issue” and that the state air quality bureau was not aware of any ongoing compliance issues at the corporate’s facilities.
“This is an issue we take very seriously,” the corporate said. “Over the past four years, Ameredev has not experienced any flaring events with excessive emissions, thanks to our significant – and ongoing – investments in various advanced technologies and operational improvements.”
While operators can vent or flare natural gas during emergencies or equipment failures, New Mexico in 2021 adopted rules ban routine venting and flaring and provides corporations a deadline of 2026 to capture 98% of their gas. The rules also require regular tracking and reporting of emissions.
Ameredev said it captured greater than 98% of its gas when the brand new venting and flaring rules were adopted, and the annual capture rate has remained above 98% since then.
A study published in March within the journal Nature calculated that American oil and natural gas wells, pipelines and compressors existed emit more greenhouse gases than the federal government thought, leading to $9.3 billion in annual climate damage. The authors said it is a solvable problem because about half of the emissions come from just 1% of oil and gas sites.
As a part of the settlement, Ameredev agreed to conduct an independent audit of its New Mexico operations to make sure compliance with emissions requirements. In addition, it must provide monthly reports on actual emission rates and propose a plan for weekly inspections for a period of two years or install leak and repair monitoring devices.
Kenney said it was a citizen criticism that originally alerted state regulators to Ameredev’s flaring.
The Department of Environmental Conservation is currently investigating quite a few other potential pollution violations across the basin, and Kenney said it’s likely more penalties might be imposed.
“With the oil and gas industry’s average compliance with air quality regulations at 50%,” he said, “we have an obligation to continue ensuring compliance and holding polluters accountable.”
