Environmental and health groups are asking the EPA to designate the Permian basin in New Mexico as a nonattainment area for ozone under the Clean Air Act.
The area in question falls in southeast New Mexico and is a site for oil and gas drilling. Some Oklahoma-based oil companies are involved in the exploration and have significant operations there.
The groups, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a petition making the formal request. Their claim is based on some studies which proclaim the region the most polluted place to live in the country.
New Mexico’s oil production has grown more than five-fold in the last decade, while gas production has tripled. Most of this production growth has taken place in the state’s Permian region. As of 2020, oil and gas production activities were responsible for more than 90% of anthropogenic (non-biogenic) ozone precursor emissions in Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt and Chaves counties, based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
“People in the Permian Basin are breathing toxic air every day. This petition should jolt the EPA into action for public health and the environment,” said Sarah Baer, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “State regulators have failed to rein in skyrocketing oil and gas pollution, and the federal government is supposed to be a backstop. It has a legal duty to step in and force polluters to clean up their act.”
This heavy pollution has pushed area ozone levels above federal health standards for years. As a result, the American Lung Association gives Eddy and Lea counties “F” ratings for ozone and ranks Eddy County among the most polluted places to live in the U.S.
“This unhealthy air is a direct consequence of oil corporations releasing massive volumes of methane and toxic volatile organic compounds, prioritizing profits over public health,” said Sharon Wilson, director for Oilfield Witness. “It’s business as usual in the oilfield, and the people pay the price with their health.”
Ozone pollution, or smog, causes serious human health problems like asthma attacks and premature death. Children, older adults, people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, and people who work outdoors are especially vulnerable. Even at low concentrations, ozone pollution is linked to respiratory and other health issues. It also poses risks to plant and animal life, potentially destabilizing entire ecosystems.
“Everyone deserves to have clean air to breathe, but as the ALA’s recently released State of the Air Report shows, those of us in southeast New Mexico do not have clean air and haven’t for several years,” said Haley Jones, an organizer with Citizens Caring for the Future. “We are calling on the EPA to do its job under the Clean Air Act and protect the air tens of thousands of people are breathing every day by declaring southeast New Mexico an ozone nonattainment zone.”
The EPA has an obligation to enforce federal air quality laws and ensure that air quality meets specific legal, health-based standards.
A nonattainment area designation would trigger stricter controls on ozone-forming emissions and require industry to take steps to bring air quality into compliance with federal standards.
In addition to the Center for Biological Diversity, Oilfield Witness and Citizens Caring for the Future, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, New Mexico Voices for Children, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action, and WildEarth Guardians are co-petitioners.