New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said last week satellite observations in a recent one-year period in Permian Basin show crude oil and natural gas operators are releasing emissions in New Mexico at less than half the amount in Texas. At a news conference Sept. 22 at the capitol in Santa Fe to start Climate Week, she said, “The difference between New Mexico and Texas isn’t geology. It’s just policy.”
According to Albuquerque Journal, the methane intensity on the New Mexico side of the Permian Basin was measured at about 1.2 percent by researchers with the Environmental Defense Fund, who compiled data from nine satellite observations from space mission MethaneSAT. Methane intensity on the Texas side was 3.1 percent, researchers said.
Jon Goldstein, associate vice president for Environmental Defense Fund, told the Journal the findings are the best evidence yet that New Mexico’s efforts to reduce emissions from oil and gas operations are working. “As Washington, D.C., retreats, the state of New Mexico is moving forward,” he said. (Goldstein was New Mexico’s energy secretary under former Gov. Bill Richardson.)
Goldstein said the lower methane intensity on the New Mexico side of the Permian means an additional $127 million in natural gas is captured each year. Gov. Grisham defended the state’s approach to regulating the industry and said attempts to curtail all drilling are not practical. “That would be perfect for the globe,” she added, “but I don’t know how we’d turn the lights on.” Missi Currier, president and CEO of New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, added, “We’re proud to produce affordable, reliable and increasingly sustainable energy that powers New Mexico and the world.”
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