A recent opinion in this newspaper about the problem of natural gas waste bore a greater resemblance to the oil and gas lobby’s talking points than to the serious look New Mexicans deserve into this complicated challenge. Everything from independent economic research to NASA images of a methane cloud over the San Juan Basin shows that methane emissions from the venting, flaring, and leaking of natural gas is a problem. And public opinion polls show that that New Mexicans expect the elected leaders who wrote that article to confront the problem with action, not evasive political rhetoric.
Here’s some of what the authors of that recent opinion missed:
The venting, flaring, and leaking of natural gas on public lands is costing states across the West jobs and tax dollars. In New Mexico, taxpayers are currently losing out on $42 million in royalties annually because of the wasteful practice of venting and flaring gas. That amounts to a whopping $800 million dollar loss of royalty revenue nationally over the next ten years.
Doing something about this problem is well within reach for big oil companies. The costs of living up to a stronger standard are literally pennies on the dollar, and are far outweighed by the economic benefits to local communities. A recent report found that by using available technology, companies can reduce their methane emissions by nearly 40% at a net annual savings on federal lands, and for less than a penny to the dollar on tribal lands.
What’s more, annual revenue from New Mexico oil and gas production is likely to be more than $10.5 billion for this year alone, by conservative estimates. That means the cost suggested by the op-ed is just a small fraction of that—no more than 0.2% of annual oil and gas sales. That’s a small price to pay to stop wasting valuable energy and to start creating more jobs.
Capturing natural gas is like capturing money—and not just in that it brings in more resources for communities. Limiting emissions and requiring methane mitigation also creates jobs for hard-working New Mexicans—potentially even the same New Mexicans that are currently getting laid off by oil and gas operations in their very own San Juan Basin.
If industry groups like New Mexico Oil and Gas Association and their allies in elected office are worried that the upcoming BLM rule could put a dent in their profits, they need look no further than Colorado to have their fears curtailed. Since Colorado’s methane rules took effect in February 2014, natural gas production has actually increased, along with the number of active oil and gas wells. In addition, drillers have been able to sell the extra gas they capture, meaning that the mitigation methods will pay for themselves in less than 1.5 years.
We hope that next time elected officials weigh in on this important rule, they look beyond the oil industry’s spin—because when they do, they’ll see that the upcoming BLM waste rule is good news for New Mexicans.