Jan. 3—The New Mexico Environment Department will receive a $500,000 mobile air quality monitor as part of a 2022 settlement between a conservation group and oil producers.
WildEarth Guardians sued Texas-based oil companies Oxy USA Inc. and Oxy USA WTP LP in 2022 over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and emissions of volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide at a production site near Carlsbad. As part of the settlement agreement, the companies will cover the cost of the mobile monitor.
Volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides are ingredients for ozone, which, when occurring at ground level, is associated with respiratory problems. The pollutants, known as ozone “precursors,” were the target of a 2022 regulation adopted by the state. The rule was recently upheld after facing a legal challenge.
Kelly Fuller, Climate and Energy program director for WildEarth Guardians, said in a statement the group was “encouraged that these funds will increase the New Mexico Environment Department’s ability to monitor air quality in southeast New Mexico, where communities feel the impacts every day of air pollution caused by oil and gas extraction.”
Fuller said the department will decide which pollutants to monitor for, but that the monitor should extend its range.
“This new equipment will allow us to supplement our stationary air monitors and be more responsive to communities’ pointed concerns about local air quality in the Permian,” Michelle Miano, director of the department’s Environmental Protection Division, said in a statement Friday. “We are grateful to receive the benefit of this legal settlement as we expand our air program to deliver what New Mexicans expect — clean air and healthy families — no matter where you live in our state.”
The companies will also pay a $500,000 civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury and make changes and upgrades to several facilities throughout the Permian Basin in an effort to improve air quality.
“Oxy is supportive of the New Mexico Environment Department’s efforts to enhance air quality monitoring capabilities in the Permian Basin,” the company said in a statement Friday. “Oxy is dedicated to being a good partner in continuously reducing emissions and improving public health in Southeast New Mexico and across all of our operations.”