SANTA FE, N.M. — A bill to ban oil and gas production within 1 mile of schools and daycares across New Mexico is one of the first proposals published as the state Legislature prepares for a 30-day session that could overhaul the fundamental oil and gas extraction. gas regulations.
Regulators in America's second-largest oil production state are considering reforms including setback requirements aimed at protecting children from pollution, under pressure from environmental advocacy groups to strengthen pollution controls and meet constitutional obligations to regulate the industry.
Published Wednesday, a bill introduced by Democratic state Rep. Debra Sariñana of Albuquerque in coordination with environmental groups would halt the approval of new drilling permits within a mile of school facilities, beginning in July of this year, and halt most oil and natural gas operations. in those zones by 2028.
Governor Lujan Grisham has directed the New Mexico Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department to consult with a variety of stakeholders and develop its own robust set of proposed reforms to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Act, the state's foundational law for regulating of the production of the two fossil fuels.
A bill from that process includes establishing setbacks from schools, hospitals, medical facilities, multi-family homes, single-family homes and bodies of water statewide — but a setback distance has not yet been established, Lujan Grisham spokesperson Maddy Hayden said in an email Wednesday.
Sariñana, a retired high school math teacher, said her proposal would likely affect about 800 existing wells out of more than 65,000 in the state.
“It's about our children. This year it is about our children,” she said.
The state and the governor are being sued by environmental groups for alleged failure to comply with constitutional provisions protecting against oil and gas pollution. The groups have pointed to buffers around schools, homes and health care facilities as one way the state can meet its obligations. Plaintiffs and other advocates say limiting the buffer to just a half-mile doesn't go far enough.
In a letter sent to the state Oil Conservation Division in December, they argued that research shows a setback of at least a mile is necessary to protect public health. As setback distances decrease, they say, the likelihood and magnitude of exposure risk increase for people who live, work, go to school or frequently travel near oil and gas production.
“We think this should be a no-brainer,” Gail Evans, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. She represents the plaintiffs in the constitutional case.
While the State Land Office has imposed its own buffer around schools, Evans and others say the mandate should be expanded beyond the state's trust lands and that the state Legislature has failed to address the issue of contamination and pollution that led to the legal challenge. .
The Legislature meets January 16 through March 15 to approve an annual budget. Other initiatives may be considered at the governor's discretion.
Published legislative proposals also include a ban on the use of freshwater in fracking and strengthen oversight and penalties for spills by well operators.