Power the Future, an industry mouthpiece, is trying to create a smokescreen for the oil and gas industry. If the smoke they’re blowing is methane pollution, the oil and gas industry has plenty of it.
And that pollution is exactly what Power the Future doesn’t want you to see.
In a story in the Farmington Daily Times, the oil and gas industry tries to revive a debunked claim about the source of the now infamous San Juan methane pollution hotspot, the most concentrated cloud of methane pollution in the U.S. Their intention is to confuse the public as state regulators begin to rein in industry threats to health and climate.
So, let’s just clear the air.
We know based on the peer reviewed work of some of the foremost methane scientists in the U.S. from NASAand National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) that the oil and gas industry pollution is the largest contributor to the San Juan Basin methane hotspot.
The oil and gas industry is also the largest source of methane pollution in New Mexico.
And also the largest source of methane pollution in the United States.
Period.
It is no accident that Power the Future wants to change the subject. New Mexico has committed to establishing enforceable, nationally leading methane safeguards for the oil and gas industry in 2020 and to holding polluters accountable.
Nobody should fall for this smoke and mirrors sham in New Mexico. The oil and gas industry’s methane problem is large and growing (now more than one million metric tons per year — $275 million worth of natural gas). Strong statewide rules can dramatically reduce this pollution.
The time to act is now.