This week, following the release of a new analysis by Gas Leaks of the $1 billion loss in revenue from the Big Beautiful Bill’s delay of the Waste Emissions Charge (WEC), the Big Gas Polluters Coalition announced Hilcorp Energy as August’s Polluter of the Month.
Hilcorp has the distinction of continuing to rank as the #1 methane polluter in the U.S. oil and gas industry, while its excessive pollution incidents have generated headlines from New Mexico to Alaska to Ohio. The announcement is accompanied by original art from Iris Gottlieb.
“When it comes to corporate polluters, Hilcorp is the worst of the worst,” said Josh Eisenfeld, Earthworks Oil and Gas Research and Accountability Manager. “Their historic levels of pollution have been harming the health and climate throughout Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming since 1989. Hilcorp is the poster child for why national rules to cut methane are necessary to protect all people in the US from Hilcorp’s harm. Rather than fixing their equipment to control pollution, Hilcorp has spent its time and money lobbying the Trump administration to deregulate the rules.”
Over the last several years, methane pollution hunters, certified thermographers from Earthworks, have compiled video evidence identifying otherwise hidden pollution from over 100 Hilcorp oil and gas facilities. In New Mexico’s San Juan Basin, where Hilcorp is the largest operator and nearly 80% of the population lives within a ½-mile radius of active oil and gas operations, recent reporting details how kids in the area “just keep getting sick”.
Hilcorp is also a top beneficiary of the recently delayed Waste Emissions Charge, according to an analysis from a member of the Big Gas Polluters Coalition. It found that the pollution fee’s decade-long deferral will cost the U.S. government nearly $1 billion in lost revenue in 2026 alone, primarily benefiting just ten companies.
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BigGasPolluters.org was launched to provide credible, evidence-based information on the claims and actions of the fossil fuel industry. Included in the effort is a database documenting reported methane emissions, commitments made to reduce methane, evidence of leakage events from Earthworks, and more information about the 100 largest oil and gas companies in the US. It has never been more critical to fact-check claims regarding climate pollution, and BigGasPolluters is here to monitor methane pollution, hold the industry accountable, and serve as a resource in these uncertain times.
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