NM Budget Swells W. O&G Revenue, But Will Not Hire More Well Inspectors - 11 For 52,000 Wells
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The New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (OCD) — the state’s oil and gas monitoring body — has 11 inspectors dedicated to field work and has vacancies for two more. The Air Quality Bureau (AQB) at the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) has six inspectors, but they monitor a lot more than just oil and gas operations. That means fewer than a dozen full-time, oil-and-gas-only field monitors to cover more than 52,000 active wells in the state. That’s not to mention thousands more injection wells, with more and more wells drilled every day.
Currently, the state Legislature is in the final stages of debate over a record-breaking $8.48 billion dollar budget — up 13% over the previous year — that covers everything from hundreds of millions in pay increases for the state’s teachers to a $40 million initiative for a film academy — far more than the combined $25.7 million allocated from the general fund for both OCD and NMED in the coming year.
OCD Director Adrienne Sandoval acknowledges the pretty basic math between inspectors and wells. “The more inspectors we have, the more kind of ground … we can cover,” she said. Beyond the increasing number of wells, her office’s regulatory workload increased as well in the past year. In May, it began enforcing a dramatic revamp in rules that expands monitoring of venting and flaring from oil and gas wells. The new rules intensify required reporting by operators — and that has led to a mountain of new information about who is polluting and how much.
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The Air Quality Board (AQB) at NMED is poised to implement new, more stringent air pollution rules — called the ozone precursor rules — for oil and gas operations later this year. But Secrist said that low pay and staff shortages mean that workload has more than doubled in some areas at NMED in recent years, and the AQB “is probably the worst right now.” He added that the vacancy rate there is near 50%, and the workload has only increased. Currently, the AQB has six field inspectors who cover a lot more than just oil and gas operations. “We have obligations from everything from dry cleaners to electroplaters to all sorts of facilities,” says James Kenney, department secretary at NMED. The department regularly hires and trains new people, but the state agency’s low wages mean those newly trained people “may stay with you six months to a year, before they go and, you know, get picked up by the National Labs (or) by an oil and gas company,” he said. “It’s the most frustrating thing in the world.”
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https://capitalandmain.com/new-mexico-legislators-punt-on-money-for-oil-and-gas-inspectors
