Why cutting methane emissions should be our No. 1 climate priority

In late March, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with policy-makers about the need to address methane pollution from the oil and gas industry that is suffocating our communities in New Mexico and across the West. It is estimated that nearly 150,000 New Mexicans live within a threat radius for methane pollution from nearby facilities. Additionally, a new American Lung Association report found that more than 1 in 3 people across the country live in counties with unsafe air quality and Bernalillo, Dona Ana, Eddy, and Saun Juan counties in New Mexico all received a failing grade. It is time for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enact a strong rule that safeguards our communities health and climate from its harmful effects. Touching the granite stones of historic buildings among the endless rows of delicate cherry blossoms, without a sight of a dust storm, I felt impossibly far away from the communities I traveled so far to represent; maybe the policymakers feel that distance, too. 

Unable to bring Biden administration officials and Members of Congress to the frontlines, we brought the frontlines to them. With fellow activists from across the country, I met with decision makers whose power decides the fate of the 17.3 million people across the country who live within half a mile of oil and gas production. I brought stories of loved ones who were lost decades too soon to air quality-related cancers, of communities facing exorbitant childhood asthma rates, of our pleas for help. Our message to the Administration was simple: saving our children, our communities, and our environment requires the strongest methane pollution rule possible and it must be enforced. The State of New Mexico has already adopted strong and widely popular standards to curb oil and gas pollution, it’s time for the EPA to follow suit. 

The United States is lagging behind other countries in curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which we produce disproportionately relative to our population. In New Mexico, oil and gas infrastructure, active and inactive, emit 570,000 tons of methane every year. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this is equivalent to the emissions of over 3 million cars driven 24/7 for an entire year. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The EPA has the authority to limit harmful methane pollution from the oil and gas sector. 

Last November, President Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an updated draft rule to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations across the country. The updated rule builds substantially on the original draft rule proposed in 2021, but must be further strengthened to most effectively protect communities and our climate from the harmful effects of methane.

Despite being invisible, colorless, and odorless, methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas that is responsible for more than 25 percent of the global warming we are experiencing today. It has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during the first two decades of its release. Reducing the amount of methane that enters our atmosphere is the quickest and most effective way to slow the rate of climate change. 

Addressing this problem will also help promote environmental justice within our communities. Methane pollution disproportionately hurts low income, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities on the frontlines. Building oil and gas infrastructure in marginalized areas maximizes profits for the industry at the expense of our health. Smog-causing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and benzene, both byproducts of methane leaks, can worsen asthma and respiratory disease and increase cancer risk, damage the immune system, and result in developmental problems. 

Policymakers are often far away from the constituents that their policies most intimately affect. They do not see climate change every day like those who live on the frontlines. If DC’s granite towers were replaced by squalid oil and gas infrastructure, and the rows of cherry blossoms replaced by unplugged wells, they would act more quickly. 

During my visit, while speaking with frontline members from five other states, I felt their suffering beyond state borders. Their stories echoed those I have heard in New Mexico and on the Navajo Nation. We are all fighting the same fight, and underrepresented minorities that breathe methane pollution day in and day out deserve a seat at the table. It is my hope that EPA hears our message and finalizes the strongest possible methane safeguards by the end of the summer. All communities, regardless of their zip code or income level, deserve relief from this terrible burden.

Of the Naakai Diné'e (Mexican People Clan), born for Kinya'aanii (Towering House People Clan), and maternal grandfather of the Maii Deeshgiizhnii (Coyote Pass People Clan), Reyaun Francisco is a Diné resident of the Navajo Nation from Iyanbito, New Mexico.