A pair of Democrat lawmakers sought to crack down on oil and gas industry pollution and abandoned wells via a bill introduced during the ongoing 2024 Legislative Session.
House Bill 133 would amend New Mexico’s Oil and Gas Act to increase required bonding payments oil companies pay to fund the cleanup of their wells should they go abandoned, while also driving up several other fees paid to extract fossil fuels in the state.
The bill was pre-filed ahead of the 30-day Legislative Session – which started on Jan. 16 – by sponsors Reps. Kristina Ortez (D-42) of Taos and Matthew McQueen (D-50) of Santa Fe, and was assigned to the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee where it was awaiting a hearing as of Monday.
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If passed, the bill would up the “blanket” bonding rate applied to all the wells owned by a company in New Mexico from $250,000 to $10 million, intended to better reflect the cost of full remediation.