A series of oil and gas reforms contained in a New Mexico House bill passed its second committee Wednesday and headed to the House Floor, but environmentalists argued recent amendments stripped language needed to protect New Mexicans from the impacts of fossil fuels.
House Bill 133 would increase several fees oil and gas companies pay to do business in New Mexico, but the amended version that passed the House Judiciary Committee, on 7-4 vote, saw the removal of language to increase setbacks for oil wells from bodies of water and residences.
Under the latest version of the bill “blanket bonding” rates operators pay on all of their wells for cleanup should any of them be abandoned would increase from a cap of $250,000 to $10 million via the bill.
HB 133 would also allow the Oil Conservation Division (OCD) to deny well transfers, typically when a larger company sells an older, less productive well to a smaller company, if either have a history of environmental violations or are unable to provide required financial assurances.