BY JOHANN KLAASSEN AND ALEXANDRA MERLINO
Without fanfare or mainstream news coverage, S&P Global Market Intelligence recently reported that oil and gas companies in New Mexico wasted more natural gas than is consumed by the state’s nearly 600,000 residential customers.
Wasting natural resources is not the New Mexico way. Leaks, venting and flaring from the tens of thousands of wells across New Mexico amount to hundreds of millions of dollars a year in lost profit and tens of millions more in lost revenue to the state. Treating natural gas as a waste product instead of capturing and marketing this valuable energy resource is bad for business and bad for New Mexico taxpayers, and it has dire consequences for our children’s education, the health of our communities and the climate.