New Mexico AG calls on feds to address natural gas waste

New Mexico's attorney general is calling on the federal government to move quickly in adopting new rules to curb the waste of natural gas and the resulting loss of millions of dollars in royalties that could benefit education and other public programs. Attorney General Hector Balderas sent a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell this week, saying New Mexico has lost nearly $43 million in royalties since 2009 because of leaks and the venting and flaring of gas wells on federal lands. Cost-effective technology is available to address the problem, and both industry and states stand to benefit, Balderas said. "As attorney general of one of the states most affected by the venting and flaring rule, I respectfully urge the Department of the Interior to move forward swiftly with a rule to help the people of New Mexico," he wrote. Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said producers throughout New Mexico already have made tremendous progress in capturing more gas. Economic benefits, rather than regulation, have driven the changes, he said. "To put a bunch of proscriptive regulations on things that add a lot of cost with little or no incremental savings of methane emissions, that's just bad news for the industry," he said. "The rules need to be based on sound science and data, not innuendoes."...more

Apparently Mr. Balderas, like Gary King before him, will do the bidding of the enviros.