skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Deadline Looms for NM Comments on Oil and Gas Methane Rule Rollbacks

play audio
Play

Monday, August 7, 2017   

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- New Mexico residents have until Wednesday to submit comments on stricter standards for methane leaks from new and modified oil and gas operations.

The tougher rules were approved under the Obama administration, but they're among those the Trump administration has promised to roll back. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has argued that the oil and gas industry didn't have enough input on the new standards aimed at preventing air pollution.

New Mexico rancher Don Schreiber said he opposes any rollback. He attended dozens of public meetings and said hundreds of thousands of comments were already submitted supporting the changes.

"Ranchers across the American West are all affected when dislocated, removed, ex-corporate people like Administrator Pruitt start taking protections away that we fought for, and really count on,” Schreiber said.

The EPA first tried to impose a 90-day temporary moratorium on the new standards, but a court overruled it. So, the agency is moving ahead with its push for a two-year moratorium.

The public comment period on the new standards ends this Wednesday, August 9.

The Trump administration also continues to go after methane waste at well sites on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Schreiber said pollution from the 25,000 active wells in the San Juan Basin will continue to have negative health consequences if the methane waste rule is abandoned, because air pollution has no boundaries.

"There's only a few people, families, across the American West that shoulder the burden of natural gas when it's produced, and what its side effects are,” he said. "This is a fight about air - there is no BLM air, there is no EPA air. It's just air."

Schreiber said he and others have watched their ranches disappear, as he puts it, "one well at a time." He sees the effort to roll back tougher regulations as proof that in states like New Mexico, energy production is a higher priority than clean air and public health.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021