New Mexico Oil, Gas Polluters Fined

Reporting from Capital & Main has resulted in new penalties this week for two oil and gas producers found in violation of state and federal clean air laws, the online outlet revealed.

Photo Insert: An oil company in New Mexico

New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney says the fines are a result of two earlier stories by Capital & Main showing that the EPA was closing out Clean Air Act cases without fines for air pollution violations at oil and gas facilities in the Permian Basin.

Capital & Main “pointed out to me EPA was settling these cases without a penalty for a while until we said, ‘That’s unacceptable,’” Kenney argued.

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