Bid to overhaul New Mexico oil and gas regulations clears first hurdle amid litigation

abcnews.go.com:

An effort to modernize state oversight of a thriving petroleum industry in the nation’s No. 2 state for oil production has advanced past its first committee vetting at the New Mexico Legislature

SANTA FE, N.M. — An effort to modernize state oversight of a thriving petroleum industry in the nation's No. 2 state for oil production advanced past its first committee vetting Thursday at the New Mexico Legislature.

The bill would rewrite portions of the state's 1930s-era Oil and Gas Act in order to help regulators keep pace with the industry's meteoric growth in recent years — as well as increasingly assertive calls to hold the sector accountable for air pollution, spills and the costly cleanup of equipment and abandoned wells.

It advanced on 6-5 vote of the lead House committee on natural resources, over the objections of small and moderate sized oil producers but with the public endorsements of industry heavyweights Occidental Petroleum and EOG Resources.

The initiative would increase financial assurances for well plugging and cleanups, while ratcheting up administrative fees and penalties for regulatory violations. The bill also would give regulators greater authority over applications to transfer ownership of wells that often change hands when oil and natural gas output declines.

Bill cosponsor Rep. Matthew McQueen of Galisteo urged colleagues to rally behind the bill, warning that a downturn in the industry could saddle the state with immense liabilities for orphaned wells.

“If we can’t put appropriate safeguards in place during record (oil) production then we’re never going to have those safeguards in place,” he said. “We’ve had boom industries in New Mexico before. We had uranium mining — they went bust. We’re still