"Drill, baby, drill" - here the oil companies rule

 

"Drill, baby, drill" - here the oil companies rule: They do exactly what they want
 

New Mexico

Wolfgang Hansson

Updated 14.14 | Published 14.01

First a sizzling sound is heard. Then a fireball explodes in front of us.

We feel a strong, unpleasant stench. It is methane gas that burns.

- Even though it is illegal, the oil companies can continue to release large amounts of methane, which in practice makes it impossible for the US to reach its climate goals, says Melissa Troutman of the organization Wild Earth Guardians.

If Trump wins the election, he has promised that the first thing he intends to do is "drill, baby, drill".
 

Quick version

• Despite promises of reduced emissions and no more drilling permits on federal land, President Biden granted over 2,000 drilling permits in New Mexico last year.
• Oil companies in New Mexico are allowed to continue emitting large amounts of methane gas, contributing to the United States not meeting its climate goals and threatening the Paris Agreement's two percent goal.
• Environmental activists are fighting against the power of the oil companies, but believe that they can do what they want as Biden has not regulated the extraction as promised and politicians want to avoid clashing with the oil companies.
  

CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO. Before Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, he made a campaign promise: He would not issue any more permits to drill for oil and gas on federal land.

Still, last year Biden granted more than 2,000 permits to drill for new oil in New Mexico. A state where oil production has literally exploded in the last ten years. Extraction has increased tenfold at the same time as Biden promised that he will bring down the US's climate emissions.

After China, the USA is the world's largest emitter. Without the US doing its utmost to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, it will be difficult for the world to reach even the two percent goal.

- In some years, Biden has approved more new drilling permits than Trump did, observes Kayley Shoup, a local environmental activist who fights in constant headwinds against the oil companies.

- In principle, they can do exactly what they want, she states disappointedly. Biden says mining should be regulated. But we can see that it doesn't turn out that way in reality. In practice, we have gigantic emissions. The only thing that can bring it down is to reduce production.
 

The city of Carlsbad is the center of extraction. A dusty den, thrown out by a thoroughfare, that can thank oil and gas for its booming economy.

When I flip through the local newspaper, just over half a page is taken up with lists of all the local churches. I count 60 of them - in a city with roughly 30,000 inhabitants.

Just outside the city, the oil fields begin to spread out in the desert-like landscape. Carlsbad is part of the Permian Basin, a giant area of oil deposits that extends far into the neighboring state of Texas, which has by far the largest production.

But no other state is growing as fast as New Mexico. Here the oil companies can make quick money. Extraction is significantly easier than in many other states.

But it has also caused environmental problems to grow. Both locally and globally.

When you drill for oil, you often also get methane gas as a byproduct, which is basically the same thing as fossil gas. It is a powerful greenhouse gas that, in the short term, is a major threat to the possibilities of keeping global warming below two percent.

The price of natural gas is not high enough in the US for the companies to think it is worth taking advantage of it everywhere. Instead, they burn it directly or release it completely untreated from old oil wells that have been left unused instead of being plugged.

- 90 percent of all oil wells that have been started in the United States lie fallow but continue to emit fossil gas, says Melissa Troutman as we stand outside one of all the oil facilities.

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

During  two days we visit a large number of oil wells where large pumps pick up the oil. Next to it is often a steel pipe where the gas constantly burns at the top. There are also pipes where the gas is released without any control.

New Mexico has fairly recently passed a law that makes it illegal to release the methane gas or burn it in this way.

- But the state's politicians have at the same time introduced a special rule that says that only the companies tell us that it is releasing the gas, then it is no longer illegal, explains Melissa Troutman and laughs at the improbable interpretation of the law.

- The oil companies are extremely important to New Mexico's economy. The politicians do not want to clash with them by introducing tough environmental regulations that they really have to follow. A third of the state's income comes from oil and gas.

          
           Melissa Troutman. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

 
When a well no longer produces enough oil to make a good profit, the companies often let it rest.

- Actually, they should plug inactive oil wells to prevent methane emissions, says Troutman. But a lot of companies don't because it costs money. Instead, they say that they may resume mining at some point in the future and thus avoid responsibility.

She explains that the companies have to deposit $250,000 as security for the cost of plugging the oil well.

- But the sum is the same if they drill 200 boreholes as if they drill one. It becomes so insignificant that no one really needs to care.

We can see the result when we visit some of the older oil fields outside the town of Artesia, about half an hour's drive from Carlsbad.

It is unusually warm for the time of year, close to 30 degrees. The sun shines mercilessly from a clear blue sky. The landscape on both sides of the country road is flat, dry and overgrown with low, gray bushes. The only thing that breaks off are the many oil pumps, steel structures that pump the oil out of the ground with monotonous movements.

We stop at one of them. Charlie Barret, a biologist and researcher working at Earthworks, pulls out a camera that looks like an old video camera. In fact, it registers methane emissions that are invisible to the naked eye.

Next to the oil rig is a long narrow cistern and next to it a round oil silo. Barrett points the camera at the cistern. The display shows how a cloud of smoke comes from the building and is quickly blown away by the strong wind. It is invisible to the naked eye.

Even though this oil source is no longer active, it releases large amounts of methane. How big Charlie Barrett can't answer. With the camera, it is only possible to detect the spill and see if it is large or small. Not measuring exactly how big it is.

When we go from borehole to borehole, the result is always the same. The camera records heavy emissions.

- I document every release and send a complaint to the state's environment department that they should investigate the size of the release and order the company to stop it. I have sent over 200 complaints but have only received one response yet. They don't want to deal with it.

He irritably waves a blond lock away from the shoulder-length hair that sits in a knot at the nape of his neck.

         
          Charlie Barrett. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

But the environmental problem is not only about gas emissions.

Two tankers with round, white tanks are parked at one of the facilities. They contain waste water from the boreholes.

- For every barrel of oil, the companies produce 4-5 liters of heavily polluted water that contains heavy metals, toxic chemicals and radioactivity, says Troutman. The companies do not have a good plan to take care of this waste. Some inject it underground where it risks contaminating the groundwater. In addition, it creates great tensions in the ground. Yesterday there were several minor earthquakes in Carlsbad due to all the holes being drilled in the ground.

- Others try to reuse the wastewater. But there aren't really any rules for how they should handle it.

Suddenly black cows appear, grazing in the dry ground. They look skinny. It is hard to understand what they can find to eat.

- Those who lease the land to the oil companies also rent it out for livestock farming. It is a pity for the animals that are forced to graze in the dry land and also ingest large amounts of methane.

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

Most of the spent oil wells are pure scrap yards. Instead of dismantling the buildings and plugging the borehole, the companies let everything stand and rust.

In one place I step around a large pile of plastic pipes, thick rubber hoses and metal fittings in a mess on the ground.

Melissa Troutman sighs deeply.

- It will be cheaper than cleaning up after yourself. Unfortunately, there are also no laws in either New Mexico or Texas that compel them.

Suddenly, a white pick-up truck comes along one of the dirt roads towards the oil well where we are standing. Charlie Barrett warns us that some of the oil workers can become aggressive when they see environmental organizations out in the oil fields.

- We are just trying to make their work environment as safe and secure as possible, but they think we are trying to take away their jobs and livelihood.

This time the car passes by in a cloud of dust without anything happening.

 

        

         Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

        

         Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
 

In the next place, the methane emissions are so great that we have to put on a protective mask that filters out most of the dangerous gases.
On one breast pocket of the shirt, Barrett attaches a yellow meter that warns with a strong signal if the proportion of methane gas in the air becomes too high.

- In that case, we must leave the area immediately, he orders.

In the special camera we see very heavy "smoke" from the plant. When we go downwind, the stench also penetrates the mask.

It is difficult to talk to each other through the masks. But Barrett wants us to watch carefully where we put our feet.

- Now that it has started to get so hot, the snakes are coming out and we have many that are very poisonous.

But the soil around the oil rig is at least as toxic. It is leaking oil that has settled in a large pool around the pipe. Where the safety valve should have been, there is an empty hole. At the same time, there is a log on one side of the drill showing that someone was here last August.

- Obviously, someone comes here and does something anyway.

The big companies often sell the boreholes when the profit is no longer at its peak. For smaller companies that do not have the same profit requirements. Often they are sold in several tiers to small-time shooters who are trying to squeeze out the last barrels of oil.

When we go back to Artesia, we have to stop for a long time at the railroad crossing while an endless freight train of black wagons filled with oil passes at a leisurely pace. It is on its way to the refinery located in the middle of town. A giant installation of metal pipes and chimneys. It is only a hundred meters from a primary school and a row of residential buildings.

- There are no rules for how close oil installations may be to residential areas.

Photo: Jerker Ivarsson

The next day we drive around an area where many of the new oil wells are being drilled. Everywhere we see the giant steel towers where the drill bit by bit is extended with new drill pipes from a platform halfway up the construction. Most are over 50 meters high.

Traditional oil pumps are scarce here. Instead, the method fracking, hydraulic fracturing, is used. It means that you drill diagonally down and get the oil up with overpressure.

These are new boreholes - brought about thanks to Biden's decision. A compromise that he was forced to make in order to get through his major environmental investment in a green transition. For each new green energy source, he must also approve a certain number of fossil ones. The Republicans have gotten that through.

Melissa Troutman thinks environmental groups like hers are already fighting headwinds.

- We mostly try to defend the environmental protection that already exists from disappearing.

What would happen if Trump were elected president in November?

She rolls her eyes before answering.

- Everything would get even much worse. But it is not certain that more oil wells would be drilled. Here, it is the market and demand that govern.