June News

Howdy, yall! It was a busy month for us with trips to both the New Mexico and Texas Permian to give tours and document more of the ongoing methane disaster in the Permian. Miguel was also in Midland for the one day trucker’s strike. As Houston is once again dealing with the impacts of extreme weather and millions are without power in the July heat, we continue to raise the alarm about the impacts of oil and gas production on the climate and environment.

First Permian Visit

For our first trip in June we met Alison Huyett who works on Patgonia’s Campaigns and Advocacy for Climate Solutions. She was there for the first time to witness the Permian so she could share her experience with her team.

We stayed in Midland and ventured out to parts of Midland and Martin counties. She met a fascinating rancher in her 80s who has a PhD and was wearing a beautiful lacy blouse with a small pistol strapped on her hip. We documented pollution on her property and next to her son’s property.

We also took Alison past a location where oil and gas waste is stored in impoundment pits on the surface. The smell is overwhelming and lasts for over a mile. We covered our noses with our shirts but it was still suffocating.

This Enterprise Products site is named Taylor Leiker but we call it the Taylor Leaker. We had to evacuate when the wind changed and started blowing all that pollution our way. I never stopped recording video which is why it’s a bit shaky at the end.

USB, the largest Swiss bank, finances Enterprise with $200 million a year. USB tells the Swiss public that it’s important for them to keep financing oil and gas so that they can make the companies improve their operations. As you can see from the video, that is not working. This is USB doing actual gaslighting of the Swiss people.

Visiting New Mexico

“We were in Carlsbad and Eddy County and the emissions are as bad as I remembered when I was doing the thermography for New Mexico. There has been no improvement. In fact, it’s worse because there are more polluting facilities. Extraction = Pollution (credit Miguel) and that’s something you can count on.” Sharon Wilson

We supported a field tour for members of the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee. They are considering safer “setbacks” or minimum required distance between oil and gas infrastructure and schools. The tour was organized by New Mexico climate groups Center for Biological Diversity, Citizens Caring for the Future and New Energy Economy.

We stopped at various sites so the legislators could see the pollution through the OGI lens. That same morning, oil and gas companies like Mewbourne had showcased to them some “model sites” as examples of responsible and clean oil and gas operations. During the tour, we took them to a polluting tank battery operated by Mewbourne itself.

Third Permian Visit in June

Image: Sharon is interviewed by Swiss Public Broadcasting while in the Permian.

For the third visit we met a production crew from Swiss Public Broadcasting interested in learning more about how the gas being imported in Europe is actually produced in Texas. We also summarized the Swiss Banks that are funding Permian operations.

Organizing Update

Miguel was in Monahans in West Texas to support a one-day trucker strike. The strike was described by the Texas Tribune as “an organized labor movement in the Permian Basin, a historic first for the nation’s busiest oil field.” The truckers are not paid while they wait to load or unload frac sand and the wait times can be hours with some waiting up to 18 hours. With no pay for that time. Truckers are also advocating for bathrooms at the frac sand mines with air conditioning and running water.

Climate organizers in West Texas stood in solidarity with truckers. Eli from Texas Permian Future Generations and two members of the El Paso climate organization Amanecer People’s Project also joined the action. This trucker labor rights campaign demonstrates a break in the narrative that the oil industry would like to paint: “we’re all one big united family.” The working class of the oilfields lives a very different reality from the owning class. The trucker, pumper, rig worker risks life and limb installing dangerous explosive equipment. The executives of oil companies based in Dallas or Houston profit on the backs of workers and fail to provide the protections workers deserve.

Oilfield Witness Observations

In addition to producing and sharing our videos, we also continue to work with journalists, share information on social media and write directly on our blog.

Sharon and Justin published a piece on the economics of gas in the Permian which helps explain why so much gas is flared and vented in America’s largest oil field.

“This is a serious and perhaps fatal flaw in efforts to reduce and stop methane emissions and flaring in the Permian. Various groups, including the IEA’s Global Methane Tracker 2024 report that found the U.S. oil and gas industry led the world in methane emissions, have concluded that up to 40% of methane emissions can be captured if the industry invests in new equipment and that the money from the sale of that captured methane would pay for those investments. Except, for the past several months in the Permian that wasn’t true due to the negative pricing for natural gas. And while the gas prices in the Permian are not typically negative, they reliably trade at a large discount to national prices, as they continue to do now.”

Jack  explained why the latest EIA numbers of flaring in the Permian are highly suspect.

“Unfortunately for the RRC, in their scramble to avoid an illegal flaring scandal, they pulled back the curtain on a massive emissions data failure. The RRC implicitly acknowledged that a huge amount of flaring, as much as 84% of total flaring, was occurring without their direct approval. Regardless of whether the flaring was illegal, that means that the vast majority of the flaring that is happening in the Permian Basin is happening without the explicit knowledge of the RRC.”

Our work continues and we look forward to updating you on exciting things we are working on.

- Till the end of oil

The Oilfield Witness Team