IPANM (Nov. 27, 2024) – On Wednesday, the New Mexico Court of Appeals issued a ruling in IPANM’s legal challenge to the New Mexico Ozone Precursor (Methane) Rule.  The full ruling can be found here.

In response to the ruling, IPANM has released the following statement:

“We respectfully disagree with the New Mexico Court of Appeals ruling on IPANM’s legal challenge to the Ozone Precursor (Methane) Rule. As our arguments indicate, we support the goal of the rule to reduce emissions, but not with current provisions in the rule that overreach by wiping out a secondary market for marginal wells that may otherwise continue to safely produce oil & gas to the benefit of all New Mexicans. While we are disappointed, we are reviewing our options moving forward in this case.

Unfortunately, this rule and many other overzealous regulations being pushed out by New Mexico state regulators continue to disproportionately hurt independent operators. The current state administration needs to stop it’s “death by a thousand cuts” hostility to the smaller, family-owned, New Mexico-based operators.”

–Jim Winchester
IPANM Executive Director