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Environmental advocates appeal dismissal of major oil and gas pollution lawsuit
Pumpjacks north of Eunice in 2024. An appeal filed Tuesday at the New Mexico Supreme Court seeks to overturn the state Court of Appeals last month dismissing an oil and gas pollution lawsuit.
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Environmental advocacy organizations and individuals are forging ahead in their efforts to halt oil and gas production in New Mexico until stricter enforcement measures are put in place over the industry.
A coalition of plaintiffs on Tuesday filed an appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the dismissal of a lawsuit by the New Mexico Court of Appeals last month.
The lawsuit, initially filed in 2023, alleges pollution that comes from the oil and gas industry violates the state Constitution, specifically a clause that requires the control of pollution and the degradation of natural resources.
Oil and gas revenues make up around a third of the state’s budget most years, especially since production of the resources has boomed over the past decade.
Despite a lower court denying a dismissal of the oil and gas lawsuit in June 2024, the state Court of Appeals last month found that the pollution control clause “neither creates nor recognizes an enforceable right to a certain amount of pollution control,” according to Judge Miles Hanisee’s ruling.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Gail Evans, with the Center for Biological Diversity, described the dismissal as unfair and said the court misread the pollution control clause.
“We believe the Court of Appeals simply got it wrong by saying that this clause is unenforceable and by saying essentially that the Legislature can do what it likes, that it can choose to put oil and gas money over the protection of our health and our environment,” Evans said at a Tuesday news conference. “We are hopeful that our state Supreme Court will step in.”
The state has a chance to respond to the appeal before the Supreme Court decides whether it’ll hear the case.
“The state Supreme Court has never reviewed the pollution control clause,” Evans added.
