This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.
Federal authorities have stepped back from a proposal to address high levels of air pollution from the oil fields of West Texas and New Mexico.
Last summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it was considering designating the Permian Basin—the nation’s top-producing oil patch and one of the largest single sources of carbon emissions on Earth—in violation of ozone standards, which would have required substantial reforms in local oil and gas operations.
