EPA moves away from Permian Basin air pollution crackdown

A natural gas flare near a home in Midland. The Environmental Protection Agency has backed off of a plan to declare the nation’s top-producing oil patch in violation of federal ozone standards, which would trigger measures to reduce air pollution. (Credit: Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune)

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.