On May 10, a group of 15 plaintiffs filed suit in Santa Fe District Court against the state of New Mexico, its Legislature, the state’s two environmental regulatory agencies, their directors and, pointedly, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for not upholding their constitutional duties to protect the environment, natural resources and citizens’ health from despoilment by oil and gas production. The group, led by lawyers from the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians, “seeks a complete overhaul of the statutory, regulatory and enforcement scheme for oil and gas,” says Gail Evans, lead attorney on the case for CBD. “This problem has risen to crisis levels as oil and gas production and the resulting pollution has exploded in the state,” she says.
“How much louder do we have to yell?” asks Zephyr Jaramillo, from the Pueblos of Isleta and San Felipe, campaign organizer with youth-based climate group YUCCA and a co-plaintiff in the case. “Legal action is our last recourse. It’s time to demand accountability.”
