Jeanette Lara is one of a handful of doctors who serves the small, unincorporated community of Chaparral, New Mexico. Every day, when she drops off her 8-month-old son to his grandparents before work, she drives past the Newman Power Station, a natural gas plant just across the Texas border in El Paso, which provides power to residents in both states.
The gas plant is responsible for nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compound emissions, which can form ozone, or smog. Last August, El Paso had one of its worst days of air pollution in nearly 20 years, as ozone and particulate matter levels spiked sharply. Although it’s likely that the summer’s record-breaking West Coast wildfire season contributed to the pollution peak, El Paso’s air quality has been worsening over the past few years, driven mainly by local sources like cars, refineries, and industrial plants. In 2020, data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that compared to its five-year average, the El Paso region experienced 20 fewer “good” air quality days per year and four more “bad” air quality days, which can be dangerous for vulnerable populations.
“The power plant has been here as long as I can remember,” says Lara, who grew up in Chaparral and now lives in nearby Las Cruces. “It affects me, and my family and friends, the people I care about in this community.” She worries that in the future, her son might develop asthma, as she has from breathing in excess pollution. Her father, who has lived near the plant for three decades, developed a chronic lung condition that leaves him winded.
