It鈥檚 a mid-September afternoon in , a village of 1,400 in far southeastern New Mexico. The firm wind blowing out of Texas brings a light grit that settles in the hair and eyes. The wind carries the faint perfume of hydrocarbons 鈥� hints of plastic, hints of glue, hints of gasoline 鈥� picked up as it crosses the most productive portion of the most productive oilfield in the country, the Permian Basin. As the wind blows north, the dust and chemicals turn the morning sky from a light blue to a hazy white. In a couple of hours the air will carry the sizzling tang of ozone, eyes will burn, lungs will ache, and distant landmarks will lose their detail and filter into shades of light gray.
And it鈥檚 not even a bad pollution day.
Sixty-one years ago, Congress passed the to control the nation鈥檚 air pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency , in part, to implement the 1970 update of the act, which was a response to pollution 鈥� such as ozone 鈥� in the country鈥檚 largest cities. Pollution doesn鈥檛 happen only in cities, though, and air monitors in New Mexico鈥檚 part of the Permian Basin regularly record ozone levels that what鈥檚 deemed safe to breathe under the act鈥檚 guidelines.
And for most of the past year, officials at the EPA told the secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department that a federal fix for Permian Basin鈥檚 air pollution was imminent.
It took just one day in November to change that.
鈥淚t is likely no longer imminent,鈥� James Kenney, the state鈥檚 Environment Department secretary, said after Donald Trump鈥檚 election to a second term. A climate change denier, Trump rides into office again on a platform promising increased fossil fuel production and reductions in federal oversight of the oil and gas industry. During the campaign, he asked oil and gas executives for in exchange for undoing Biden administration environmental rules. And on Monday, Trump former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to run the EPA and roll back Biden鈥檚 climate agenda. 鈥淗e will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions,鈥� Trump said.
In his first after the announcement, Zeldin said he will 鈥渞estore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry, bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI,鈥� none of which are part of the EPA鈥檚 mandate. Both Trump and Zeldin pledged to protect clean air and water, but in the Permian Basin, the air and water are polluted by the very industry they both pledged to deregulate.
Some at the EPA remain optimistic, however. 鈥淥ur work to implement President Biden鈥檚 agenda is undeterred,鈥� said Joe Robledo, spokesperson for EPA鈥檚 Region 6, which covers New Mexico. 鈥淲e are still doing our jobs and will continue to deliver results for the American people.鈥�
Others are less optimistic. 鈥淭he assaults on EPA will likely come from many fronts,鈥� Kenney said. He was appointed New Mexico Environment Department secretary after years working at the EPA in rules enforcement, much of that in oil and gas operations. Kenney said that pressure from the White House, reduced enforcement by national and regional directors and reduced congressional funding 鈥渨ill have the effect of eroding or dismantling the agency.鈥�
Furthermore, he thinks the relationship between the state and the federal Justice Department will be turned on its head. 鈥淚 expect the Trump administration to again weaponize its Department of Justice against states like New Mexico,鈥� Kenney said.
Over the past few years, the two agencies regularly to prosecute flagrant oil and gas pollution violators in New Mexico. Kenney thinks the future will look more like a 2019 case during the first Trump administration in which the U.S. Air Force over the latter鈥檚 fight against toxic PFAS on and around an Air Force base in eastern New Mexico. Studies conducted by the National Cancer Institute have PFAS exposure to various cancers.
鈥淒ismantling environmental protections through federal lawsuits against states is likely if past is prologue,鈥� Kenney said.
***
On the outskirts of Loving, Jozee Zu帽iga waits to back her truck out of the driveway to her grandmother鈥檚 home. A stream of dump trucks blocks the road, carrying dirt for the foundation of a new oil well drilling pad a couple of hundred yards away from the front door 鈥� the third one this year. There are already 16 active or newly drilled wells within a mile, all of them on what used to be neighbors鈥� hay fields and pasture lands.
Zu帽iga tries to stay balanced. 鈥淚 know that a lot of good things have come with the industry. You know, a lot of careers, a lot of money. But we鈥檙e also seeing a lot of bad things,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n recent years, we鈥檝e really been completely surrounded and, you know, engulfed in this industry.鈥�
The road itself, once paved, is crumbling under the heavy truck traffic. New oil and gas pipelines were recently buried in the right-of-way in her grandmother鈥檚 backyard, churning the earth and leaving a strip of gray gravel and dirt 40 yards wide and dotted with pipeline warning stakes.
Jozee Zu帽iga stands on the oil and gas pipeline right-of-way that runs through her grandmother鈥檚 backyard outside of Loving. The white pipes warn of the underground lines. She asked that her face not be shown because she has received threats for her environmental work.
鈥淵ou used to be able to go outside at night, and you could just see a beautiful sky,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here used to be clear mornings, and sometimes deer even used to come down and come through the area.鈥� On this September day, the Guadalupe Mountains, which usually poke up 30 miles away across the plains, are lost in the haze. At night, it鈥檚 as if the brightest stars have fallen from the sky and landed atop the drilling rigs and compressor stations and flare stacks scattered across the rolling plains of the Permian Basin.
The oil and gas operations release volatile organic compounds 鈥� the same chemicals that make plastic, glue and gasoline smell like they do. The compounds are a gaseous part of the unrefined hydrocarbon cocktail that comes out of oil and gas wells and give the morning air around Loving its oilfield odor. The region鈥檚 sun and desert heat bake the compounds into ozone, leaving New Mexicans breathing linked to nosebleeds, asthma and other respiratory diseases, particularly among the young and elderly. Several of the volatile organic compounds are .
So far this year, a group of independent scientists has recorded ozone levels in Loving that exceeded the federal Clean Air Act limit of 70 parts per billion 54 times. The pollution levels they recorded would make Loving the fifth-most ozone-polluted area in the country, ahead of perennial pollution hotspots like New York, Dallas and Houston. also shows that the wind carries the highest ozone levels when it blows into town after crossing the heart of the Permian Basin. This will be the sixth straight year that those levels in New Mexico鈥檚 portion of the Permian Basin have exceeded the for ozone under the Clean Air Act. Three consecutive years is the threshold that could trigger an ozone nonattainment designation from the EPA, leading to a crackdown on the oil and gas industry by enacting tougher rules and greater enforcement to reduce volatile organic compounds and ozone levels.
But the EPA hasn鈥檛 done that.
鈥淲e believe in science and we believe in data,鈥� said Kenney, the Environment Department secretary. 鈥淎nd the data suggests that when of the industry is out of compliance with state and federal [pollution] standards, it does not surprise me that the [air] monitors see that.鈥�
Before the election, the EPA may or may not have been preparing to drop the boom on the region and mandate changes to clean the air. 鈥淢ay or may not鈥� because Kenney said the EPA told him a declaration classifying New Mexico鈥檚 part of the Permian Basin as being out of compliance with the Clean Air Act was 鈥渋mminent.鈥� But, at the same time, Robledo, the EPA press officer, said the agency was waiting to see if recent state and federal rules were enough to reduce the pollution.
New Mexico implemented rules to rein in methane venting, flaring and leaks in the oil and gas industry in and volatile organic compound emissions (known as ozone precursors) in , and the EPA initiated its to strengthen emission reporting this year. And just this Tuesday, the Biden administration a 鈥渕ethane fee鈥� for excess emissions of the climate-damaging gas. Meanwhile, in the Permian Basin has grown more than 35% since 2021.
The likely end of the ozone designation process 鈥渋s very sad and a failure I guess on the EPA鈥檚 part,鈥� Zu帽iga said. 鈥淭his nonattainment zone should have been declared months ago 鈥� There was more than enough proof to say, 鈥楬ey, things are not great in this area.鈥欌��
She said, 鈥淐hildren deserve to be safe. The elderly deserve to be safe. I mean, everyone deserves to be safe, but I think, at this point in time, we should be able to give extra protections to those who can鈥檛 protect themselves.鈥�
Such protection is the : 鈥渢o protect human health and the environment.鈥� It鈥檚 the mission of New Mexico鈥檚 Environment Department, too, which leads Zu帽iga to say, 鈥淲ith our elected officials, we depend on these people 鈥� I think it鈥檚 their responsibility to protect the people that live here.鈥�
New Mexico鈥檚 top elected official is Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and a in the Clean Air Act says state governors can ask the EPA for a nonattainment declaration, a process that begins with a simple letter. Questions sent to the governor鈥檚 office asking if she was prepared to write such a letter were redirected to Kenney.
鈥淪he absolutely could do that,鈥� Kenney said. 鈥淲e fully admit and know that the monitoring data is such that it would suggest the Permian Basin on the New Mexico side 鈥� I鈥檓 not going to speak for Texas 鈥� hits that mark 鈥� I think the governor would say that. I would say that. You hear EPA say that.鈥�
But, he added, the letter 鈥渨ould effectively go nowhere,鈥� even if Trump hadn鈥檛 been elected.
That鈥檚 because such a letter is only half the fight: The state hasn鈥檛 conducted the analyses needed to support a redesignation for the region. Kenney said there are two reasons for that. The first is that the state never budgeted the money for such a study, something he said would cost around $1 million. The second is that the EPA was working on such an analysis.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e done the modeling several times over,鈥� Kenney said. 鈥淔or about the last 18 months, on a monthly basis, I鈥檝e been asking them, 鈥榃here are we?鈥� 鈥� They keep telling me 鈥� that they are continuing to refine the modeling to establish the boundary areas.鈥� They told him an announcement was imminent.
鈥淚 have a different definition of 鈥榠mminent鈥� when I hear that word,鈥� he said.
For years, an air monitoring station run by the Environment Department in Carlsbad, New Mexico 鈥� a station that also serves as the EPA鈥檚 official monitor for the area 鈥� has regularly recorded ozone levels well above what the EPA needed to declare a nonattainment zone. In addition to the Carlsbad location, down the road in Loving, operated by a group of air quality scientists and paid for by , recorded even worse air quality since it started its monitoring in 2023. This is the station that recorded ozone exceeding EPA safety levels 54 days so far this year.
Despite this, Robledo said a reclassification for the Permian Basin is 鈥渁t EPA鈥檚 discretion.鈥� And he did not directly respond to Kenney鈥檚 claim that an EPA nonattainment declaration was imminent.
Drew Goretzka, communications director at the New Mexico Environment Department, said that if the EPA had designated the Permian Basin as a nonattainment area, it would lead to a dramatic increase in emissions reporting across the board; more stringent construction permits for new oil and gas facilities; and a mandate under which increases in emissions at currently permitted facilities would have to be offset with equal or greater decreases elsewhere in the nonattainment area.
But all of that is unlikely under a second Trump administration.
Jeremy Nichols, a senior advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, pointed to both agencies when assigning blame for the state鈥檚 oil and gas air pollution 鈥� but particularly the Environment Department. 鈥淚t seems like at every turn all they鈥檝e done is make excuses and blame others for the state鈥檚 pollution woes,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he state is facing its most dire threat to clean air under a second Trump administration. Now is the time for bold and courageous action to confront polluters.鈥�
He added, 鈥淲e鈥檒l see if they rise to the challenge.鈥�
Texas will be a spoiler in that challenge. The nation鈥檚 largest oil and gas producing state has fought the EPA over redesignating the Permian Basin in the past.
While New Mexico has some of the most stringent oil and gas production regulations in the country, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott actively fights any attempt to further regulate the industry. That leads to emissions from oil and gas facilities in Texas鈥� less-regulated portion of the basin blowing into New Mexico, adding to the pollution numbers.
Just after President Biden took office in January 2021, Abbott issued an directing every Texas state agency 鈥渢o use all lawful powers and tools to challenge any federal action that threatens the continued strength, vitality, and independence of the energy industry.鈥� And when the EPA the idea of an ozone nonattainment zone in the Permian Basin in the spring of 2022, Abbott against 鈥渁rbitrary and discretionary EPA bureaucrats鈥� and their 鈥渄raconian regulations.鈥� He later when the Biden administration backed off that EPA proposal in January 2023, as post-COVID and the Russian of Ukraine led to gas prices.
A 2019 report from the research and advocacy group tallied the emissions from self-reported Clean Air Act violations at industrial facilities across Texas. Most came from oil and gas processing facilities, and the Permian Basin region reported the highest emissions of those chemicals 鈥� by far.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no way Texas won鈥檛 be implicated鈥� in New Mexico鈥檚 air pollution, Nichols said.
鈥淓PA鈥檚 probably going to be more hands-off, so it will likely mean more lawlessness,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n all likelihood, it will be nongovernmental organizations like ours stepping up to pick up the enforcement slack.鈥�
***
Ervie Ornelas stands next to the land near Loving, NM, where he used to find burrowing ground owls with his father-in-law. Today, Chevron is drilling six new wells on the site.
Ervie Ornelas looks back on the place where he grew up compared to Loving as it is today. 鈥淚 was born and raised here, as my father was,鈥� he said. He sits at a picnic bench in Ervell M. Guevara Memorial Park 鈥� the village鈥檚 only park, named for his father鈥檚 best friend, a Marine who died in the Vietnam War. 鈥淚鈥檓 named after that gentleman,鈥� Ornelas said. And then he points to three new oil wells he can just make out from where he鈥檚 sitting. He says he鈥檚 been hassled when he鈥檚 spoken out against this kind of backyard oil and gas drilling in the past.
鈥淚 tell everybody I鈥檓 not against oil companies,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 all for making money for our town. But what I鈥檓 against is what they leave behind.鈥�
As he drives a little way out of town, Ornelas passes a 125-foot drilling rig that towers over the road. It envelops passing cars with a potent vapor that smells like a mix of fingernail polish and paint thinner. The resident of the nearest house, which sits about 1,000 feet away, wouldn鈥檛 talk about the oil well next door.
Ornelas ends up at a spot along the Pecos River where he fished as a kid. Today the spot is covered in garbage and spent gun shells. The river is small, slack and algae-choked. A pile of discarded big-rig tires lies by the road, and oilfield trucks occasionally drive by. Power poles and flare stacks from a pair of new oil and gas wells now overlook the spot.
鈥淚 liked the old way, the Mother Nature way,鈥� Ornelas said. 鈥淏ack in the day, it was rugged.鈥�
That included wildlife. He drives another mile to a spot where he and his father-in-law used to find burrowing ground owls. 鈥淎ll gone,鈥� Ornelas said. He stands at the barbed wire fence surrounding the land where the owls used to live. It鈥檚 been scraped clean, and a pair of cranes assemble six new side-by-side oil wells for Chevron. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all nothing but pure oil stuff now, and that, that was heartbreaking.鈥�
Ornelas moved away several years ago for family and work in the bigger city of Carlsbad (population 31,000) to the north. 鈥淏ut I come here every other day, every other day, just to be in my hometown,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it don鈥檛 even feel like my hometown anymore.鈥�
Until four years ago, his mother lived in a small house that overlooked the fields at the edge of town. Then an oil well supply company set up shop across the street. 鈥淪he couldn鈥檛 even talk on the phone outside anymore. It was so loud, you know? And that was sad.鈥� He believes her death was due in part to the dust and fumes that wafted across the street. Ornelas鈥� son died two weeks before her of a brain tumor. He doesn鈥檛 know if the air pollution had anything to do with his death, but, he says, it didn鈥檛 help.
鈥淭he people that really know me know I鈥檓 not trying to be malicious. They know I鈥檓 worried about my hometown,鈥� Ornelas said. Even so, 鈥淚 hate to say this. I鈥檓 glad my mother鈥檚 not here to see what this town has become.鈥�