Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2022
Abstract
Special issue: Law and Policy for Gas Flaring in a Low-Carbon Economy.
This essay interrogates the regulation of routine venting and flaring of natural gas as a source of prohibited “waste,” using New Mexico’s recently adopted Waste Rule as an example. It begins with a survey of both the environmental and economic benefits to be achieved by limiting or eliminating venting and flaring and the direct and indirect costs of doing so, including the forgone opportunity to produce crude oil. Then the essay explains the common law and statutory definitions of “waste” to demonstrate that the concept implicates a balancing of the costs and benefits of any given production practice to determine whether it is justified or wasteful. Finally, the essay applies existing law to routine venting and flaring of associated gas in the Permian Basin, which the Waste Rule has effectively banned. The result of this analysis is that the Waste Rule prohibits some venting and flaring that would not necessarily constitute waste under existing law. In conclusion, the essay argues that waste is the wrong legal rubric for efforts to reduce or eliminate methane emissions from oil and gas operations and that policymakers should instead seek legal means that are better aligned with their true purpose: fighting climate change.
Publisher
Oil, Gas & Energy Law (OGEL)
Publication Title
Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence Law Journal
Volume
20
Issue
2
First Page
17 pages total
Recommended Citation
Joseph A. Schremmer,
Regulating Natural Gas Venting and Flaring as Waste: A Review of the New Mexico Approach,
20
Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence Law Journal
17 pages total
(2022).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/896
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
Posted May 20, 2022 with permission of publisher.