SANTA FE, N.M.— The Center for Biological Diversity, San Juan Citizens Alliance and Tó Nizhóní Ání took legal action against New Mexico today for failing to require hundreds of oil and gas operators to plug thousands of dangerous inactive wells that pollute the environment and pose significant threats to people’s health.

“This lawsuit is meant to force New Mexico to deal with unplugged wells that are poisoning our air and water,” said Zach Pavlik, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “New Mexicans shouldn’t be stuck living with abandoned wells or paying to clean them up while irresponsible companies walk away. It’s time for the state to make polluters clean up their mess.”

Today’s lawsuit, filed in New Mexico District Court in Santa Fe, says the state has failed to carry out its duties under the New Mexico Oil and Gas Act, which requires the state’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department’s Oil Conservation Division to ensure that operators plug retired wells and restore surrounding areas.

The law also requires the state to collect funds from oil and gas companies to pay for cleanup of abandoned wells. Instead, the state routinely allows operators to neglect cleanup without any penalty. As a result, thousands of inactive wells pollute New Mexico, harming people and the environment and scarring the landscape.

“The promise by the state and industry was that all this damage from oil and gas extraction would be temporary and clean up would be efficient,” said Nicole Horseherder, executive director of Tó Nizhóní Ání. “That promise should be respected, and the state must ensure these lands are properly remediated to support the livelihoods of the people relying on them for a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. We are talking about the destruction of our “permanent homelands” that, if not restored, become superfund sites.”

Idle, unplugged wells emit toxic pollutants, including methane, and contaminate land, air and water. They also pose increased risks of mechanical failures, such as blowouts, that threaten the health and safety of people living nearby.

“We’ve experienced the run around with the lack of oversight for oil and gas facilities that are no longer producing,” said Mike Eisenfeld, energy and climate program director at San Juan Citizens Alliance. “We’ve been dealing with the toxic legacy of oil and gas in the San Juan Basin and its contamination of our lands and water for almost 100 years as companies profit off New Mexico’s resources. It’s unfair that they leave these old, decrepit wells behind in our communities without any consequences and/or fiscal responsibility. The state needs to follow the law to hold oil and gas companies accountable.”

More than 340 oil and gas operators are responsible for the roughly 3,300 illegal inactive wells in New Mexico. Despite this, the state has taken enforcement action against only a fraction of those operators. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of additional wells will become inactive in the coming years.

“We all grew up learning that if you make a mess, you clean it up,” said Pavlik. “This shouldn’t be controversial. The state needs to enforce the law.”

More information about the case can be found here.