News & Updates

PNM/Avangrid merger: Coalition secures $12.5M in “just transition” funding, pathway to better future for NM fossil-fuel impacted communities

Apr 26, 2021

Tribal and conservation groups secured significant community investment and other benefits as part of a proposed settlement in the merger case between PNM Resources and Avangrid, an energy company pursuing a transition away from fossil fuels. Community groups have...

Three things to watch for in NMED’s next draft of oil and gas air pollution rules

Apr 22, 2021

By Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, WELC and Jon Goldstein, EDF Now that the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division has finalized strong new rules governing venting and flaring from oil and gas wells, all eyes are turning to the New Mexico Environment Department’s (NMED)...

Diverse coalition of 22 moves to defend Biden administration’s oil, gas leasing pause

Apr 19, 2021

Farmers and ranchers, conservation, recreation, and Tribal groups filed motions to intervene today to defend the Biden administration’s pause on federal oil and gas leasing pending the Department of Interior’s comprehensive review of the program. This action...

Sec. Haaland secretarial orders help restore integrity to Interior, U.S. leadership on climate

Apr 16, 2021

Today, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland issued two secretarial orders to chart a course for the department’s future—a future animated by the imperative to take climate action, honor commitments to Indigenous peoples, and invest in a clean energy future. In so doing, the...

200 groups to Biden: Align federal fossil fuel programs with U.S. climate goals

Apr 14, 2021

Hundreds of Native American, religious, business and conservation organizations today called on the Biden administration to do a comprehensive environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act and other laws to align federal fossil fuel programs with...

Federal judge voids western Colorado fracking plan, requires new analysis of climate harm

Mar 29, 2021

A federal judge late last Friday approved the Bureau of Land Management’s request to rescind the Grand Junction resource management plan following a lawsuit by environmental groups challenging the agency’s failure to analyze its potential harm to the climate. The...

New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission finalizes oil and gas venting, flaring rule; leak detection and repair rule forthcoming

Mar 25, 2021

Today, the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission (OCC) finalized a new rule proposed by the state’s Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) to limit venting and flaring of methane by the oil and gas industry. The OCC rule marks an important step...

Conservation groups ask court to reinstate protections on 3.4 million acres of critical northern spotted owl habitat

Mar 23, 2021

Conservation groups in the Pacific Northwest filed a legal challenge to reinstate federal protections on more than 3.4 million acres of federal old-growth forests, which are essential for the survival of the threatened northern spotted owl. The lawsuit asks the court...

Scientists, conservationists challenge plan to cut road through Mount St. Helens living laboratory, sensitive ecology

Mar 22, 2021

Today, a coalition of scientists and conservationists challenged in federal court a U.S. Forest Service plan to build a road through the Pumice Plain, the blast zone of Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, to assess the integrity of a natural dam on Spirit...

Statement: Solidarity with Asian communities

Mar 19, 2021

The Western Environmental Law Center is appalled at the murder in Atlanta of one man and seven women, six of them Asian-American. This case appears clearly motivated by anti-Asian racism and misogyny. The case also appears clearly fueled by anti-Asian slurs from...