8-24-2023 3:09pm

Rep Gabe Vasquez Uphill Battle for HR 5222

Chris Edwards Editor

House Resolution 5222 was introduced by U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, New Mexico District 2 representing Otero County to the outskirts of Albuquerque, has introduced legislation to require oil and gas companies to pay into a trust fund that will reimburse oil and gas workers for medical costs resulting from low air quality and prolonged heat exposure.

Vasquez unveiled the proposal on Aug. 16 in Hobbs while speaking to the Hispanic advocacy group Somo Un Pueblo Unido and energy workers.

At a time of record oil production in southeast New Mexico, and with oil and gas companies making large profits, Vasquez says those companies have an obligation to their workers.

The workers in these fields slog through dangerous conditions and are often exposed to airborne toxins. I’m making sure our energy workers are being prioritized, and that while the rich are getting richer, the companies and people responsible for creating these health disparities are being held accountable,” Vasquez said in a press release about the proposal.

The legislation, known as The Energy Workers Health Improvement and Compensation Fund Act, would establish a trust fund to compensate oil and gas workers for health care expenses associated with asthma, heat-related illnesses, as well as other cardiac and respiratory conditions often linked to routine exposure to methane emissions, smog and other pollutants.

Under the proposal, individuals with such conditions could get reimbursed for such costs not covered by private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid if they have worked or lived within 20 miles of an oil or gas extraction or development site for at least one year.

Each year, oil and gas companies that make more than $50 million in revenue annually would have to deposit into the fund an amount equal to the compensation of their 10 highest-paid employees.

The amount a company would have to contribute to the fund would be determined by employee salaries, stock options, bonuses and other forms of deferred compensation, according to a summary of the bill provided by Vasquez's office.

Should a company not fully pay the required amount into the fund, a penalty equal to 10% of the amount withheld could be levied against them.

The idea is modeled after a similar decades-old federal fund for miners with respiratory diseases, which was created with input from oil and gas workers, Vasquez said.

New Mexico is the second largest oil-producing state in the nation, lagging behind only neighboring Texas. Much of that is due to the Permian Basin, which has seen a surge in oil and gas production in the past decade, a shale basin in southwest Texas and southeastern New Mexico, which the Energy Information Administration says produces more than 5.7 million a day.

Public health advocates say that such activity leads to methane emissions and the release of other pollutants that can impact the health of those living and working in such areas.

According to data collected by Earthworks, an environmental advocacy group, 144,377 New Mexicans live within half a mile of an oil and gas facility. In Lea and Eddy counties, the two largest oil-producing counties, those numbers are 25,532 and 23,292 respectively.

Vasquez's legislation has been sent to the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Education and the Workforce for consideration.