State methane regulations are in the middle of a much-needed overhaul that began over a year ago. New Mexico ranks third in the U.S. for production of oil and ninth in gas production. But of all the major petroleum-producing states, New Mexico has been ranked dead last in the regulation of air emissions associated with that production. The New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission finalized the first phase of this emissions overhaul with new, strong rules March 24. The next step is detecting and repairing leaks of methane from oil and gas operations, and that’s where the New Mexico Environment Department has a role to play.

In May, the Environment Department will propose new, complementary air-quality protections (“New Mexico adopts rules to curb emissions from oil industry,” March 27). As explained in the article, closing loopholes for stripper wells is an important battlefront in cleaning up New Mexico’s air quality and curbing emissions of methane, the powerful climate-warming gas.

Stripper wells are marginal oil and gas wells nearing the end of their production life. But what they lack in productivity, they make up in numbers: 29,838 stripper wells are quietly emitting greenhouse gases and other pollutants statewide today. Many are owned by large national and multinational corporations; they are not mom and pop operations, as industry sources claim. They cannot be exempted from regulations.