Western Environmental Law Center

Contact:
Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, Western Environmental Law Center, 575-751-0351, eriksg@westernlaw.org

Today, 73 western community, conservation, faith, and Indigenous groups representing 2.6 million members and supporters delivered a joint letter to Senate Minority Leader Schumer (NY), Sen. Heinrich (NM), Sen. Whitehouse (RI), and House Minority Leader Jeffries demanding they reconsider their pursuit of “permitting reform” that cedes ground to energy and technology industries by targeting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other bedrock environmental laws in the 119th Congress.

Given Congress’ extreme right-wing ideological composition and alignment with the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda, any permitting legislation that could conceivably emerge would unacceptably erode bedrock community and environmental safeguards, exclude the public from federal decision making, and diminish the transparency and accountability now required of government agencies by federal law. The primary beneficiaries of the proposed changes under discussion would be polluting industries aligned with the administration’s agenda—many of which are building out a plague of fossil fuel-powered AI data centers that consume enormous volumes of fresh water.

“The first rule of negotiation is that it’s impossible to reach workable solutions with bad-faith actors,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center and author of today’s letter. “Today’s Republican Congress has shown unprecedented hostility to climate, environmental, and community protections. It is glaringly obvious that any changes to our bedrock environmental laws signed by President Trump would sacrifice far too much and compromise the imperative to foster a just and equitable transition to an economy powered by renewable energy. We urge Sen. Heinrich and Sen. Whitehouse to withdraw from negotiations and stand with us and the public lands, waters, and wildlife of the West to build momentum for a progressive permit reform effort with stronger bargaining power after the mid-term elections.”

The primary target of “permit reform” legislation is NEPA. NEPA requires agencies to: (1) take a hard look at impacts to people, communities, and the environment and disclose those impacts to the public; (2) consider alternatives to avoid and mitigate harm; and (3) provide for public involvement. In December 2025, the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) passed the House and is now pending in the Senate. The SPEED Act would:

• Arbitrarily narrow the scope of environmental reviews, paving the way for unchecked resource extraction without proper consideration of environmental and community impacts;
• Permit agencies to ignore new scientific or technical research when preparing an environmental review and thereby risk decisions that harm the public interest, and
• Eviscerate the public’s right to seek justice and accountability in federal court.

These changes would reduce environmental review to a paperwork exercise and limit judicial accountability to the point of meaninglessness. Importantly, proponents of permitting reform have also signaled strong interest in changing other bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Historical Preservation Act. These proposals effectively neutralize environmental and community protections to accelerate permit approvals for energy, technology, and other infrastructure—primarily climate-harming fossil fuels.

The Trump administration and its enablers in Congress have demonstrated their hostility to environmental safeguards as well as indifference or ignorance of the public health and ecological effects of these changes by fundamentally eroding, incapacitating, planning to repeal, removing protections for, or fundamentally undermining as agencies the:

• Endangered Species Act
• Roadless Rule
• Endangerment finding on climate emissions
• Clean Water Act
• Clean Air Act
• Methane Rule
• Public Lands Rule
• Chaco Culture National Historical Park protection zone
• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness protections
• Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A)
• Powder River Basin coal leasing withdrawal
• U.S. Forest Service
• Environmental Protection Agency

This overwhelming attack on environmental, public health, and community protections shows beyond all doubt that this Congress and the Trump administration will never negotiate in good faith on changes to these laws.

The previous administration proved that improving permitting is possible without throwing the baby out with the bath water. The Inflation Reduction Act and other policies have expedited permitting without sacrificing protections. The Biden administration reduced permit timelines by eight months government-wide, demonstrating that infrastructure permitting can be accelerated without compromising public interest safeguards critical to the West’s public lands, waters, wildlife, and communities.

“Our Congressional representatives must not help the Trump administration, Big Tech, and the fossil fuel industry steamroll our communities by making a bad deal on environmental rollbacks in the most extreme American Congress of our lifetimes,” Schlenker-Goodrich emphasized. “Keep in mind that Westerners are fierce defenders of the landscapes they call home.”

According to Colorado College’s 2026 Conservation in the West survey, more than four in five western voters in the Intermountain West say conservation is an important factor in choosing whether to support an elected official. The importance of conservation cuts across party lines—78% of Republicans, 86% of Independents, and 93% of Democrats identify it as an important issue. Salient to the permitting reform debate, “vast majorities” (70%) agreed that the rollback of environmental laws is a “serious problem” and a similar majority (>66%) worried these rollbacks would have a negative impact on the West. Additionally, 76% of westerners—including 74% of New Mexicans—prefer that their elected members of Congress protect “public lands over maximizing energy production,” with the percentage of Republicans holding this position rising from 48% in 2019 to 62% in 2026.

Quotes:

“Our national forests and other public lands are already threatened with arbitrary timber targets and rollbacks of longstanding safeguards,” said John Persell, senior staff attorney at Oregon Wild. “Full exploitation is this administration’s stated goal. We must strengthen our bedrock environmental laws in the face of these attacks, not weaken them.”

“New Mexico’s exceptional natural and cultural landscapes, including Chaco, the Upper Pecos Watershed, and our roadless forests, are under increasing threat,” said Sally Paez, staff attorney at New Mexico Wild. “We urge Congress to reject any ‘permitting reform’ that would remove the few legal guardrails that safeguard New Mexico’s wilderness, wildlife, and waters for current and future generations.”

“We believe the Willamette River’s clean waters and healthy habitat safe for fishing and recreation are basic public rights,” said Michelle Emmons and Heather King, co-executive directors of Willamette Riverkeeper. “Rolling back fundamental environmental laws would degrade our river and infringe on those rights.”

“In Montana, NEPA and other bedrock laws keep our residents safer than they otherwise would be from mining and other extractive industries,” said Caryn Miske, director of the Sierra Club Montana Chapter. “Our rivers, our air, our forests, wildlife, and health all depend on the safeguards in these laws, and they should be strengthened if anything—not gutted to facilitate even more exploitation.”

“This attack on public engagement in major project decisions is also an attack on Indigenous voices across New Mexico, across the West, and throughout the United States,” said Ahtza Chavez, CEO of Naeva. “Far too often, project proposals disregard impacts to sacred sites and cultural resources, and the public process is the only way to ensure the safety of Indigenous history and communities. Silencing needed conversations is not ‘reform’—it is oppression.”

“Weakening environmental and cultural protections in the name of progress disrespects the people and lands that actually make this country great,” said Carlos Matutes at GreenLatinos of New Mexico.

“If these federal permitting reforms happen, we stand to lose bedrock protections like the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Historical Preservation Act l, which have given generations the peace of mind that there will be clean water to drink and wonders of nature for our children to marvel at,” said Jacob Vigil, chief legislative officer of New Mexico Voices for Children. “We strongly support community and environmental safeguards that center children’s right to clean water and a thriving natural world.”

“As the short-sighted interests of fossil-fuel based extraction and energy continue to dominate the hearts of so many in power, people of faith and conscience are calling for courage and true service of the common good,” said Rev. Clara Sims, assistant executive director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light. “This is a critical time for our leaders to hold the line against permitting reform and all policies that seek to pillage this sacred earth and rob the future of life that is abundant and flourishing in New Mexico and everywhere.”

“We’ve seen this playbook before: ‘rapid clean energy deployment’ is once again being used to justify sweeping permitting rollbacks, even as environmental justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and community health are pushed to the margins,” said Mar Zepeda, legislative director of the Climate Justice Alliance. “If Congress advances a deregulatory framework, what guarantees that this administration will uphold the rule of law when protections, oversight, and community input are weakened? Speed without accountability is not progress, it’s a pathway to harm. If we are serious about a just and sustainable future, ecological integrity and community governance must be non-negotiable, not collateral damage.”

“Our public lands in the North Cascades are crown jewels of our remaining wilderness and must be protected from industrial exploitation,” said Phillip Fenner, president of the North Cascades Conservation Council.

“We need to strengthen environmental protection and find ways to deal with the warming climate,” said John R. Bridge, president of Olympic Park Advocates.

“We oppose this action knowing full well that it will cause great harm to all of us and the most important priority, the very source of our existence, living, biologically diverse, properly functioning ecosystems,” said Cindy Haws, president of the Umpqua Natural Leadership Science Hub.

“In many cases, the only thing standing between our region’s irreplaceable mature and old-growth forests and the chainsaw are these environmental laws,” said Janice Reid, president of Umpqua Watersheds. “Older forests are too special to log, and we are concerned that rollbacks at this time will destroy our natural heritage.”

“Sacrificing environmental health and auctioning-off public lands must stop,” said Garry Brown, president and CEO of Orange County Coastkeeper. “This administration is causing irreparable harm to America.”

“As the administration upends our longstanding procedures for public participation, we cannot let Congress take away our rights to meaningfully engage with agencies too,” said Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network. “This is not reform in any legitimate sense. This is a rapid erosion of our norms and standards for stopping arbitrary and capricious decision making.”

“The Shasta River is our area’s lifeblood, for irrigation, recreation, and so much more,” said Dave Webb, board member of Friends of the Shasta River. “Water quality and quantity in our basin is fragile, and requires at least the level of protection current environmental laws provide. Rolling back these protections would jeopardize our way of life.”

“Mount Shasta is a natural sanctuary and sacred landscape to Indigenous people,” said Nick Joslin, policy and advocacy director at the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center. “Permit reform right now, with this Congress, would allow shortsighted resource extraction with extremely limited oversight that is incompatible with a thriving Mount Shasta and all it supports.”

“NEPA isn’t the cause of permitting challenges—bad ideas are,” said Christine Canaly, director of the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council. “Good projects move forward, inappropriate ones are slowed down, restructured, or stopped; that’s how decisions are supposed to work when managing America’s public lands.”

“Too many of Oregon’s bird populations are already in decline or at risk of extinction. We cannot afford yet another effort to weaken land management regulations that maximizes extraction,” said Joe Liebezeit, statewide conservation director at the Bird Alliance of Oregon. “Reducing wildlands protections throughout the West would have devastating impacts to migratory bird populations and to the habitats they depend on.”

“The Trump administration’s attacks on environmental reviews are already cutting the public out of public lands,” said Erik Molvar of Western Watersheds Project. “We don’t need permitting reform to enable more backroom deals with industry. What we need is NEPA restoration legislation to codify the regulations that have guided environmental reviews for decades, and which underpin the legal precedents that have always guided decisionmaking.”

“Environmental laws exist because pollution harms people. Rolling them back under the banner of permitting reform would undermine protections that New Mexico families rely on for clean air, safe water, and healthy communities,” said Ashley Proud, executive director of Healthy Climate New Mexico.

“Our community, which surrounds a federal nuclear weapons research and design laboratory, has depended on the National Environmental Policy Act’s public participation requirements to provide the only opportunity for those who are directly affected to speak directly to federal agency decision makers planning new programs and infrastructure for dangerous nuclear weapons activities,” said Scott Yundt, executive director of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CAREs). “It is also the only opportunity for state regulators, local government officials, tribes, and community organizations to have input. This permitting reform push is sweeping up opportunities for public comment that are essential in a well-functioning democracy.”

“Keep the environmental safeguards in place on our public lands that help to protect our water, wildlife, and the varied communities around the West,” said Thomas Hollender, board member of the White Mountain Conservation League.

“Mining companies have staked claims to nearly 20,000 acres in the Gila National Forest over the last year,” said Allyson Siwik, executive director of the Gila Resources Information Project. “We believe regulatory rollbacks are at least part of the incentive for the huge increase in exploration-related activities in southwest New Mexico.”

“Deregulatory permitting reform right now only means the fossil fuel industry will be forever dominant in this nation, which is why they are the biggest cheerleader for making a deal now,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center For Biological Diversity. “Democrats must focus on fighting the lawless Trump administration and the fossil fuel industry, not cut deals with people that only seek to destroy clean energy and a livable future.”

“As a frontline family ranch impacted daily by the oil & gas industry—our health, our land, our air and water—we urge Sen. Heinrich and all members of Congress to defend families like ours, and frontline communities everywhere from any rollback of the already lax and permissive oil and gas regulations that affect our lives so deeply every day,” said Don Schreiber, owner of Devil’s Spring Ranch.

“On behalf of the children, the thousands of past and present Global Warming Expressers of the past 15 years in New Mexico, who continue to inform the grownups of the necessity for gratitude for, connection to and protection of all beings, sentient and non sentient, in this beautiful and fragile world, we strongly request that the members of Congress go for a long walk in an abundance of nature, and not return until such time that they realize the irreparable harm this choice for permitting reform will inflict upon all species, including all humans, including themselves and their own children and grandchildren, now, and for decades and decades to come,” said Genie Stevens, executive director of Global Warming Express.

“We’re seeing in real time how fossil fuel dependence fuels conflict, economic shocks, and global instability. Instead of learning from that, permitting reform would lock us further into the same system that’s driving these crises,” said Rebecca Sobel, climate and health director at WildEarth Guardians.

“Regulatory reform should be strengthening our laws that protect clean water, fish, wildlife and people, not weakening them,” said Arlene Montgomery, program director of Friends of the Wild Swan.

“America will celebrate our 250th anniversary July 4th, 2026, and North Dakota is opening the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library,” said Shannon Straight, executive director of the Badlands Conservation Alliance. “Ironically, Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy is being unraveled by former North Dakota Governor and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and the Trump administration. The administration views our public lands, landscape, and waters as ‘assets’ to be sold to the wealthy. Once gone, public lands will never return to the people. Theodore Roosevelt supported responsible resource development alongside conservation. It’s incumbent on all of us to stand up for not only America’s best idea, the National Park System, but for the generations to come that deserve fresh water, clean air and public lands to enjoy as we all have for the past generations.”

“The sheer size of many of the projects these changes would seek to force through would irreparably harm Montana’s wildlife and their needed migration corridors,” said Clinton Nagel, president of the Gallatin Wildlife Association. “Greater Yellowstone needs healthy wildlife to thrive, and these changes would severely impair both.”

“Southeastern Alaska’s economy depends on healthy salmon, and healthy salmon require strong environmental protections,” said Maggie Rabb, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. “Salmon are a sensitive species, as are so many other important fish and wildlife in our region. We oppose any changes to bedrock environmental laws that if anything should be strengthened.”

“Wyoming’s wildlands are rugged and beautiful, but also fragile,” said Aaron Bannon, executive director of the Wyoming Wilderness Association. “With so many areas in our state still in need of added protections, rolling back such a fundamental law as the National Environmental Policy Act would be a move in the wrong direction.”

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Today, the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, Center for Biological Diversity, and Food & Water Watch filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) challenging the Transwestern Pipeline Company’s attempt to fast-track the proposed Green Chile Pipeline. The 17-mile pipeline in Doña Ana County would provide gas to a new, massively-polluting power plant for the proposed “Project Jupiter” data center.

The organizations argue that Transwestern cannot proceed under a FERC “blanket certificate,” which is essentially a rubber-stamp permit that automatically approves minor projects and repairs; rather, FERC must instead conduct a full review of the project as required by section 7 of the National Gas Act. The organizations also urge FERC to deny the application under section 7 because it is contrary to the public interest.

In March, the New Mexico State Land Office denied Transwestern’s application for its project to cross state land, forcing the company to reroute a section of the pipeline. It is not possible for FERC to fully consider Transwestern’s application without knowing the exact route, and key information such as the cost of the project and the expected environmental impacts. If the reroute were to increase the cost of construction by even 2.5%, it would no longer qualify for a blanket certificate review.

Statements:

“Transwestern’s efforts to fast-track this proposed pipeline without environmental review are inappropriate given the massive impacts and uncertain future of the sole client it would serve, the Project Jupiter data center,” said Morgan O’Grady, staff Attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “Transwestern’s application is premature and should be rejected—New Mexicans do not need more stranded oil and gas infrastructure.”

“To approve this pipeline without a thorough and conclusive review could be a disaster for New Mexico families and their communities,” said Camilla Feibelman, director of the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter. “We urge FERC to pace themselves and not allow major polluting industries, such as data centers, to skirt regulations when so much is at risk.”

“We’re urging FERC to reject this pipeline because it would harm both people’s health and the environment,” said Gail Evans, New Mexico climate director for Center for Biological Diversity. “Its sole purpose is to feed a massive new gas plant that would produce twice as much air pollution as Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces combined, just to serve a huge data center. New Mexicans are already burdened by extensive oil and gas infrastructure. It’s time to move away from filthy fossil fuels and invest in clean energy.”

“New Mexico has no need for more pipelines, and especially no need for more of this dangerous infrastructure to power the massive Project Jupiter data center,” said Alexa Reynaud, rural organizing manager at Food & Water Watch: “For too long, we have been treated as a sacrificial state, and this pipeline would only continue that legacy of corporate polluters taking our resources and threatening our air, land, and water. AI data centers – and the pipelines proposed to fuel them – have no place in New Mexico.”

Contacts:

Morgan O’Grady, Western Environmental Law Center: ogrady@westernlaw.org; (703) 973-2585

Madeline Bove, Food & Water Watch: mbove@fwwatch.org; (202) 683-2539

Gail Evans, Center for Biological Diversity: gevans@biologicaldiversity.org; (505) 463-5293

Bill Rodgers, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter: bill.rodgers@sierraclub.org; (330) 881-9918

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Job Opening Announcement: Wildlands and Wildlife Program Attorney
Reports to: Wildlands and Wildlife Program Director
Location: Portland or Eugene, OR, preferred. Other WELC office locations, including remote, may be considered for the right candidate in the right situation.
Timeline: Job opening posted April 14, 2026; we will review applications and interview candidates on a rolling basis beginning May 26, 2026.The position is open until filled.
Salary: $85,000-150,000 annually
To Apply: ApplicantPro portal

About the Western Environmental Law Center:
The Western Environmental Law Center is a leading nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm rooted in the landscapes and communities of the western U.S. Founded in 1993, WELC has been celebrated as an Outside Magazine Best Place to Work for the final six years of the contest (it ended in 2024), Oregon Business Magazine Best Nonprofit, Law360 Environmental Group of the Year, and Better Business Bureau Torch Award winner for ethics.

We envision a thriving western U.S., abundant with protected and interconnected ecosystems, powered by renewable energy, and cared for by communities brought together in an ecology of kinship. We embrace a collaborative, team-based approach to foster the trust, belonging, and dignity essential to a healthy organization and to relationship-based advocacy that builds power for transformative change.

We seek to retain either a Staff Attorney (6-12 years of experience) or Senior Attorney (13+ years of experience) to join our team. We strongly encourage people of color, persons with disabilities, women, LGBTQ+ applicants, and people of diverse lived experience to apply.

Position Summary:
The Wildlands & Wildlife Program Attorney is an exempt, full-time position. The central focus of this position is strategic legal advocacy centered on public lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the western U.S. The position’s responsibilities will be allocated among the following core areas:

• Litigation and administrative engagement protecting federal public lands, wildlife habitat, species, and water.
• Engagement in federal and potentially state-level legislation, rulemaking, and policymaking to protect public lands, water, and species. This may include defense of existing laws and regulations as well as efforts to improve the same.

Given the dynamic moment in which we find ourselves, this position’s focus and time allocations will necessarily evolve in response to changing political, scientific, social, and economic circumstances and opportunities consistent with specific organizational strategies. Further, and as with all WELC positions, this position is flexibly designed to accommodate a successful candidate’s distinctive skills, experiences, and interests to further and complement WELC’s strategic Wildlands and Wildlife focus. WELC’s organizational and strategic direction is not “top down,” but is informed precisely by the individual qualities of its staff. Moreover, the location of the successful candidate will play a role in their precise docket of work.

Accordingly, the Attorney will be encouraged and supported to identify and advance opportunities to shape WELC’s organizational and strategic direction, to share perspectives, and to be a trusted and respected leader in their field and within their scope of work. The Attorney will support and coordinate with WELC leadership, development, communications, and finance staff, as well as represent WELC in public and private settings. The Attorney will also participate in retreats, trainings, and other organizational events.

To fulfill this position’s responsibilities, the Attorney may provide a full range of legal services on behalf of WELC, including litigation, policy advocacy, and administrative action. To assist in these efforts, the Attorney will stay apprised of relevant law, policy, social, and other developments. The Attorney will work collaboratively with staff across the organization, as well as with partner organizations and clients.

The Attorney is a normal 40-hour week position based out of any of WELC’S existing offices or, potentially, a remote home office in the western U.S., primarily working during Monday to Friday business hours, though some night and weekend hours may be required at times, depending on organizational and advocacy needs. Limited travel is required, averaging a total of 2-3 weeks per year, including some overnight and weekend travel. The position also involves standard office physical demands. WELC will provide all reasonable accommodations to the extent possible or required pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Qualifications:
We are keenly interested in considering a range of applicants with diverse lived experiences who approach the world with kindness, empathy, imagination, and vision. We will happily consider applicants who offer an equivalent or alternative set of qualifications to fulfill this position’s responsibilities, apart from the first two qualifications set forth below, which are mandatory.

• Law degree from an accredited law school.
• Admission to and good standing with a U.S. state bar or willingness and ability to obtain membership to a U.S. state bar where the attorney is located at the earliest opportunity.
• Lived experience within or past work experience in partnership with people and communities of diverse backgrounds and experience, particularly in the western U.S.
• Six to 12 years relevant attorney experience if applying for the staff attorney position, and 13+ years relevant attorney experience if applying for the senior attorney position.
• Excellent research, writing, and oral advocacy skills.
• Experience with and knowledge of public lands, waters, species, and community challenges and opportunities in the western U.S.
• Experience with and knowledge of the relevant agencies, laws, and regulations employed in litigation to protect public lands, waters, and species.
• Ability and willingness to act as a lead attorney on cases and projects and use a complete set of legal advocacy tools including litigation, policy, and administrative advocacy.
• A commitment to conceptualizing and implementing legal strategies that further equity, inclusion, and justice, including through the just treatment and meaningful involvement of clients, partners, and frontline community groups and individuals.
• Dynamic and empathetic skills to foster relationships with partners, clients, agency staff, and community members. Demonstrated ability to work in complex, potentially high-conflict, multi- dimensional arenas involving a broad array of organizations and interests.
• Eagerness to mentor, support, and help develop newer attorneys, and a self-awareness, motivation, and desire to seek opportunities for your own growth and development.
• An interest in and understanding of science and other technical fields and their interplay with public interest environmental law.
• Ability to work independently and proactively, including a willingness to be flexible and adaptive when needed.
• Desire to work on and contribute to a team. This includes learning from others, giving and receiving support and feedback, and active, constructive engagement in organizational discussions to advance the organization’s mission and contribute to its cohesion.
• Highly organized and intellectually curious.
• Demonstrated commitment to WELC’s mission and strategies and the public interest as well as a love for the land, waters, wildlife, and communities of the western U.S.

Benefits and Compensation:
Western Environmental Law Center is an equal opportunity employer. We offer a flexible, friendly, team-based environment with immediate opportunities to shape organizational strategies, and competitive salaries as follows:

• Staff Attorney (6-12 years of legal experience): $85,000 – $110,000
• Senior Attorney (13+ years of legal experience): $110,000 – $150,000

WELC offers an excellent benefits package, including health, vision, dental, life, and disability coverage (with 100% employer paid premiums), a 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% employer match, 22 days combined of paid annual vacation and personal leave, 13 days of paid holiday leave, paid sick leave, and a paid long-term leave policy (3 months sabbatical leave for every 5 years of employment).

To Apply:
Please submit the following as PDF attachments through our ApplicantPro portal:

• 1-2 page cover letter addressed to Sarah McMillan, Wildlands & Wildlife Program Director
• Resume;
• 3 professional references; and
• 1-2 concise writing samples, with at least 1 writing sample involving a legal memorandum, brief, or filing. An additional, non-legal writing sample is also welcomed to illustrate the candidate’s background, views, or ideas.

Cover letters should communicate applicants’ commitment to WELC’s mission and advocacy and their motivation to work in this position and in public interest environmental law generally. In your cover letter, please do not repeat information apparent from a review of your resume. Instead, in their cover letters, applicants are very strongly encouraged to tell us who they are as human beings, why they care about this work, and why they want to work for WELC specifically.

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Today, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)’s Environmental Improvement Board approved a landmark update to its air quality permit fee structure that increases essential funding for inspections, monitoring, and enforcement. These changes will help deliver stronger protections to frontline communities who need them the most without creating additional burdens to taxpayers.

“The Permian Basin is one of the most active oilfields in the world, and Carlsbad families like mine have paid for that with their health and peace of mind, while oversight agencies were starved of the funding to protect our air quality,” said Haley Jones, organizer with Citizens Caring for the Future. “That imbalance ends today. This rulemaking is long overdue.”

The board unanimously decided in favor of the fee update following three days of public hearing. At the hearing, industry representatives argued that the fee increases were unnecessary, contending that taxpayers, rather than polluters, should shoulder the costs of administering the state’s air quality programs. The updated fee schedules should now be sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of administering New Mexico’s Title V and construction permit programs, as required by the Air Quality Control Act and the federal Clean Air Act. The updated fee schedule will take effect on June 1, 2026.

The public submitted hundreds of comments to the board. In-person testimony was provided by advocates and frontline community members who have been disproportionately exposed to industrial pollution and consistently left out of the decisions that shape their environment. All expressed the hope that this fee adjustment will translate to a more responsive NMED serving the people of New Mexico, including more air monitoring stations, faster enforcement and response to complaints. Twenty-nine state senators and representatives also joined the call for comprehensive funding by submitting a joint letter to the board.

The people of New Mexico have long borne the burden of pollution in the form of respiratory illness, dangerously elevated particulates, and degraded landscapes. This rulemaking begins to rebalance that equation. Industries, not communities and taxpayers, should bear the costs of inspections, monitoring, and enforcement.

“New Mexico’s air quality permit fee structure has been flat for about 20 years, meaning that each year, the Environment Department has had to perform its increasingly complex public health and safety duties with fewer and fewer resources,” said Morgan O’Grady, attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center. “It is fair and proper for industry applicants to bear the true cost to ensure their enterprises do not endanger the communities in which they operate.”

“Current fees were insufficient to fund the enforcement staff that is needed to handle complaints in a timely manner,” said Haley Jones, organizer with Citizens Caring for the Future. “Recent enforcement actions have been related to complaints from nearly four years ago, which is unacceptable. Our communities deserve enforcement actions immediately following complaints, not years later. These enforcement delays cause real harm to people. They mean more asthma attacks and more premature deaths, as well as more costs to our healthcare system. We suffer the consequences of air pollution while corporations profit off our natural resources. These fee increases are critical for the Air Quality Bureau to be able to do its job for all New Mexicans and to enable them to increase their air monitoring network so we can know what is in the air we are breathing.”

“New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light has been working with communities in the Permian Basin for more than 10 years,” said Sister Joan Brown, community advocate with New Mexico and El Paso Interfaith Power and Light. “As people of faith and conscience we are called to care for our kin, our communities and sacred land, water, and air. The region has been in air ozone non-attainment for some time with many people suffering from asthma, bronchial and heart problems related to unchecked oil and gas industry pollution and terrible air quality. The Air Quality Bureau needs adequate and long-term funding for ethical actions, oversight, and accountability. The new fee rules will help our communities.”

“The Environmental Improvement Board’s decision today is great news for the people of New Mexico,” said Nini Gu, senior regulatory & legislative manager at Environmental Defense Fund. “This funding is essential to ensure the Environment Department has the necessary resources to protect communities from the impacts of energy development, which has grown exponentially over the last decade. With more resources, the Environment Department can expand monitoring efforts and build on its progress of cutting harmful oil and gas methane and air pollution. Businesses that profit from New Mexico’s resources have a responsibility to minimize harm, and today’s decision ensures industry, and not taxpayers, cover oversight costs.”

“For too long, New Mexico communities have been left to breathe the consequences of inadequate oversight while polluters faced no real accountability,” said Antoinette Reyes, methane campaign organizer for the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter. “Today’s decision by the Environmental Improvement Board begins to change that. When industries profit from our state’s resources, they must also bear the cost of ensuring our air is safe to breathe — not taxpayers, not families in Carlsbad or Hobbs, not the people already living with ozone non-attainment and elevated methane emissions. This funding gives NMED the tools to do its job. Now we need to make sure those tools are used.”

“As a thermographer, I see firsthand how industrial activity impacts our land, our air, and our health,” said Mandy Sackett, New Mexico lead campaigner at Earthworks and certified thermographer. “This win isn’t just about fees, it’s about ensuring that the true costs of pollution are accounted for, and that our communities have the resources and the voice to demand better. NMED now has more capacity to protect our environment and our future, and that’s a victory for all New Mexicans.”

With the fees now finalized, Earthworks and its partners will push for robust enforcement, compliance and oversight of the oil and gas industry to ensure these resources translate into real, measurable protections for New Mexico’s most impacted communities. Earthworks’ petition to the Environmental Improvement Board in support of the fee adjustments is available here. Other documents related to the rulemaking are available here (click Environmental Improvement Board and then EIB 25-77 under that drop-down menu.

Contacts:

Justin Wasser, Earthworks, 202-758-1670, jwasser@earthworksaction.org.

Morgan O’Grady, Western Environmental Law Center, 703-973-2585, mogrady@westernlaw.org

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