“With the oil field traffic, everybody is in a hurry,” said Heather Lopez about the roads in Eddy County and neighboring Lea County.
“Everybody runs like it is the end of days. Drivers get impatient. Trucks pull out in front of cars. They figure they are bigger and you are going to stop.”
Figures compiled by Eddy County show there were 17 roadway fatalities in the county in both 2018 and 2017 and seven in 2016. In Lea County, according to the New Mexico State Police, there were 24 traffic fatalities in 2018, 12 in 2017 and 10 in 2016.
Oil and gas companies in New Mexico were responsible for 1,477 reported oil, gas, and other chemical spills in 2015, according to the New Mexico Toxic Release Tracker released by the Center for Western Priorities.
Many of New Mexicos’s agricultural employers are excluded from the enforcement and oversight activities of OSHA, leaving many workers toiling in unsafe conditions – and often earning below minimum wage, says a new report.
The New Mexico Environment Department says it’s reached a settlement with Navajo Refining of Artesia for citations issued by the Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau, or New Mexico OSHA.