Primary school students, falling into headache and vomiting due to pollution from oil and gas plants

Among New Mexico counselors, Billton Werito and his son Amari regularly drive home, reminding people of the challenges faced by families living near the gas business.

Amari was absent from nausea and headaches when Werito sailed on the dirt road leading to their home one Tuesday in March.

“A lot of things happened,” Amari explained, highlighting a recurring problem that was associated with the odor of “rotten eggs” emitted by nearby gas wells.

This scent often affects Leibrook Elementary School, where Amari and about 70 Navajo students took the course. His younger brother also experienced similar symptoms, often leading to days when he couldn't learn to go to school.

Billton Werito expressed concern, saying: “They just keep getting sick. I have to take them out of class because of the headache. Especially the young people, who are vomiting all the time and can't eat.”

These health issues not only undermine children’s education, but also raise concerns about their overall well-being and academic progress.

Located in the heart of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, Lybrook is a major oil and gas deposit that, along with the Permian Basin in the southeast of the state, is providing most of the natural gas that meets the nation’s electricity needs.

The natural gas absorbed from thousands of wells in New Mexico has brought great benefits to the entire country.

Natural gas has become the fuel of choice for coast-to-coast power plants, sometimes replacing dirtier coal-fired power plants and expanding improved air quality. Locally, oil and gas companies employ thousands of workers, usually in other areas of opportunity, while increasing the state’s budget with billions of dollars in royalties.

However, these benefits could cost thousands of students in New Mexico, whose schools are close to oil and gas pipelines, wellheads and flare stacks.

An analysis of state and federal data found 694 oil and gas wells and had new or active permits within a mile of the state.

This means that about 29,500 students in 74 schools and pre-school classes may face the possibility of harmful emissions, as unhealthy smoke may be released from the ground.

Measurable impact on students

In Lybrook, Amari has just graduated sixth grade, less than 6% of students are proficient in mathematics, and only meets state standards for science and reading abilities for the fifth time.

Other factors can help explain students’ poor achievement. In some areas, poverty rates are higher and gas development is higher, while students in rural schools generally tend to face challenges that may have a negative impact on academic performance. The Associated Press analysis found that two-thirds of schools within a mile of oil or gas pores are low-income, with a population of about 24%, and 45% of Native Americans, Hispanics.

But the study found that even if socioeconomic factors are taken into account, air pollution from fossil fuels can be directly damaged by air pollution.

It's not just New Mexico, it's a risk. An AP analysis of data from global oil and gas extraction trackers found that there are more than 1,000 public schools in 13 states within five miles of the main oil or gas field. The main area is the collection of wells that produce the highest amount of energy in a state.

“This air pollution has a real, measurable impact on students,” said Mike Gilraine, professor of economics at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, who examines the link between air quality and student performance.

In 2024, Gilraine co-wrote a study that shows that student test scores are closely related to air pollution. Gilraine found that the increase in PM2.5 for each measurement, a type of pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, was associated with a significant decline in student test scores. Instead, researchers have shown that reducing air pollution leads to higher test scores and fewer absences.

“I was surprised at the extent to which air pollution affects students,” Gillin said. “It’s hard to find similar factors that have such an impact on schools across the country.”

Gilraine's research shows that the U.S. shift to natural gas has led to a significant increase in student achievement across the country, as it has replaced dirtier coal and made the air cleaner. However, in New Mexico, there is little data on air quality, even if it has become one of the most productive gas countries in the country. State regulators have installed only 20 permanent aviation monitors, most of which are in areas without oil or gas.

However, independent researchers have extensively studied air quality near schools at least two locations in the state. One is Lybrook, which is located within 17 active oil and gas wells 17 miles away.

In 2024, scientists affiliated with Princeton University and Northern Arizona University conducted an aerial monitoring study at the school and found that levels of pollutants (including benzene, a by-product of natural gas production from cancer, are particularly harmful to children, which are particularly harmful to children (both irritated during school, almost twice the known level or twice the acute health effect).

The study follows the 2021 Health Impact Assessment, which was conducted with the support of several local nonprofits and foundations, which analyses the impact of oil and gas development on residents in the region.

These findings are shocking: More than 90% of the patients surveyed have sinus problems. Nose bleeding, shortness of breath and nausea are common. The report attributes symptoms to high levels of pollutants found by researchers, including hydrogen sulfide near Leibrook, a compound that emits a sulfur odor associated with his headache.

Daniel TSO, a community leader serving on the board that oversees the 2021 Health Impact Assessment, said the studies help confirm what many community members already know.

“Children and grandchildren need a safe home,” TSO said in a March interview, outside a group of gas wells within a mile of Leibrook Elementary School.

“Do you smell it?” he said, nodding to the nearby wellhead, smelling like propane. “That's what the kids in school breathe. I got people to visit the area from New York. They spent five minutes here and said, 'Hey, I have a headache.' What are the kids, are they breathing at school for six hours a day?”

Lybrook school officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite the risks, oil and gas can pump money into schools

Researchers found similar air quality problems in southeastern New Mexico.

In 2023, a team of scientists from the Alliance of Universities conducted a detailed year of air study on a small town in the Permian Basin. The researchers found that the local air quality was worse than downtown Los Angeles, with the fifth highest measured ozone pollution in the United States.

The region's gas wells and related infrastructure networks are the source of ozone – a pollutant that is particularly harmful to children. Some of this infrastructure is located half a mile on a campus that has caring elementary, middle and high schools.

A small group of residents have already made claims about the area’s air quality, saying it has caused respiratory problems and other health problems. But for most locals, any concerns about pollution outweigh the economic interests of the industry.

Representatives of the oil and gas industry claim that air quality research itself is not trustworthy.

“A strong study is needed to actually answer these questions,” said Andrea Felix, vice president of regulatory affairs at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA). Other sources of emissions, such as cars and trucks, may be a larger source of air quality issues near Wells.

“Companies follow the best science” for well placement and emission control, and also contribute a lot of money to the state's education budget through royalties and direct spending, Felix said. Oil and gas revenue paid $1.7 billion for New Mexico’s K-12 in the most recent fiscal year, according to a report from NMOGA.

Officials at the caring municipal school also expressed doubts about the well’s alarm. Charity Principal Lee White said the district uses funds from the oil and gas industry to pay for the new wings of primary schools, a science lab for students, turf in the sports field, training and professional development for teachers. He said the industry's contribution to the national vault cannot be ignored.

“We are willing to give up on this because people say our air is not clean?” he said during the interview. “It’s as clean as anywhere else.”

While White spoke, a rig worked a few miles east of Love’s Elementary School while parents flocked to the gym to watch the kindergarten collect diplomas. White touts the district’s success, saying elementary schools scored higher than state reading, math and science levels, while love’s high school students outperformed college and career-ready state averages.

But environmental groups, lawyers and residents continue to drill restrictions near schools.

Those efforts were improved in 2023, when New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard issued an executive order prohibiting new oil and gas leases on state-owned land within a mile of school.

Industry representatives condemned the move, saying it added costs and obstacles that may be insurmountable for drilling operators. However, AP's analysis found that even if the rules apply to New Mexico, relatively few wells will be affected. Only about 1% of oil and gas wells in the state are within a mile of the school.

In the years since, regardless of land status, residents who explored large areas of exploration lobbyed to prohibit gas operations within a mile inside the school. The bill died on the committee at the latest meeting of the New Mexico Legislature.

Advocates also sued the state for alleged lack of pollution control. The lawsuit is currently being tried in state courts.