EPA Oil and Gas Enforcement Drops in New Mexico Under Trump

A review of an Environmental Protection Agency database of enforcement and compliance documents for New Mexico shows a drop in cases dealing with oil and gas operations since the start of the second administration of President Donald Trump. Capital & Main examined 170 entries tied to oil and gas companies filed on the EPA’s enforcement and compliance webpage for New Mexico. Those entries include inspection reports, information requests and enforcement documents dating back to 2012. Oil and gas-related enforcement entries bounced around in the single digits before peaking in the first two years of the administration of President Joe Biden: 26 entries for 2021 and 24 for 2022. Ten entries were listed for 2025, most in the opening months of the Trump administration before the agency announced a 23% reduction in its workforce. Eight were recorded in 2026 through Nov. 4. Cliff Villa, a professor of law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, said he’s noticed a change at the agency.

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