Don Schreiber has been a vocal advocate for the BLM methane waste rule, a safeguard aimed at reducing emissions and reduced wasted natural gas from oil and gas wells. Don had the following to say about the current push in Congress to repeal the rule:
“The thought of a bunch of disconnected lawmakers who don’t live next to leaking gas wells deciding to vote to take this protection away from us just leaves me speechless.”
“My advice to anyone who is dealing with oil and gas in their backyard is to stay informed and engaged.”
-Jane Schreiber
“We are worried about what will happen when the gas field here is abandoned. Who is going to be here spending money to fix what was destroyed? There are already abandoned wells all over the West that are not being fixed. We are really worried about what will be left when all of this is done.”
-Jane Schreiber
“At beginning of all of this we were almost like frogs in a pan of boiling hot water, where the water heats up around you and the poor frog boils to death… That was what it was like. In 2007 we just had enough of sitting in the boiling pot and these two frogs, Don and Jane, jumped out of the pot and began working full-time to change what was happening on our ranch. We gave up our dream, sold our cows, cashed in a life insurance policy to access money, and began working to preserve the land.”
-Don Schreiber
“After a couple years we just had to start really paying attention to it because things that we were fixing, that took years to fix, they [oil and gas] took out in 15 minutes. And so, we began to look away from our goal, our life goal, and just to deal with the daily impact of oil and gas. Constant activity, traffic and what comes from that: dust and trash and interruption, nuisance around the clock, the surface damage, building new locations, bringing in the rigs, industrial waste that’s caused both in the drilling process, greatly in the drilling process, and then on to the next 30 years during the production process. The impacts are at every level: your surface, your health, the smells, and all of the waste. The industry throws away its waste by releasing toxic chemicals into the air… or millions of gallons of waste that they bury on your ranch.”
-Don Schreiber
“When we first came out here we had no interest in the oil and gas. We didn’t realize how oil and gas was going to be a threat. All we wanted to do was just start a very small cow-calf operation. And so, I think we got involved because we finally realized what their impact on us was and how big it was.”
-Jane Schreiber
Gobernador, NM
#livingwithoilandgas