The Tiny New Mexico Town that has Worse Air Quality than Downtown L.A.

A group of air quality scientists say there is a very small town in New Mexcio that has worse air than downtown Los Angeles.

You know Los Angeles? The city with 7 million people and every single one of them drives a car. That city that the word “smog” seems like it was custom made for?

According to SourceNM scientists found that the small community of Loving, New Mexico has pollution and ozone levels worse than downtown L.A.

Loving has about 1,400 residents and sits smack in the middle of the Permian Basin, the country’s most productive oil fields. And, spoiler, the poor air quality is directly related to the oil and gas industry.

The scientists, funded by a grant from HEI Energy began monitoring the air in Loving in April of 2023.  They found that tiny Loving had exceeded the EPA pollution threshold 31 times last year. By comparison, Los Angeles exceeded EPA limits 23 times in the same period.

I’ve been flying into and out of L.A. for decades. The visible smog was much worse 30 years ago. One Texas A&M professor, Gunnar Schade, concurs that pollution levels have gone down in Los Angeles, along with most of the United States.  But it’s going the opposite direction in Loving.

“Pollution has come down so much across most of the U.S.”, Helmig said. “This area (Loving) has gone backwards, though. And this was foreseeable”.

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However, the EPA hasn’t acted to enforce clean-air standards set forth by the 1963 Clean Air Act.

As stated, the Permian Basin has the most productive oil fields in the country. That means the oil and gas industry is the largest employer in the region. You can do the math.

If you check out the Village of Loving website... the photos they chose to use look smoggy and hazy as hell. Check it out.