Now New Mexico environmental regulators will work with Roswell- and Moriarty-based airship company Sceye to measure and track state and neighboring greenhouse gas emissions from the stratosphere.
Sceye founder and CEO Mikkel Vestergaard said the high-altitude platform stations, or HAPS, will be deployed at 65,000 feet and outfitted with air quality monitors.
“The (airships’) fixed position for months at a time creates an unprecedented level of emissions monitoring,” Vestergaard told reporters Thursday.
Pinpointing pollution sources could help create a more accurate picture of state air quality, instead of relying only on industry reports and satellite data.
The initiative will be a “game-changer” for ensuring companies are meeting air quality standards, said New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney.
The agency recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Economic Development Department to conduct a five-year air quality study with the airships beginning in 2022.
“We only have about seven air quality inspectors in the state of New Mexico for over 60,000 oil and gas wells,” Kenney said. “Public health and the environment are the winners of this partnership.”
American Lung Association data shows that severe ozone pollution is rising across New Mexico, even in sparsely-populated regions.
Alicia Keyes, the state Economic Development secretary, said the project will help support high-paying manufacturing jobs in those rural areas.
“It’s also going to help bring better data and boost science and technology in New Mexico,” Keyes said.
Sceye will likely deploy at least two airships to monitor the state's two major oil and gas basins.
New Mexico is also considering the airships as a way to distribute reliable internet to rural areas.
© 2021 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
