COUNSELOR, N.M. (AP) 鈥� On a Tuesday in March, Billton Werito drove his son Amari toward his house in Counselor, New Mexico, driving past , wellheads and water tanks. Amari should have been in school, but a bout of nausea and a dull headache kept him from class.
鈥淚t happens a lot,鈥� Amari explained from the backseat. The symptoms usually show up when the sixth grader smells an odor of 鈥渞otten egg with propane鈥� that rises from nearby gas wells and wafts over Lybrook Elementary School, where he and some 70 other Navajo students attend class. His little brother often misses school for the same reason.
鈥淭hey just keep getting sick,鈥� Amari鈥檚 father, Billton, said. 鈥淓specially the younger one, he鈥檚 been throwing up and won鈥檛 eat.鈥� The symptoms are putting the kids at risk of .
Lybrook sits in the heart of New Mexico鈥檚 San Juan Basin, a major oil and gas deposit that, along with the Permian Basin in the state鈥檚 southeast, is supplying natural gas that meets much of the nation鈥檚 electricity demand.
The New Mexican gas has reaped huge benefits. Natural gas has become a go-to fuel for power plants, sometimes replacing dirtier coal-fired plants and improving air quality. Oil and gas companies employ thousands of workers, often in areas with few other opportunities, and their revenue boosts the state's budget.
But those benefits may come at a cost for thousands of students in New Mexico whose schools sit near pipelines, wellheads and flare stacks. An Associated Press analysis found 694 oil and gas wells with new or active permits within a mile of a school in the state. This means around 29,500 students in 74 schools and preschools potentially face exposure to noxious emissions that can be released during extraction.
At Lybrook, Amari's school, fewer than 6% of students are proficient at math, and only a fifth meet state standards for science and reading proficiency.
Other factors could help explain poor achievement. AP鈥檚 analysis found two-thirds of the schools within a mile of an oil or gas well are low-income.
But research has found student learning is directly harmed by air pollution from fossil fuels 鈥� even when socioeconomic factors are taken into account.
The risks go far beyond New Mexico. An AP analysis of found over 1,000 public schools across 12 states within five miles of a major oil or gas field.
鈥淭his kind of air pollution has a real, measurable effect on students,鈥� said Mike Gilraine, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Gilraine's research has shown student are closely associated with air contamination.
America鈥檚 shift to natural gas has resulted in substantial increases in student achievement nationwide, Gilraine鈥檚 research shows, as it has displaced dirtier coal and led to cleaner air on the whole. But there has been little data on air quality across New Mexico, even as it has become one of the most productive states in the nation for natural gas. State regulators have installed only 20 permanent air monitors, most in areas without oil or gas production.
Independent researchers have extensively studied the air quality near schools in at least two locations in the state, however. One is Lybrook, which sits within a mile of 17 active oil and gas wells.
In 2024, a study at the school found levels of pollutants 鈥� including benzene, a cancer-causing byproduct of natural gas production that is particularly harmful to children 鈥� were spiking during school hours, to nearly double the levels known to cause chronic or acute health effects.
That research followed a 2021 health impact assessment that found more than 90% of area residents surveyed suffered from sinus problems. Nosebleeds, shortness of breath and nausea were widespread. The report attributed the symptoms to the high levels of pollutants 鈥� including, near Lybrook, hydrogen sulfide, a compound that gives off the sulfur smell that Amari associates with his headaches.
Those studies helped confirm what many community members already knew, said Daniel Tso, a community leader who helped oversee the 2021 health impact assessment.
鈥淭he children and the grandchildren need a safe homeland,鈥� Tso said in March, standing outside a cluster of gas wells within a mile of Lybrook Elementary.
鈥淵ou smell that?鈥� he said, nodding towards a nearby wellhead, which smelled like propane. 鈥淚鈥檝e had people visiting this area from New York. They spend five minutes here and say, 鈥楬ey, I got a headache.鈥� And the kids are what, six hours a day at the school breathing this?鈥�
Lybrook school officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Researchers have identified similar air quality problems in New Mexico鈥檚 southeast. In 2023, a yearlong study of the air in Loving found air quality was worse than in downtown Los Angeles, containing the fifth-highest level of measured ozone contamination in the U.S.
The source of the ozone 鈥� a pollutant that鈥檚 to children 鈥� was the area鈥檚 network of gas wells. Some of that infrastructure sits within a half-mile of Loving鈥檚 schools.
For most locals, any concerns about pollution are outweighed by the industry鈥檚 economic benefits. Representatives of the oil and gas industry have claimed the air quality studies themselves are not trustworthy. Andrea Felix, vice president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA), said other sources of emissions, such as cars and trucks, are likely a larger source of air quality problems near wells.
Officials with Loving schools are also skeptical. Superintendent Lee White said funds from the oil and gas industry paid for a new wing at the elementary school, a science lab for students, turf on the sports field and training for teachers. In the most recent fiscal year, oil and gas revenue supported $1.7 billion in K-12 spending in New Mexico, according to a NMOGA report.
鈥淎re we willing to give that up because people say our air is not clean?鈥� White asked. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just as clean as anywhere else.鈥�
Efforts to limit drilling near schools were boosted in 2023, when State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard issued an executive order prohibiting new oil and gas leases on state-owned land within a mile of schools.
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AP journalist Sharon Lurye contributed.
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This story has been corrected to reflect there are 1,000 public schools that are within five miles of a major oil or gas field in 12 states, not 13 states.
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The Associated Press鈥� education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP鈥檚 for working with philanthropies, a of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Ed Williams Of Searchlight New Mexico And Susan Montoya Bryan Of , The Associated Press
