RED HILLS GAS PROCESSING PLANT

Red Hills Gas Processing Plant, operated by Targa Northern Delaware LLC — a subsidiary of Houston-based Targa Resources Corp. — sits roughly 24 miles west-northwest of Jal in Lea County, New Mexico, and now anchors the largest air-quality enforcement action in state history. On December 5, 2024, the New Mexico Environment Department signed an Administrative Compliance Order proposing a $47,833,048 penalty against the site. The allegations are specific: failure to properly operate flare units, emissions above permitted limits, late excess-emission reports, and missing root-cause analyses for emission events at Red Hills [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf] [source: https://www.kunm.org/local-news/2026-03-09/new-mexico-natural-gas-transporter-47-8-million-fine]. Targa contested the order and requested a formal hearing on January 6, 2025 [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/02/2025-01-06-AQB-25-01-Targa-Northern-Delaware-LLCs-Request-for-Hearing-and-Answer-to-Compliance-Order-pj.pdf].

EPA ECHO records aggregate two facility IDs — 110057067739 and 110043218853 — under the Red Hills name. Together they report eight violation quarters over the trailing 24 months and approximately $19.13 million in prorated penalties drawn from a five-year formal-action total of $47.83 million [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip] [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm]. The facility carries a PollutionScan composite grade of F, scoring 27 out of 100 under the Clean Air Act program, with 562,215 lbs of cumulative Toxic Release Inventory releases and transfers on file [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm]. Red Hills is privately held through Targa Resources Corp.'s midstream segment; no standalone 10-K exists for the asset. Facility-level carbon-capture monitoring is documented through EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program MRV Plan filings dated December 16, 2021 and August 30, 2024 [source: https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/red-hills-gas-processing-plant].

The compliance record at Red Hills concentrates in a single, escalating Clean Air Act track. EPA ECHO lists one active Clean Air Act major-source designation with one formal action, one inspection in the trailing evaluation window, and twelve violation quarters over the last three years — the threshold EPA uses to flag chronic non-compliance under the High Priority Violator framework [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm]. The last recorded CAA evaluation was logged 1,067 days prior to the current data pull, an extended gap between federal site visits that coincided with intensifying state-level activity [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm].

The 24-month chronology unfolds in three distinct steps. First, NMED issued a Notice of Violation to Targa Northern Delaware covering state and federal air-quality regulations at Red Hills, documenting permit exceedances and reporting deficiencies that would later form the factual core of the penalty proceeding [source: https://cloud.env.nm.gov/resources/_translator.php/HKA~sl~mnAhFiTd2yWeBAialqR+PaKNAPF7ap5P3WByiAkbfQosULvzWq51~sl~vnZnnSpyAbIH9Wh2FrprSq5iAXrAhsBD1D2BljM+qNRhoR15EkdK7dRodpfMA==.pdf]. Second, on December 5, 2024, NMED signed the Administrative Compliance Order proposing the $47.8 million penalty, citing improper flare-unit operation, emissions above permitted limits, late excess-emission reports, and absent root-cause analyses [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf]. Third, on January 6, 2025, Targa filed its Request for Hearing and Answer contesting the order, characterizing the penalty calculation as excessive [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/02/2025-01-06-AQB-25-01-Targa-Northern-Delaware-LLCs-Request-for-Hearing-and-Answer-to-Compliance-Order-pj.pdf]. As of March 2026, regional reporting confirms the matter remains actively litigated [source: https://www.krwg.org/regional/2026-03-11/in-new-mexico-natural-gas-transporter-goes-to-the-mat-over-47-8-million-fine].

Permit posture adds a second layer to the compliance picture. ECHO's aggregated record shows zero active permits with a latest permit date of April 6, 2018, while Title V Permit P-278 revision filings from Lucid Energy Delaware LLC — the prior operator — were submitted to NMED in November 2021 and remain part of the site's permitting history [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2022/07/A-P278M1-Red-Hills.pdf]. Ownership shifted when Targa acquired Lucid in 2022: legacy EPA parent filings list Lucid Energy Group II LLC at 100%, while current NMED enforcement documents name Targa Northern Delaware LLC as the responsible operator [source: https://www.sustainableenergycorps.com/?page_id=10690] [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf]. On the carbon-accounting side, MRV Plan filings for the acid-gas injection component were approved by EPA in December 2021 and re-filed in August 2024 [source: https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/red-hills-gas-processing-plant].

Action 1 — NMED Administrative Compliance Order, signed December 5, 2024. Program: Clean Air Act and New Mexico Air Quality Control Act. Facility: Red Hills Gas Processing Plant, Lea County, NM. Operator: Targa Northern Delaware LLC. Proposed penalty: $47,833,048 — a state record. The order alleges four categories of violation: failure to properly operate flare units, emissions in excess of permit limits, failure to timely submit excess-emission reports, and failure to provide root-cause analyses for emission events [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf] [source: https://www.kunm.org/local-news/2026-03-09/new-mexico-natural-gas-transporter-47-8-million-fine]. Targa filed a Request for Hearing and Answer on January 6, 2025, contesting the order [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/02/2025-01-06-AQB-25-01-Targa-Northern-Delaware-LLCs-Request-for-Hearing-and-Answer-to-Compliance-Order-pj.pdf]. The adjudication remained open as of March 11, 2026 [source: https://www.krwg.org/regional/2026-03-11/in-new-mexico-natural-gas-transporter-goes-to-the-mat-over-47-8-million-fine].

Action 2 — NMED Notice of Violation, predecessor finding. Program: CAA and state air quality. NMED identified Targa Northern Delaware as having violated state and federal air-quality regulations at Red Hills, establishing the factual record later carried into the December 2024 Compliance Order [source: https://cloud.env.nm.gov/resources/_translator.php/HKA~sl~mnAhFiTd2yWeBAialqR+PaKNAPF7ap5P3WByiAkbfQosULvzWq51~sl~vnZnnSpyAbIH9Wh2FrprSq5iAXrAhsBD1D2BljM+qNRhoR15EkdK7dRodpfMA==.pdf]. That predecessor finding matters: it signals that NMED had documented the pattern of exceedances well before the December 2024 order crystallized the penalty figure.

Aggregate federal ECHO accounting. Across the two facility IDs, ECHO reports eight violation quarters in the last 24 months, one formal action, and $47.83 million in five-year total penalties. Approximately $19.13 million of that figure is allocable to the trailing 24 months under the ECHO exporter derivation of total_5yr multiplied by 24/60 [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip] [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm]. No Clean Water Act or RCRA formal actions appear on the ECHO facility detail for the 24-month window [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm].

Red Hills Gas Processing Plant (EPA FRS 110043218853), 24 miles WNW of Jal, Lea County, NM. The site holds a Clean Air Act major-source designation under Title V Permit P-278. EPA's composite grade is F, at 27 out of 100, with 12 violation quarters over three years, one inspection on record, one formal action, and $47,833,048 in five-year penalty exposure driven by the December 2024 NMED compliance order [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm] [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf]. TRI releases and transfers cumulate to 562,215 lbs on the ECHO record [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm].

Red Hills Gas Plant (PlainEnviro FRS profile; parent listed as Targa Resources Corp.), Jal, NM. A parallel TRI dataset view reports 685,500 lbs of toxic releases across seven reported chemicals. Two of those seven are classified as carcinogens, representing 29% of reported chemicals. By pathway, 44.8% of releases — 307,300 lbs — go to air, 39.3% to land disposal at 269,500 lbs, and 15.9% to off-site transfers at 108,700 lbs. The latest reporting year in this dataset is 2023 [source: https://plainenviro.com/facilities/new-mexico/red-hills-gas-plant-l24miw].

Red Hills Gas Processing Plant — GHGRP ID 1011064. Under EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, the facility has filed a Subpart RR-qualifying Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Plan for acid-gas injection. EPA approved an initial MRV Plan on December 16, 2021 and a revised MRV Plan on August 30, 2024 [source: https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/red-hills-gas-processing-plant] [source: https://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/service/facilityDetail/2022?id=1011064&ds=E&et=&popup=true].

Red Hills AGI #2 (Acid Gas Injection Well #2). Filed with the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Oil Conservation Division on August 27, 2020, the AGI #2 application documents the subsurface injection component used to manage hydrogen sulfide and CO2 separated at the plant [source: https://ocdimage.emnrd.nm.gov/Imaging/FileStore/santafeadmin/cf/20200827/20779_08_27_2020_03_54_31.pdf].

Lucid Energy Red Hills V expansion. Commissioned in November 2020 at 230 MMcf/d of added capacity, the Red Hills V train pushed system throughput from roughly 320 MMcf/d in Q1 2018 to approximately 1,115 MMcf/d, per Lucid's Carbon Utilization and Storage Partnership West presentation. That scale — more than a threefold increase in throughput over roughly two years — provides direct context for the magnitude of the emission events NMED subsequently documented [source: https://www.cuspwest.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Lucid-Energy-Group-Red-Hills-AGI-Overview.pdf].

Air emissions — flare-routed hydrocarbons and combustion byproducts. The NMED Compliance Order documents excess emissions tied to improper flare operation. Flare malfunctions at gas-processing plants typically release uncombusted volatile organic compounds (VOCs), methane, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Air releases account for 307,300 lbs — 44.8% of Red Hills' TRI total [source: https://plainenviro.com/facilities/new-mexico/red-hills-gas-plant-l24miw]. NMED cited Targa specifically for failure to operate flare units within emission limits. That is the primary pathway for unpermitted VOC and H2S mass loading in Delaware Basin processing [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf].

Carcinogenic TRI constituents. PlainEnviro's TRI aggregation flags two of seven reported chemicals at Red Hills as carcinogens, or 29% of the reported chemical inventory. That proportion is characteristic of natural-gas processing streams containing benzene and related BTEX species [source: https://plainenviro.com/facilities/new-mexico/red-hills-gas-plant-l24miw]. EPA IRIS classifies benzene as a known human carcinogen, with inhalation the dominant exposure pathway at fugitive-emission sources.

Acid gas (H2S + CO2) — subsurface injection. Red Hills routes separated acid gas to permitted injection wells, AGI #1 and AGI #2, rather than venting it to atmosphere. This injection arrangement is the basis for the EPA-approved Subpart RR MRV Plan covering geologic sequestration accounting [source: https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/red-hills-gas-processing-plant] [source: https://ocdimage.emnrd.nm.gov/Imaging/FileStore/santafeadmin/cf/20200827/20779_08_27_2020_03_54_31.pdf]. The environmental-justice exposure picture is thinly populated in ECHO — the ej_index_avg is reported as 0.0 across the aggregate. That figure reflects the facility's remote siting 24 miles WNW of Jal in low-density Lea County, not the absence of ambient impact. The dominant receptors are the on-site workforce and the broader regional airshed rather than a dense fenceline community [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm].

Within the NAICS 211120/211130 midstream gas-processing peer set, the closest dollar-magnitude comparator on EPA ECHO is Greka Bell Compressor Plant. It carries $26.16 million in prorated 24-month penalty exposure but zero violation quarters in the same window — a profile consistent with a legacy settlement rather than an active non-compliance pattern [source: https://echo.epa.gov/files/echodownloads/echo_exporter.zip]. Red Hills, by contrast, carries $19.13 million in prorated exposure alongside eight active violation quarters. That combination reflects a live enforcement track tied to the December 2024 NMED order, not a closed matter [source: https://pollutionscan.com/facility/110043218853/red-hills-gas-processing-plant-jal-nm] [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-12-06-COMMS-NMED-fines-natural-gas-firm-47.8-million-for-harmful-emissions-FINAL.pdf]. The distinction matters for analysts. Peer penalty magnitude is comparable in dollar terms, but the currency of the compliance signal at Red Hills is materially higher — the enforcement clock is still running.

Red Hills is a privately held asset of Targa Resources Corp. and Lucid Energy Group II LLC. No standalone 10-K or Item 1A filing exists for the facility, and no 10-K excerpt was available in the research bundle [source: https://www.sustainableenergycorps.com/?page_id=10690]. Forward-looking risk at the asset level must therefore be inferred from two vectors. The first is the pending NMED adjudication, where a $47.8 million state-record penalty remains at stake and Targa has formally contested both liability and the penalty calculation methodology [source: https://www.env.nm.gov/opf/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2025/02/2025-01-06-AQB-25-01-Targa-Northern-Delaware-LLCs-Request-for-Hearing-and-Answer-to-Compliance-Order-pj.pdf] [source: https://www.krwg.org/regional/2026-03-11/in-new-mexico-natural-gas-transporter-goes-to-the-mat-over-47-8-million-fine]. The second is federal policy posture. The April 2026 Presidential Determination under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act on natural-gas transmission, processing, storage, and LNG capacity signals federal prioritization of domestic processing throughput. That signal may affect enforcement timing and permit-renewal dynamics for Permian Basin processors, including Red Hills [source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/presidential-determination-pursuant-to-section-303-of-the-defense-production-act-of-1950-as-amended-on-natural-gas-transmission-processing-storage-and-liquefied-natural-gas-capacity/]. Neither vector resolves quickly. The adjudication timeline for a contested $47.8 million state administrative order is measured in months to years, and federal policy effects on state enforcement discretion are indirect at best.