New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has filed a lawsuit accusing three individuals of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to profit from hundreds of oil and gas wells while evading environmental cleanup responsibilities, state officials announced.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 23 in the First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, names Everett Willard Gray II, Robert K. Stitzel and Marquis Reed Gilmore Jr. Torrez alleges the trio used a web of shell companies to collect revenue from oil and gas wells across New Mexico, then avoided the legal obligation to plug and remediate inactive wells by “selling” the wells to themselves and declaring bankruptcy.
According to the complaint, the defendants’ actions left inactive and abandoned wells unplugged, allowing methane to leak into the air and contaminants to threaten soil and public health. Methane emissions from such wells contribute to climate change and smog, which is associated with asthma, reduced lung function, and increased risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.
“New Mexicans are suffering from adverse health risks and bear the brunt of environmental harms caused by these companies failing to uphold their agreed-upon duty to responsibly plug oil and gas wells when they are no longer in production,” Torrez said in a statement.
Under New Mexico law, oil and gas operators must plug and remediate wells once they have been inactive for a specified period. When operators default, the state assumes the responsibility, spending an average of $163,000 per well in taxpayer funds to complete the work.
State officials estimate that an average unplugged well in New Mexico emits about 120 kilograms of methane per year, compared with less than 0.1 kilograms from a properly plugged well. Methane traps more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, intensifying climate impacts.
The lawsuit seeks civil penalties and damages and asks the court to bar the defendants from doing business in New Mexico until they have plugged and remediated all inactive wells, reimbursed the state for cleanup costs already incurred, and set aside funds to cover future remediation.
The complaint names 15 companies allegedly used in the scheme, including Acacia Resources LLC, Remnant Oil Company LLC, WS Oil and Gas Ltd., and Bluebird Energy Corporation, among others. As of September 2025, Acacia Resources alone was listed as the operator of 219 inactive and abandoned wells that remain unplugged, according to the lawsuit.
A copy of the filed lawsuit can be found here.
