SEPTEMBER 2025
September’s Polluter of the month, Enduring Resources, has built a small empire of pollution in one of the most underserved and under regulated regions of the United States. Nearly 70% of Enduring’s (and its subsidiary DJR Operating) 1,913 wells are located on Navajo, Ute, or Apache land. Many of those wells fall into a particularly important region known as the “Checkerboard” region of the Navajo Nation – where regulatory jurisdiction can change (like a checkerboard) among Federal, State, Private and Navajo ownership.
This confusing landscape can allow operators, like Enduring, to dodge or completely evade rules. This is also where many children on the Navajo Nation attend schools. One school in particular, Lybrook Elementary, has at least 12 Enduring Wells within 1.25 miles of its classrooms, putting more than 75 elementary school students at risk for a number of health issues.
On top of all of this, over the last 3 months Earthworks have made 19 visits to wells owned by Enduring or its subsidiaries finding 17 pollution events (including 6 pollution events within 1 mile of schools) resulting in 14 complaints. But that is not all, see the stats below that got Enduring Resources our vote for September’s Polluter of the Month.
Stats
- Pollution is piling up. Earthworks documented 17 pollution events from 19 well site inspections since April 2025 resulting in 14 complaints.
- Pollution events large enough to be visible from space. Enduring Resources has been identified as the source for at least 3 methane plumes captured in Carbon Mapper’s data portal, according to analysis from Global Energy Monitor’s most recent release of their Global Methane Emitters Tracker.
- Multiple fines, hundreds of thousands in penalties. Collectively, Enduring Resources and its recently acquired subsidiary DJR Operating, were fined more than $600,000 ($486,000 in fines for DJR Operating and $185,000 for Enduring Resources) by EPA for Clean Air Act violations from their San Juan Basin assets in 2023 according to Violation Tracker data.
- The methane waste continues. In New Mexico alone, Enduring and its subsidiaries report losing over 198,879 mcf of methane gas to venting or flaring since the start of 2023 (data as of July 11th; and note this data is self-reported).