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NM court rules against residents suing oil company

The state Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of current and former Hobbs residents who sued an oil company because of illnesses and other damages allegedly from environmental contamination from oil and natural gas production in an area that became a housing subdivision in the southeastern New Mexico community.

The court on Tuesday upheld a Lea County district court decision not to grant a new trial in the case against Shell Oil Co. and Shell Western Exploration and Production Inc.

A jury in 2007 ruled in favor of Shell, which had oil storage tanks in the area from 1946 until 1993. There also was an unlined storage pit for oilfield wastes that was buried in the 1960s. Housing development in the area started in the 1970s.