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New Mexico’s century-old constitution plays into the hands of oil and gas
The 2022 New Mexico regular legislative session ended weeks ago, but many who worked through the session are still scratching their heads over what they saw. Ostensibly, they witnessed a biannual session dedicated to spending the largest state budget in history — a budget built largely on revenue from the oil and gas industry. But […]
Governor resurrects the controversial Hydrogen Hub Act
The email landed in inboxes across New Mexico in the waning days of February, unexpectedly announcing the latest round in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s year-long fight for a hydrogen production center in the state. Without any previous public notice, it unveiled an agreement to create a new regional hydrogen development hub spanning New Mexico, Utah, Colorado […]
New Mexico legislators punt on money for oil and gas inspectors
New Mexico has fewer than 20, on a good day. They are field inspectors — the people who check each state’s oil and gas wells in person for leaks and compliance issues. And New Mexico, the No. 2 oil producing state in the U.S. and No. 7 in natural gas, has fewer than other states, particularly when considering the size of the job before them. Oklahoma parallels New Mexico in natural gas production. All trail New Mexico in oil production.
Lobbyist money hidden in New Mexico politics
A pair of bills proposed by Democratic state Sen. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces would require greater disclosures from lobbyists about their money — and by extension their influence on the bills that become law and those that languish in New Mexico. But, he says, “I think their chance of getting passed this session is close […]
New Mexico Republicans line up against environmental bills
Saturday was a big day for environmental issues at the New Mexico Legislature. The House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee had two game-changing bills on their debate plate: HJR2, the Environmental Rights Act, which would amend the state constitution to make a clean and healthy environment a constitutional right, with the state serving as trustee […]
New data show massive climate-warming leaks by NM oil and gas operators
In New Mexico, new state rules sparked a dramatic increase in reported incidents of vented and flared natural gas in 2021 — and reveal that the oil and gas industry has been losing vastly more of the climate-change-driving fossil fuel than previously reported. “The state’s updated reporting requirements were long overdue,” says Jon Goldstein, senior director […]
NM leaders promote hydrogen production despite questionable environmental benefits
Two big hydrogen-based business projects are the cusp of a wave of investment and jobs that New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham hopes to see wash across the state — and they have arrived before her Hydrogen Hub Act had a chance to debut at the upcoming legislative session. That act is to be her signature bill for […]
New Mexico’s draft plan for hydrogen a non-starter for environmentalists
In mid-November, after months of hinting about an upcoming bill, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration sent a draft Hydrogen Hub Act out to stakeholders for their input. First reactions are not positive. “Let’s be crystal clear,” says Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, “this bill isn’t a climate or clean energy bill. […]
New Mexico’s delicate dance to become a center of U.S. hydrogen production
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is on the hunt for federal dollars. In a push to make the state a national center for hydrogen production, she’s pitching a legislative proposal that she says will flatten state government roadblocks and create a new industrial base to re-energize the economy in the San Juan Basin. She wants […]
The EPA could learn a thing or two from New Mexico’s methane rules
The state of New Mexico found itself ahead of the curve on a national issue when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its plans on Tuesday to implement new, more restrictive methane rules for oil and gas operators across the country sometime next year. The state is in the middle of implementing its own, more thorough methane rules, […]
Texas Pipeline Company Max Midstream Goes Quiet
A little over four months after launching its first oil shipment from the Texas Gulf Coast, Max Midstream appears to be sailing in hot water. The young oil pipeline and shipping company — founded by Houston real estate developer Todd Edwards and British financier Azad Cola — shipped its first oil in May, shipped its last […]
Rise in New Mexico earthquakes likely triggered by oil industry
New Mexico’s oil and gas regulators and scientists are on alert after a dramatic increase in earthquake activity in southern New Mexico — an increase likely triggered by oil and gas industry injection wells in the Permian Basin. Since 2018 the number of small quakes of magnitude 1 or greater in the basin has risen from […]