Anti-oil and gas New Mexico Democrats won’t like the latest numbers provided by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) in its 188-page end-of-session review report, showing that 50 percent of New Mexico’s General Fund revenues come from oil and gas.
The Rio Grande Foundation’s president Paul Gessing wrote regarding the shocking revelation, “One interesting item among many is the chart below which shows that even as the Gov. and Democrats who control the Legislature claim to want to ‘diversify’ the economy and even dismiss New Mexico’s role as an energy state, New Mexico’s budget has become even MORE reliant on oil and gas revenues in recent years.”
“[More] than 50% of New Mexico’s general fund revenues (nearly $7 billion in 2023) comes from oil and gas. As a reminder, the state’s FY 2023 revenues were approximately $11 million (according to the LFC), but it spent $8.4 billion in FY 2023 (the FY 2024 budget was just passed, and that is $9.6 billion),” the group continued.
Since Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham took the reins in 2019, she has continued to attempt to crush the oil and gas industry in New Mexico, first by passing the extremist Green New Deal, the “Energy Transition Act,” meant to eradicate the oil and gas energy sector totally.
However, as the Democrats continue spending rapidly on social programs and other handouts, they have become increasingly reliant on the oil and gas industry, which is doing the heavy lifting for New Mexico — an extraordinarily natural resources-rich state.
For years, New Mexico Democrats have tried and failed to pass the “Green Amendment, meant to open an endless Pandora’s Box of litigation to halt oil and gas completely. They also have tried and failed to ram through a 50+ cent per gallon gas tax via a “clean fuel standard,” which would have also irreparably harmed the state’s energy industry.
” Drill, baby, drill!”
Yes!
And the Dems want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Paul, that is just how dumb Democratic leaders are in this state. They are blinded by their ideologies and refuse to recognize reality. We need oil and gas revenues to continue growing for the sake of our state’s economic well being.
They also wanted to “diversify” into tourism but banned out-of-state tourists from entering state parks in 2020 when most people were looking for outdoor recreation, as well as destroying small tourist-related businesses including restaurants.
They “diversified” into the Spaceport taxpayer black hole for a pedophile billionaire acquaintance of Epstein.
They spent our rainy day fund on enriching Hollywood which brings very little in return as they leave immediately after filming. We have a museum located in the middle of nowhere, another classic planning by these morons.
These people in Santa Fe are corrupt and know NOTHING about investment. They’re completely out of touch with the people of NM!
Thank you, oil and gas industry.
The insanity is mind boggling.
And to think MLG and her Dem cronies think oil is kryptonite.
Wanna be Green? How about this… The Sun Zia Wind Project (owned by Pattern Energy) is located in Lincoln, Torrance and San Miguel counties to generate up to 3,500 megawatts of wind energy. That energy is sent via transmission lines with a capacity of 3,000 MW across southern New Mexico to a facility in Pinal County, Arizona. From there, the power can be further transported to markets in California and the western U.S. This transmission line is estimated to provide enough power for 3 million American homes. Note: None of which is located in New Mexico. Additionally, the company plans to develop more interstate transmission projects like the Southern Spirit Transmission Project to send 2,000 MW to connect Texas renewable energy to southeastern states.
Does anyone, who has a home in New Mexico, receive one kw hour of energy from this project? I don’t think so since it’s being transported to out of state homes. So… what entity actually benefits from this green deal? How many permanent jobs in New Mexico has been created? And what happens to all of the NON-recyclable materials created by these wind farms? Exactly how have New Mexicans benefited from this green deal?
Just asking…
Good info, Brenda. I had no idea……
The wind turbine blades chop up hawks and eagles like crazy, and the Green New Deal doesn’t care, because what they want is power and control.
Dems are in bed with their Oil-n-Gas sugar daddy while at the same time plotting to stab him in the back.
A trillion bucks is in the permanent trust fund John. Drawing it down at 10 billion a year, we have 100 years left before it zeros without replenishing.
In 100 years we are all dead. Who gives a dang? With the DNC tho… knowing they will spend-spend-spend… its going to be only 70 years. I’ll only be a spire 132 years old. Who gives a darn? Don’t tell me what about my grandkids or my grandkids grandkids…I’ll never know them or meet them so I wont give a darn about them as it is.
The gambling industry alone drawed in 163 million in tax revenues every year, on average, for the past 20 years John. Well…since 1997 that is… until the Goobernor Tolite Sitting Queen of Santa Fe over COOOH VEED shuttered the doors and laid everyone off.
Ranching and Farming does well… that is .. if they have water to grow the crops and animals…and as long as the Goobernor of the Tolite Seat in Santa Fe doesn’t squander that away from them through water re-districting and restricting and prohibiting open land use for grazing…
Of course to drive the costs up, increasing taxes on gasoline and diesel so the farming/ranching community pays 50-75% higher fees to run the equipment to gather the crops and roundup in…
Without plastic, a by product of oil, we have to go back to glass…which needs heat to produce from sand…and Lord…we got more than enough sand to turn into glass… hummm… the Trinity Site comes to mind right about now… but getting rid of plastic bottles means adding weight to the transportation system and the roads… more weight means more fuel used…and more repairs to the roads.
I say give up. Just give up and let the one state DNC rule do its thing. Disband freedom and liberty and get rid of all the guns, let every illegal walk across and get a job without having to pay taxes on anything. No one needs to file a tax return as it is. No one needs to pay taxes as it is.
Free free free is working so well for the DNC, and with unrestricted abortions up until birth…WE DON’T GOT TO WORRY ABOUT OUR FUTURE AS IT IS… You want me to worry about our Grand kids? Who cares when we can kill them in the womb at 9 months and then -call it a fetus and not a child, and refer to it as abortion and not what it is…MURDER.
We don’t need more than one political party to run this dictatorship. We got everything our Constitution says we can have…
Death, Imprisonment and the Pursuit of Godlessness.
Sarcasm John…
Come on John… You censored a good post. Just because I use a political term “The Tolite Sitting Queen of Santa Fe” and apply it to our current goobernor?
Post my original response… it is not like we are in China…
The Biden administration just killed a huge oil drilling project in the Navajo Nation, thereby killing much-needed jobs for the Navajo there.
Demo have no clue what their doing. Biden put a moratorium on oil and gas when he was elected. Months later price of gas sky rocketed many questionef when will he address the price of gas. The only response he had or the reason why, ” IT IS THE ADMINISTRATION WHO CREATED THE PROBLEM” . To this day they still point the finger to the PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION problems they have created.
How do you say “Drill, baby, drill” in Navajo?
If MLG wants to be green why not shut the power to her mansion and give her a Harbor Freight solar panel. I believe it generates 100 watts of power enough to charge her cell phone.
Sun Zia needs to be investigated. In addition, someone needs to ask Senator Heindick how much Sun Zia contributed to his campaign. The 500KV power line towers that will be installed across our beautiful, rural landscape are monstrous and hazardous to environment, wildlife, and humans. The propaganda regarding climate change has gone way too far and has put way too much money in pockets of these egregious green energy companies as well as the politicians who are benefitting financially from them. Do the research. nothing even on our local news about the Sun Zia projects. Only the bull that the senator wrote about how great it was for New Mexico. What crap. Nobody in NM will benefit. Just go ahead and ruin the only thing we have left in this state…. our beautiful land.
And most solar panels and the giant windmills are made by slave labor in communist China. Do the Green New Deal people care? No, because all they want is money, power and control. Remember, Democrats want us freezing in the dark.
Fake news again.