Politics

Following a veto by Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for electric vehicle tax credits, which would help mostly the wealthy who can afford EVs, “climate change” groups are livid.

The tax credits were part of the massive omnibus tax package, which was mostly vetoed by Lujan Grisham. 

According to the Associated Press, “The state would provide a $2,500 refundable personal income tax credit toward the purchase of an electric vehicle — or up … to $4,000 for low-income residents, with an additional $300 credit for car-charging equipment and installation.” Those provisions died on the governor’s desk.

Dark money group Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA) spokesperson Sofia Jenkins-Nieto said she was “pissed” with the governor’s vetoes.

“In terms of the governor’s vetoes, of the few small green tax incentives that the 2023 legislature included in the budget – it’s outrageous that she wouldn’t even let that move forward for sure, but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that was anywhere near what is needed,” Jenkins-Nieto said. “The legislature failed us, and it did so under the leadership of the governor.”

The far-left dark money group, the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter director Camilla Feibelman whined about the veto, saying, “Those five tax credits represented huge amounts of work and consensus and leadership from the House and Senate, and to have them summarily vetoed is hurtful and it’s harmful.”

The leftist Western Environmental Law Center wrote, “She promised New Mexicans she would act on climate, but has instead opposed multiple comprehensive climate bills and has now vetoed the only major climate action the legislature passed in 2023. Climate legislation is unlikely in 2024’s short budgetary legislative session—the halfway point for Lujan Grisham’s final term. Gov. Lujan Grisham’s promise of net zero emissions has disintegrated into net zero climate action while climate-caused fires and floods have turned large swaths of New Mexico into disaster areas.”

Co-coordinator of 350.org New Mexico, Tom Solomon, wrote, “This governor had a chance to expand the climate leadership she showed in 2019 by passing the ETA (Energy Transition Act). She did the opposite.”

Far-left state Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Las Cruces) claimed the state is “out of time” for “climate” action, saying in one report, “The plans have to be twice as aggressive in the next legislative session to approach and address these climate issues. We’re not running out of time anymore, we’re out of time.”

The whining comes after the governor signed 18 bills that the group Source New Mexico has labeled “Climate and Environmental Bills.” 

The governor’s spokeswoman Maddy Hayen claimed Lujan Grisham is a “national leader in the climate space,” adding, “We are by no means stopping there: the governor will continue to pursue meaningful, bold climate action measures in the next session and throughout her second term.”