MLG panders to oil and gas as she works to destroy the industry

On Monday, scandal-ridden alleged serial groper Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pandered to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA) at its annual conference, which has donated tens of thousands of dollars to extremist anti-oil Democrats, including Lujan Grisham, who received $5,000. Democrat Speaker of the House Brian Egolf’s speaker fund received $25,000 from the group. 

At the conference, Lujan Grisham thanked “oil and gas producers for their contributions to the economy and tax revenues that form the backbone of state education funding,” according to the Associated Press. The industry contributes over 30% to the state budget annually.

At the event, she tried to move oil and gas producers to move from oil and gas to the hydrogen fuel industry, claiming to be championing legislation on the oil and gas alternative in the 2022 Legislative Session — which is supposed to be a 30-day session specifically about the state’s budget. 

“We are working on that as we speak,” Lujan Grisham claimed, saying she wants New Mexico to be a hydrogen fuel “hub.”

Lujan Grisham’s corrosive administration rammed through the job-killing “Energy Transition Act,” New Mexico’s very own Green New Deal, in 2019, which forces through stringent environmental mandates, including 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050. It has already skyrocketed energy costs for New Mexicans, and even the bill’s biggest proponents say it needs to be heavily amended as to not completely wreck the state.

In northeast New Mexico, the Energy Transition Act (ETA) has forced the closure of the San Juan Generating Station by PNM, leaving countless New Mexicans without jobs and only around 80 employees able to retire. “For the rest of the employees, though, they’re going to have to go find some other form of employment,” said plant manager Omni Warner. 

NMOGA under the leadership of former executive director Ryan Flynn and former chairman of the NMOGA board Claire Chase took a neutral stance on the rabidly anti-energy ETA. Many wish-washy “Republicans” in the Legislature voted for the job-killing bill.

At the conference, Lujan Grisham claimed, “We continue to have conversations with the Biden administration to make sure that they understand the critical importance of this industry in our state.” That has yet to be seen as Biden has canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline, which employed tens of thousands of Americans, and drilling contracts on federal land have been stonewalled. Biden’s pick to lead the Department of the Interior, Deb Haaland, is a supporter of the Green New Deal and oversees a large portion of these public lands in question.