The Road To New Mexico -- January 23, 2021

From NBC News:

The New Mexico governor's office made sure to alert The New York Times before the big announcement last year that a public college education would soon be free for all residents.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said New Mexico, notoriously poor and almost last in state education rankings, would be the first state to take the step, thanks to a blue wave that swept the state in 2018, when Democrats elected Lujan Grisham after eight years of a Republican governor, flipped the state's sole Republican seat in Congress from red to blue and strengthened majorities in the state Legislature.

"This program is an absolute game changer for New Mexico," Lujan Grisham said at the time. "In the long run, we'll see improved economic growth, improved outcomes for New Mexican workers and families and parents."

In New Mexico, the median household income is around $12,000 less than the national average, and the poverty rate hovers near 18 percent. Lujan Grisham, who is known to have national political ambitions, went on a National Public Radio show to talk about the idea, which she said would boost not only the state's economy but also its reputation and students' futures.

But the plan, to be funded by revenue earned from fracking in the Permian Basin, never materialized. Grisham faced opposition in the Legislature, even from members of her own party, and from some college presidents skeptical about how much it would help low-income students.

Instead, the state implemented a massively scaled-down version of the idea during the 2020 legislative session that provides tuition assistance for residents enrolled in two-year colleges.

That story was published November 29, 2020.

Governor Michell Lujan Grisham actively campaigned for the new CEO/CIC.

The new CEO/CIC promptly halted all new leasing activity on federal land in New Mexico. Let's see if NBC News updates this story. 

Not sorry. 

New Mexico On Pace For Record $8 Billion Revenue -- Oil -- Source -- August 29, 2019

Updates

December 20, 2020: The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on December 16, 2020, denied a request by El Paso Electric Co. to build a 228-MW natural gas-fired plant because it will not meet the state’s 2045 net-zero goal, even though the company has already started construction on the facility.

December 19, 2020: New Mexico will limit / ban freshwater for fracking. Developing.

Original Post: August 29, 2019

Link here to Las Cruces Sun News.

New Mexico is now on track to collect an unprecedented $7.8 billion in the budget year thanks to skyrocketing oil production, according to a new legislative revenue tracking report.

The report says total state revenue collections were roughly $273 million above projected levels through April largely because of oil production in southeastern New Mexico, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

The higher-than-expected revenue surge for the budget year that ended June 30 could allow for additional spending increases on public schools, roads, pension funds and other programs.

Based on more recent reports about faux environmentalists getting ready to stifle New Mexico's oil industry it will be interesting to see the follow-up to this story three years from now.

Notes From All Over, Part 4 -- August 28, 2019

NASCAR: no longer the NASCAR I thought I knew.

The road to New Mexico: I posted this story earlier this morning -- almost the first story I posted today. It has legs. Now two more articles, all inter-connected.

• first, over at Bloomberg, which might have a paywall; if so, then,
• second, over at oilprice

From the first link:

New Mexico’s Lujan Grisham pushes an ambitious pro-environment agenda for an industry whose receipts dominate the state budget

From the second link:

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham took office with two climate-friendly pledges: to make New Mexico’s electricity emission-free by 2045, and to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas industry more substantially than they are being limited now.

However, the oil industry is one of the biggest revenue contributors to the state, and it’s a major job creator. Bloomberg’s Rachel Adams-Heard reports that people whose businesses depend on customers from the Permian are strongly opposed to any tighter methane regulations for fear their customers would go across the state border to Texas, where regulations are laxer.

The Governor is aware of the challenges, according to Adams-Heard: “It’s a juxtaposition for sure,” Lujan Grisham told her. “I think the trap for too many elected individuals around the country is that they’re asked by some constituent group to pick one, and I’ve said New Mexico is going to pick every single opportunity and then be responsible at the same time.”

This sounds like the attitude demonstrated by Alberta’s former Premier Rachel Notley, whose government tried to juggle emissions-cutting measures and support for the oil industry, which is vital for the province. The results of the latest vote suggested the NDP government had failed at the latter.

What the governor fails to realize that once a state pledges to be emission-free by 2045, that sets in motion all kinds of new bills, regulations, laws, attitudes, etc.

Good luck.

Happy feet:
Happy Feet, Elvis

Notes From All Over, Part 2 -- August 28, 2019

BP leaving Alaska. Link here.

Wow, wow, wow ... just as I predicted ... nuanced ... hinted at on the blog numerous times ... New Mexico ready to shut down "their" Permian .... link here. New tag: "Road_To_New_Mexico."  This will be re-posted later. How big can I make this graphic? "New Mexico officials claim they are not trying to stifle the industry." "Read my lips."

Heavy oil: more bad news for Canada.

Nigeria: another huge natural gas discovery. ENI on a roll: Eni also announced a gas and condensate discovery offshore Ghana, in May, 2019, and a gas discovery in the Nour prospect, offshore Egypt, in March, 2019.