OPINION | Put New Mexicans to work on oil and gas mess

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | June 20, 2021 | Jim O'Donnell, Taos New Mexico

[CedarDave]

New Mexico is an oil and gas colony. The fossil fuel industry has operated in our state for more than a century, removing hundreds of billions of dollars of profit from New Mexico while leaving an expensive mess for New Mexicans to clean up. While industry leaders crow about their contributions to New Mexico’s budget, the cost to clean up the mess they’ve left us pales in comparison to their contributions.

There are an estimated 60,000 inactive wells statewide. They contaminate our groundwater, leak methane into the atmosphere, impact wildlife habitat and endanger the health of our people. It is also worth noting that there are another 53,000 active wells in New Mexico that will have to be cleaned up someday.

[CedarDave]

Of course his second paragraph is patently untrue as he has no grasp of how the industry operates and is managed for environmental protection. Inactive and properly plugged wells are in no-way a threat to health and environment.

A total of six anti-fossil fuel, anti-oil and gas production articles were posted on today's Albuquerque Journal guest opinion page. The other five, with links and a short excerpt, are shown below. Though the Journal is a subscription site, some articles are free to read, not that I'm recommending any of these.

However, it goes to show how brain-washed the population in north central New Mexico is, how they believe that windmills and solar panels will solve every thing and loss of 40 percent of state revenue from oil and gas production can be overcome by renewable jobs and taxes on now legal recreational marijuana.(BTW, do they know the amount of mining required to find the rare earth elements that make the panels work? And most of these come from China.)

OPINION | Oil boom will leave New Mexico a toxic wasteland

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is the environmental damage caused by the fossil fuel industry. Big oil and its elected enablers would have you believe that global warming is not as serious as the environmental scientists report it to be. Actually, they want you to believe that it is a hoax, and methane emissions, well, they’re really not that bad. Increased respiratory issues? Bah! They’re no worse than seasonal allergies. And, what’s more, look at all the revenue this industry generates for New Mexico! They don’t want you to know that the revenue our state receives from them is chump change compared with the profits they extract from New Mexico and deliver to their boardrooms in Houston, Dallas and New York for distribution to their CEOs and majority stockholders.

OPINION | Saving what we all love about NM

The story of why I recently moved to New Mexico from LA might sound familiar. The state’s reputation for natural beauty, its rich culture, amazing food, friendly populace and the famously salutary air were enough to sell me, but, of course, I also happened to be fleeing what felt like a wildfire-ravaged hellscape on top of the whole global pandemic thing. ...
We need to support putting a price on the carbon released through the burning of fossil fuels, coupled with a resulting dividend that gets distributed to all Americans, each month, with no strings attached. ...

OPINION | Breaking up with oil and gas begins at the Roundhouse

New Mexicans know very well that we are living in a toxic relationship. For far too long, the oil and gas industry has created a dependency model that has trapped our people into thinking we are nothing without oil and gas.
Well, this is a lie. Our destiny as New Mexicans is not defined by an industry based on ecological destruction – rather by our love to our people, land and culture. We have a prosperous and healthy future awaiting, without the need to sacrifice our communities’ health and well-being.

OPINION | Country's oil, gas leasing program antiquated, broken

We are more than overdue the time to protect our communities health, wildlife, water and lands from mismanaged oil and gas drilling. Multimillion-dollar oil and gas CEOs have for too long been the recipient of sweetheart deals on public lands. In New Mexico, there were over 400 produced water spills in 2020 alone – threatening the land, the life and the freshwater of communities across our state. Living in a desert climate, we cannot afford this continued destruction while dollars leave our state.

OPINION | CO2 removal can boost NM economy, fight climate change

Climate change affects New Mexico with more severity than many states. As the sixth-fastest warming U.S. state, we’re experiencing earlier springs, hotter summers, larger wildfires and more intense droughts. We urge our leaders in Washington to act with new federal policies and stronger incentives for climate solutions like carbon dioxide removal (CDR), creating an opportunity to both protect our planet and grow our economy.

[CedarDave]

As I said in the article comments, many if not most in ABQ, Santa Fe and other areas of north central NM have no idea of how the economy works and believe most everything the mainstream media including the ABQ Journal, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the local network stations have to say about climate change, global warming, pollution, etc.

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(For ABQ Journal articles requiring a subscription, scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the article for free after answering a couple of questions or watching a short video commercial.)

[sasquatch]

I’ll bet Taos is the conservative capitol of NM.
(as is SF in CA)

[Alas Babylon!]

The writer acts as if the oil and gas industry raped New Mexico and took everything from it.

So how many New Mexicans made money off of oil and gas? What taxes and leases were paid to the state and local jurisdictions?

How many paychecks, supplies purchased, contracts written, etc. etc.? What was the value to New Mexico for all of that work?

I’ll bet it has been Billions of $$$...

[Freedom4US]

The story of why I recently moved to New Mexico from LA might sound familiar


It really does. Lunatics like you flee your broken states and as soon as you are able proceed to tear down wherever it is you move to. New Mexicans should deport your sorry ass back to LA.

[SaxxonWoods]

New Mexico has always felt a bit suicidal to me. I like the historical things there though.

[CedarDave]

There are currently 134,000 jobs in New Mexico related to the oil and gas industry; only an estimated 8,000 jobs would come from renewable energy. And of course additional tax money comes from unrelated retail sector jobs such as restaurants, stores, car sales, etc.

Though 40 percent of state education funding is from by the oil industry, we are still at the bottom for graduation rates (blame teacher’s unions for some of that). Unemployment is high, poverty is endemic and though crime in ABQ is out of control (#2 in the nation), rural areas are mainly safe, though drugs are becoming more prevalent throughout.

English is a second language in most areas; having a high school degree and being bi-lingual gets you a job, even though it may only be above minimal wage. The smart ones go on to college or junior college and have a vocation that puts them on the ladder for advancement, many in the oil and gas industry. Many middle management jobs these days are held by Hispanics, and most in our area in our area voted for Trump.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Lefties are always manufacturing imaginary crises to not let go to waste.

[Lean-Right]

I get the feeling the author hasn’t
taken it upon himself to actually
investigate the supposed ‘messes’
surrounding oil and gas well sites.
(wether capped and idle vs fully
operational).
The EPA has for years, set acceptable
pollution and/or contamination standards
that drilling companies must adhere to.
Any violations are quickly, and strictly
enforced.
It’s certainly not a case of drillers
raping the land for it’s resources.
I frequent oil field roads that pass
many functioning gas and oil wells, and
find each and every one, clean and well
kept, with little to no odor of gas
emissions.
I cannot attest to the supposed ground
water contamination, but I do see
cattle grazing these same lands, being
watered from wells drilled in close
proximity to oil and gas wells.
Coyotes, bobcats, quail, pheasants,
snakes, lizards, and bunnies abound.

[Hootowl99]

Yep, like you I believe, this article doesn't ring right.

States very explicitly regulate and verify proper plugging of closed down O&G wells. Basically, the well casing is pumped full of concrete top to bottom. This is nothing new and has been practiced since the early 20th century.

The NM economy is taking an enormous hit under Biden executive orders as O&G production is a real big deal there. I've read that State tax revenues could be reduced about 20%. NM’s energy economy is disproportionately hit since so much of O&G production is on federal lands (BLM).