{"id":48784,"date":"2026-03-13T13:46:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:46:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=48784"},"modified":"2026-03-13T13:46:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:46:54","slug":"climate-chilled-at-new-mexico-legislature-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/climate-chilled-at-new-mexico-legislature-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Chilled at New Mexico Legislature \u2014 Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Thanks to bills that did pass, state will divert money to pay for industry problems: abandoned wells and induced earthquakes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-background\" style=\"background-color:#8080801f\"><em><strong>This <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalandmain.com\/climate-chilled-at-new-mexico-legislature-again\">story<\/a> was originally published at <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalandmain.com\/\">Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Post-Mortem on Signature New Mexico Climate Bill\u2019s Failure\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NzW9m6-Aq-A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>It was bitingly cold<\/strong> as legislators, staff, lobbyists and others rolled into New Mexico\u2019s capitol building, the Roundhouse, in Santa Fe on Jan. 26. The annual session had begun six days earlier \u2014 a short, one-month session dedicated almost exclusively to the state budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A cold front had blown off the North Pole and swooped down through Canada and the central U.S., dragging record cold temperatures behind it. In Santa Fe, which sits at 7,000 feet, temperatures dipped to the single digits overnight that Sunday and Monday \u2014 pretty cold, but not unusual for the capital in January. However around Carlsbad, New Mexico, 250 miles farther south and nearly 4,000 feet lower, it was even colder, with three nights dropping below zero. Sitting in the middle of the broad, flat Permian Basin that stretches across southeast New Mexico and into Texas, the city can normally count on much warmer temperatures than most other corners of the state. But not this last week of January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The basin is the most productive oilfield in the nation, with tens of thousands of oil and gas wells and related infrastructure just in New Mexico\u2019s section of the Permian. And when the temperatures there plunged, oil and gas infrastructure began flaring and venting unusually large amounts of natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to records kept by the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, the January spike was the largest amount of gas burned or lost to the atmosphere in at least two years \u2014 maybe longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cInitial indications show it as potentially one of the highest January totals since 2023,\u201d said Sidney Hill, public information officer for the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. Oil and gas producers have until March 15 to file venting and flaring reports from January, so \u201cfinal totals cannot yet be validated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCold weather can lead to frozen lines, instrumentation malfunctions, pressure imbalances and other equipment failures,\u201d Hill continued, and that can lead to venting, flaring or shutdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lost gas and frigid temperatures are connected in another way as well. Climate scientists <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-the-polar-vortex-and-warm-ocean-intensified-a-major-us-winter-storm-274243\">pointed<\/a> to a warming Arctic and very warm water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico as major contributing factors to the storm \u2014 both the result of global warming, which is caused in large part by burning and venting fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That same cold Monday, Major General Miguel Aguilar, interim cabinet secretary of the state\u2019s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department, outlined the growing array of threats the state faces during his department\u2019s budget hearing in the Roundhouse before the Senate Finance Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDisasters are hitting New Mexico in really record amounts,\u201d he said. The state \u201cis no longer dealing with episodic disasters. We are operating in an environment of persistent disasters: wildfires, post-wildfire flooding, extreme heat, droughts, winter storms.\u201d He continued, \u201cThe events we see now become multiyear state-recovery commitments rather than short-term response missions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ali Rye, deputy cabinet secretary at the department, contrasted other states\u2019 disasters, such as a hurricane or tornado event, to what New Mexico faces: a fire season that lasts for months. \u201cAnd they happen every single year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The department, she said, was asking to shift 21 contract jobs to permanent positions. Even with that, she said, New Mexico would be behind the national average for state staffing. \u201cAt some point in time, the plate is gonna break and unfortunately I think we\u2019re getting pretty darn close to that,\u201d Rye said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A bill designed to further reduce New Mexico\u2019s contributions to climate change, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?chamber=S&amp;legType=B&amp;legNo=18&amp;year=26\">Clear Horizons and Emissions Codification Act<\/a>, returned to the Roundhouse after a pair of Democrats joined with Republicans to defeat it in a committee hearing in last year\u2019s session. Its goal: to reduce the state\u2019s greenhouse gas emission totals to 2005 levels by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As before, it was sponsored by Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo), and again, it was her fellow Democrats who shaped the outcome, as seven of them voted with the minority Republicans to kill it in the full Senate. If three of the Democrats had gone the other way, it would have passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to balance it, and it really kind of makes my heart sick,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, again, the oil and gas industry came out swinging against the bill, which would have required it to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. \u201cI was pilloried every night on TV. Apparently, I\u2019m just the worst thing for kids,\u201d Stewart said of the television advertisements and the social media posts that threatened huge cuts in tax revenues for the state\u2019s schools if the bill passed. Direct and indirect oil and gas taxes make up more than a third of New Mexico\u2019s state revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe head of [the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association] has been in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/opinion\/opinion-analysis-shows-we-can-increase-og-production-while-also-reducing-emissions\/582839\">paper<\/a> multiple times saying how great the methane reduction was. [But] we had to drag them kicking and screaming to those methane reduction rules,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, oil and gas production has doubled under the methane rules.\u201d Those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climateaction.nm.gov\/emnrd\/methane-waste-rule\/#:~:text=New%20Mexico's%20methane%20waste%20rule,methane%2Dwaste%2Drule\/.\">rules<\/a> require oil and gas producers to capture 98% of the natural gas that they bring out of the ground by the end of this year, essentially banning nearly all venting and flaring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. George Mu\u00f1oz (D-Gallup), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, has voted against every iteration of the bill over the years, including this one, citing the potential costs to the oil refinery, coal mine, power plant and oil and gas companies in his district. \u201cA lot of us assumed when it got to the [Senate] floor it was going to pass,\u201d he said. \u201cI think everybody was kind of surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill was the final attempt to codify Gov. Michele Lujan Grisham\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/EO_2019-003.pdf\">third<\/a> executive order, issued at the start of her term in 2019, before she is term-limited out of office at the end of this year. She didn\u2019t acknowledge the loss \u2014 or the climate \u2014 in her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/2026\/02\/19\/governor-celebrates-landmark-final-legislative-session-lawmakers-approve-medical-malpractice-universal-child-care-public-safety-road-improvement-and-education-bills\/\">written remarks<\/a> at the end of the session and mentioned it only in passing in her end-of-session <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/2026\/02\/19\/governor-celebrates-landmark-final-legislative-session-lawmakers-approve-medical-malpractice-universal-child-care-public-safety-road-improvement-and-education-bills\/\">press conference<\/a>, though she had implored the Legislature to pass the bill in her State of the State address at the start of the session. Her office didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two bills that the oil and gas industry heartily supported did pass. One rejiggers the state Conservation Fund Tax to raise the amount it distributes to the state Reclamation Fund from about 20% to 100% over the next three years, then drops to 50% in 2037. Currently, some of the revenues \u2014 which come from a tax levied on every barrel of oil and every cubic foot of natural gas brought out of the ground \u2014 go to the state\u2019s general fund. The Reclamation Fund pays to clean up abandoned oil and natural gas wells, <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalandmain.com\/new-mexicos-billion-dollar-oilfield-orphans\">a growing problem<\/a> in New Mexico and other oil and gas producing states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the second bill, the state will give $1 million to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to expand the state\u2019s seismological monitoring network. The Permian Basin is regularly shaken by tremors tied to companies that reinject wastewater produced in oil and gas extraction. Four or more barrels of the waste are generally produced for every barrel of oil in New Mexico. Companies usually dispose of the water by reinjecting it deep underground. But there\u2019s so much injected that the resulting underground pressure leads to earthquakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Missi Currier, president and CEO of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said, \u201cThe Reclamation Fund bill passed with unanimous, bipartisan support reinforcing the industry\u2019s commitment to responsible development and reclamation. We also appreciate the increased funding for seismicity monitoring through New Mexico Tech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the wastewater front, a bill was introduced to force the state\u2019s Water Quality Control Commission to once again take up the debate over using that water outside the oilfield; oilfield use is the only kind currently permitted. Also known as \u201cproduced water,\u201d the highly saline waste can contain radioactive elements, toxic organic compounds and other contaminants from the well drilling process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill would have allowed the use of treated wastewater in industrial, commercial, energy and manufacturing arenas, but it failed after strong pushback from environmental groups who worried that the treated wastewater wouldn\u2019t be clean enough. In a ruling last year, the Water Quality Control Commission, which monitors and regulates water use across the state, thought so too, and nixed its broader use. A few months later, an industry push to reopen that debate fell apart after <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalandmain.com\/new-mexico-governor-puts-finger-on-scale-in-oilfield-wastewater-vote\">reporting showed<\/a> Lujan Grisham had her finger in the Water Quality Control Commission process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking broadly, Currier said, \u201cWe encourage the Legislature to seek a balance between environmental stewardship and economic progress and focus on science over politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside the Roundhouse, science continued to trump politics. The winter of 2024-2025 was the warmest in recorded state history \u2014 until this winter. On Monday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncei.noaa.gov\/news\/national-climate-202602#:~:text=broke%20their%20previous%20warmest%2Dwinter%20record%20by%20more%20than%202%C2%B0F\">reported<\/a> that this winter was more than 2 degrees warmer than last. Joe Galewsky, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.unm.edu\/news\/university-of-new-mexico-professor-explains-unusually-warm-dry-southwest-winter#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20are%20in%20historically%20unprecedented%20territory%20for%20consecutive%20years%2C%E2%80%9D\">said<\/a>, \u201cWe are in historically unprecedented territory for consecutive years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of 60 snow measuring stations across New Mexico, <a href=\"https:\/\/wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov\/reports\/UpdateReport.html;jsessionid=WZclEy0mYRq5e2CZ2fuqxOSGJRkM9RId3oeZ6Nkt.nrcsprd0382?report=New%20Mexico\">none<\/a> is at or above median snowpack for this time of year. Twenty-six have no snow, or an average percentage measuring in the single digits. The National Interagency Fire Center outlook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nifc.gov\/nicc-files\/predictive\/outlooks\/month1_outlook.png\">shows<\/a> the eastern third of New Mexico \u2014 including the Permian Basin \u2014 with above average potential for significant wildfires for March. By June, that rises to about half the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stewart is particularly serious about climate change and greenhouse gas reductions because, she said, \u201cWe\u2019re just looking at more fire, more floods, more devastation.\u201d She plans to resurrect the Clear Horizons Act again in next year\u2019s legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOther areas of the world are doing it. It can be done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview before the session began,Stewart, who has been a state legislator since 1995, said sustained focus was a recurring issue, especially in short, one-month legislative sessions like this year\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe way we work with four or five hours of sleep a night [in] the last two weeks, it\u2019s not good,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cWe\u2019re totally exhausted and we\u2019re making the most important decisions of the session.\u201d And unlike every other legislature in the country, New Mexico\u2019s legislators are unpaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Resolutions to ask New Mexico voters to make all sessions 45 days and open all sessions to all bill types didn\u2019t pass out of committee hearings, though a <a href=\"https:\/\/sourcenm.com\/briefs\/nm-legislature-approves-resolution-for-lawmaker-pay-sending-question-to-voters-on-november-ballot\/\">resolution<\/a> to ask voters to pay legislators did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt might be time to modernize the Legislature,\u201d Stewart said after the session wrapped up. \u201cWe\u2019ll lose some of the fun, but we probably need to have a longer period of time and pay people so that people will take it more seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This story was originally published at <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalandmain.com\/\">Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner. Copyright 2026 Capital &amp; Main.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to bills that did pass, state will divert money to pay for industry problems: abandoned wells and induced earthquakes. by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main This story was originally published at Capital and Main, a NMPBS partner. It was bitingly cold as legislators, staff, lobbyists and others rolled into New Mexico\u2019s capitol building, the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10906],"tags":[10907],"class_list":["post-48784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-partner-stories","tag-partner-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Climate Chilled at New Mexico Legislature \u2014 Again - New Mexico In Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/climate-chilled-at-new-mexico-legislature-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Climate Chilled at New Mexico Legislature \u2014 Again - New Mexico In Focus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to bills that did pass, state will divert money to pay for industry problems: abandoned wells and induced earthquakes. by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main This story was originally published at Capital and Main, a NMPBS partner. 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