State-level resistance gearing up
percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040. Others are pushing new oil bills, including one to increase fines, and strengthen the state Oil Conservation Division’s ability to impose penalties for oil spills and other infractions.
Gov. Susana Martinez could block those initiatives. But next year’s elections could change things.
“We’re seeing a lot more effort at the state level now, buoyed by eight years of progress under President Obama,” said Rebecca Sobel of WildEarth Guardians.
Resistance could even emerge among mid-level administrators at federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management.
“There are a lot of Obama-era holdovers at the operational level,” Fine said. “Many could drag their feet to slow or postpone initiatives.”
Perhaps most important, market dynamics will likely push solar and wind energy forward, given the huge reduction in costs in recent years. Low natural gas prices could also stunt the revival of coal, said PNM Resources Chairman, President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn.
“Despite the rhetoric about reducing regulations, reviving the coal industry is unlikely,” Vincent-Collawn told the Albuquerque Economic Forum in February. “It’s not regulations pushing coal’s decline, it’s the market. Low natural gas prices are driving it.”