Time to wean off oil, gas

THERE ARE SO many issues that could be addressed in ...Doug Turner’s sarcastic and misleading (April 3) op-ed, “‘Keep it in the ground’ movement naïve to realities,” but I’d like to address just a few.

First: Chaco Canyon. Drilling and fracking anywhere and, in particular, just outside of and on the way into the World Heritage Site is damaging. Drilling pads, derricks, industry truck traffic, air pollution, light pollution, noise pollution are all damaging the environment surrounding Chaco right now.

Hydraulic fracturing damages more than just water sources and, according to publicly available data from the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division, in 2016 an average of 1,609 gallons of crude oil was spilled each day, along with 9,052 gallons of “produced water,” salty wastewater often laden with toxic chemicals.

Second: Reality. No one is ignorant of the fact that oil and gas has contributed to the state’s economy while enjoying the profits they make . ... We also know the state pays a price ... in the form of pollution, degraded land and related health issues in spite of (current) regulations . ...

Third: Technology. We know solar and wind energy are plentiful ...and technology is rapidly lowering their cost while employing thousands of New Mexicans . ... The Department of Energy’s U.S. Energy and Employment Report, released in January, showed the solar industry creates more electricity-generation employment than oil, gas, coal and nuclear combined.

...the longer we wait, the more we put jobs and our economy at risk as the rest of the nation moves ahead of us by embracing these new technologies. It is naïve to think otherwise. LYNNE FISCHER Santa Fe