Oil taxes should help all

I WAS surprised to read in the July 21 Albuquerque Journal that U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce thinks “New Mexico has a lot of water.” He goes on to say he is in “early discussions with companies that would refine water from the oil fields,” and boasts that oil could make southeast New Mexico “the new Saudi Arabia.” There you have it. Oil and water.

Right now, oil severance taxes make up about a third of the state’s revenue, with the total always at the whim of the boom-and-bust industry. These taxes also fund a good chunk of the state’s education budget. A good thing.

Not so good is the industry’s demand on our water resources. As the price of oil goes up, the demand on our finite water supply also go up. Thanks to horizontal drilling, crews can now drill wells as deep as two miles, then drill sideways to reach oil-saturated shale. The “fracking” process requires highpressure injections of massive amounts of fresh water to crack the shale apart. The water, now a mix of oil, dirt and shale, is forced back out through the pipeline. According to industry records, it takes seven barrels of water — now wastewater — for a barrel of oil.

However, the fact is that in New Mexico water is as valuable as oil. We cannot afford to use it in industries that degrade its quality .... I’m neither a “water expert” nor a millionaire tool pusher. My grandfather worked in the Borger, Texas, oilfields in the 1920s. But I can look stuff up, and Steve Pearce’s assessment doesn’t make sense. True, oil is bringing in money these days, and I’m not suggesting we prevent drilling. But we should use oil taxes toward renewable energy research and industry jobs. We don’t need a bust-and-boom economy and workers who work like dogs then are shipped out when the jobs are done. Instead, we need stable industries and stable jobs. We don’t need a governor who aims to make us the New Saudi Arabia. LINDA G. HARRIS Las Cruces