Keep pumping money safely into our schools
Short-sighted bill would destroy education funding
In a stunning display of political shortsightedness, New Mexico Democrat legislators are threatening to destroy the very wellspring of New Mexico’s Educational Funding.
By now, most New Mexicans know that a whopping majority of our state’s educational funding comes from our oil and gas industry. This is largely made possible from the highly effective and lucrative practice of “fracking.” According to the N.M. Oil and Gas Association, “Thanks to fracking, New Mexico is one of the United States’ leading producers of oil and natural gas, and without fracking, oil and gas production would be nearly non-existent in New Mexico.”
Fortunately, that’s where most of New Mexico’s educational dollars come from instead of from our pockets.
Just as our new governor touts her expansive new agenda, with its ambitious promises of financial abundance for New Mexico’s educational system, Democrat Sens. Benny Shendo of Jemez Pueblo and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez of Albuquerque are cluelessly pushing their bill, SB459, “prohibiting the issuance of new hydraulic fracturing permits,” as well as miring existing fracking enterprises in a mountainous pile of new reporting requirements.
Why do Sens Shendo and Sedillo Lopez want to undercut New Mexico’s kids and teachers by killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? Don’t they get it?
Hydraulic fracturing — injecting fluid into rock to stimulate the flow of otherwise unobtainable oil or natural gas — has been mercilessly demonized by ideologically driven environmentalists for years. They’ve scared a good many people into thinking that groundwater may be contaminated by fracking.
However, the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (OCD), the state’s official government regulator of fracking activities, says “despite these claims and the wide press they receive, there have been no proven cases of groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing anywhere in the United States. During the fracking process, all fluids are kept isolated from fresh water through multiple layers of metal casing and cement placed in the well. Fluids that return to the surface are safely disposed of via stateregulated processes.”
I trust New Mexico’s own state regulators rather than the speculations of partisan political activists.
As a former vicepresident of my local school board, I take education seriously. Like all New Mexicans, I want our schools to be well funded, our teachers to be fairly paid, and all of our students to be successful. Our state has been blessed with rich natural resources. Let’s use them for a good purpose — to give our students a bright future in New Mexico.