Skip ‘credit’; transition faster

THERE’S NOT exactly a rush of opposition to our governor’s call for a waiver on the halt of new federal oil and gas leases. Actually, that’s an understatement. Hardly a peep. The governor claims since we have upped our renewable electricity generation plan (ETA), we should get a “credit” on halting federal leases.

New Mexico is the third-largest U.S. oil producer, about 6% of U.S. production, and also produces about 4% of U.S. natural gas. Trouble is, we are a poor state, and this production comprises a hefty chunk of our state income . ...

But so is the production itself, both in terms of our land/water/air destruction, and also in terms of our climate-change fossil-fuel “budget.” In addition, though we are a producer, we still rank close to poorest in most of the measures of well-being: income, child poverty and hunger, etc. Somebody may be getting rich from all that drilling, but it’s definitely not us.

Climate justice dictates we should help those making the temporarily painful transition to a non-carbon world by funding new training, new jobs that build a safer, less threatening planet. That’s not the same as helping them continue to add to the greenhouse gases that pose a danger.

So why don’t President Joe Biden and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham take a page from the climate justice playbook and figure out a way to soften the economic damage New Mexico will feel from the drilling halt by helping us diversify, while using our huge solar and wind resources faster and better? We could reduce the climate threat and give our New Mexico kids a break. The credit we need is not more oil and gas production; it’s a faster shift to harness our abundant renewables to benefit our people.