N.M.’s iconic landscapes at risk
Despite strong public support for protecting our outdoor heritage, the scale has been steadily tipping in favor of the special interests that threaten access to public lands since the start of the Trump administration.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Interior Department are shortchanging families by using loopholes to capitalize on public lands and unfairly divert taxpayer money to a handful of elites. From day one, this administration has opted to shelter the millionaires and billionaires in the oil and gas industry, instead of our irreplaceable public landscapes, setting the stage for a rigged system.
Public lands and the opportunities they offer are an intricate part of our outdoor heritage. While some of these landscapes are open for responsible development, others are simply too special to be developed because of their cultural, historical and recreational value.
For years, federal land managers have been tasked with balancing development with conservation across our public lands, guided in large part by the multipleuse mandate. Under this policy, public lands must be used by the public and benefit the public. If followed, the mandate ensures that conservation and responsible development remain balanced and that our public landscapes are maintained for future generations to enjoy.
Unfortunately, the system overwhelmingly favors oil and gas development over conservation despite the economic benefits recreation also brings to communities. With each passing day, the Trump administration has demonstrated its eagerness to double down on this rigged system and embolden the oil and gas industry and its lobbyists in Washington, D.C., while ignoring the outdoor industry.
On March 28, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that delivered a stark message to visitors, businesses and the local community who enjoy and depend on New Mexico’s public lands. With a stroke of the pen, Trump offered up our public lands — and New Mexico’s future — to the lobbyists in the oil and gas industry without any input from the people whose lives and livelihoods will be gravely impacted by this reckless order. Now, the future of our iconic landscapes remain in jeopardy while the Trump administration shelters the oil and gas industry and its profits with a rigged system.
About 88 percent of New Mexico’s public lands are open to leasing, including lands bordering treasured national parks and monuments. The oil and gas industry is allowed to purchase leases and then hold onto them — therefore restricting public access — until the company is ready to drill. In New Mexico alone, there are over 1,340 nonproducing oil and gas leases consuming 700,000 acres of land. Land that could be utilized by the public is instead being monopolized by the oil and gas industry. There is virtually no statute of limitations on these parcels of land; they can remain unused for years, stripping valuable recreational experiences from visitors and economic opportunities from local communities and small businesses.
The oil and gas industry isn’t just taking advantage of New Mexicans, its is taking advantage of every American. High-paid industry attorneys are exploiting loopholes that allow the industry to continue to capitalize from iconic landscapes without any compensation to taxpayers. These loopholes allow industry to manipulate the rigged system and only pay pennies on the dollar in royalty rates to taxpayers while reaping record profits.
The status quo — in which the oil and gas industry can leverage loopholes to profit off the backs of American taxpayers and destroy iconic landscapes in New Mexico — is rigged against America’s best interests. The system in place now, as reinforced by the Trump administration, exists solely to benefit corporate barons and a few powerful special interests in Washington. This is no way to do business. It’s time the oil and gas industry is held accountable for its profits and is stopped from treating our public lands as its personal cash cow.
Chris Saeger is the executive director of the Western Values Project, an advocacy group.