Environmental advocacy groups praise legislative efforts to address climate change – New Mexico Political Report

By Hannah Grover

Many environmental advocacy groups praised actions taken during the recently concluded legislative session, though some say not enough was done to rein in pollution from the oil and gas industry.

Conservation Voters New Mexico said in a statement that the actions taken during the legislative session provide important safeguards even as the federal government rolls back environmental regulations. 

CVNM highlighted 21 bills awaiting the governor’s signature that will protect air, land, water and wildlife resources, as well as public health.

Those bills include Senate Bill 48, which creates the state-funded Community Benefit Fund, a grant program intended to support climate and community resilience efforts in New Mexico.

“We need to take a moment and reflect on the historic nature of SB 48 – Community Benefit Fund,” CVNM Climate and Energy Advocate Justin Garoutte said in a press release. 

He said SB 48 and the $210 million in the budget bill that supports the fund’s mission “represents the state’s largest investment in community-based climate action in New Mexico to date. It comes at a critical moment, when federal resources like the Inflation Reduction Act are being gutted and states must step up.”

Garouette said SB 48 is an “important first step” that will help communities and Tribes build “a comprehensive response to fires, floods and long-term drought everyday New Mexicans are already facing.” 

Additionally, SB 48 will help promote a transition to clean energy resources at a time when federal funding for such initiatives is being slashed, Garoutte said.

The Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club also praised funding for climate solutions.

“We are grateful for the legislative investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in climate solutions driven by community and workforce development initiatives,” the chapter’s director, Camilla Feibelman, said in a statement. “The innovative programs that this money funds will help the state avoid the worst impacts of global warming.  But the impacts of the climate crisis were ever present this session as legislators worked to address water scarcity, wildfires, property damage and insurance impacts, and how to absorb these costs. Meanwhile the oil and gas industry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to stop commonsense safeguards against the very emissions harming our state all while fighting modest taxation on their multibillion dollar profits that would support working families.”  

While the legislature passed bills that advocates say will help the environment, several bills intended to curb the climate impact of the oil and gas industry failed to pass.

Those included bills championed by the Center for Biological Diversity and a group of New Mexicans who are suing the state over alleged failures to protect residents from fossil fuel pollution.

“It’s disgraceful that our governor and state representatives let yet another legislative session come to a close without taking any action to prioritize the health and environment of the people of New Mexico over the profits of oil and gas corporations,” Gail Evans, an Albuquerque-based attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Our legislators didn’t even take the tiny step of ensuring our kids are protected from dangerous oil and gas pollution when they’re at school. It’s clear our elected officials aren’t willing to stand up to the fossil fuel industry. That’s why we’re suing them for breaking their constitutional duty to protect us from pollution. I look forward to arguing our case in court on behalf of every New Mexican.”  

Evans referred to a bill that would have prevented future oil and gas operations from being placed within close proximity to schools.

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