New Mexico’s booming oil and gas industry could soon hit a speed bump if a proposed bill creating a four-year moratorium on any new state permits for hydraulic fracturing permits passes.
“As a whole, the legislation would be a disaster for New Mexico,” said Robert McEntyre, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. “It would result in financial ruin. It would devastate economies in the southeast and the northwest.”
Highlight reporting requirements for a number of state agencies related to the impacts fracking may have;
• Require the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources department to provide an annual report to the state’s governor and legislators about the number of permits that have active fracking; greenhouse gas trends; the fracking research funding status; and information about environmental and agricultural impacts;
The Cabinet Room was buzzing with (clean) energy on Tuesday as New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham was joined by her Energy Minerals and Natural Resources (EMNRD) Secretary Sarah Cottrell Propst and Environment Secretary Jim Kenney to sign one of the strongest climate executive orders in the nation.
• Require public health reporting on behalf of the New Mexico Department of Health and reporting fracking’s impact on state waters by the Office of the State Engineer;