New Mexico's GOP is alarmed at the potential impacts that President Joe Biden's moratorium on federal land leasing for oil extraction could have on the state's economy.
When Biden first took office early this year, one of his first executive orders was to pause new federal land leases for oil and gas drilling in New Mexico, according to The Federalist. The move sent producers across the border to Texas in search of opportunities.
All 39 of the State Legislature's Republican lawmakers signed and sent a letter to Biden to voice their concern about the pause's effect on the state's economy.
"We believe any extension of the current pause-and-review policy will have a devastating impact on New Mexico, especially on the students, families and teachers who are part of our state's public-education system," the letter stated. "Just as our Democratic governor requested in March 2021, we respectfully ask that New Mexico's fossil-fuel production and any associated federal permitting and leasing activities be exempt from all future regulatory moratoriums."
In their letter, New Mexico GOP lawmakers said that approximately 40% or $3 billion of the New Mexico budget is directly attributable to revenue from the state's fossil-fuel industry.
"New Mexico is a glorious place to live and we are proud of our diverse cultures, our stunning landscapes and sunsets, and our friendly, hard-working people," the letter said. "We cannot devastate our economy and our livelihoods by supporting a federal regulatory scheme that fails to recognize the importance of our state's oil and gas industry, and the jobs and the revenues it generates to provide needed services for our citizens."
The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions says that there are 8,500 wind- and solar-industry jobs potentially available as the state transitions away from the fossil-fuel industry but, according to the letter, over 130,000 jobs will be lost in the state's oil industry during the transition.
The GOP sent their letter as a counter to another letter sent to President Biden by NM Democrats expressing their support for the land-leasing pause, according to Albuquerque Journal.
"While we recognize the significant contributions the oil and gas industry has made to New Mexico, we believe that our state's long-term fiscal health can benefit from this federal pause and review," state Democrats wrote. "Indeed, such modernization could result in revenue-positive outcomes for New Mexico and provide us more resources in the short term to prepare for the inevitable, long-term decline and important workforce retraining of a traditional fossil energy economy."
The federal review is still ongoing with the Department of Interior predicted to issue an interim report later this summer.