New Mexico & El Paso
On October 4, the United States Supreme Court rejected an effort by industry polluters and their political allies to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) comprehensive Clean Air Act standards to cut methane and other harmful pollutants from the oil and gas industry.
NM taxpayers are often left paying the clean-up bill for low or non-producing wells that leak toxic chemicals into the groundwater. The industry’s “insurance coverage” doesn’t include enough funding to address the actual costs. Tell the Commission the rules need to change.
Advocates across New Mexico petitioned the Oil Conservation Commission to modernize woefully outdated laws governing oil and gas cleanup, financial assurance and operator transfers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that New Mexico was awarded $156,120,000 in funding through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s Solar For All program.
The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board voted 4-1 to reject a challenge to newly enacted clean car standards. The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board also voted 5-0 to reject the challenge. These standards will bring more electric vehicles to the state and directly benefit New Mexicans.
In April 2024, the BLM issued its final Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Rule, the first comprehensive update to the federal onshore oil and gas leasing program in decades. The rule includes long-overdue, commonsense fiscal reforms and incorporates updates passed by Congress under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 252 into law. This new law makes $20 million in supplemental New Solar Market Development tax credits available to individuals.
The Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, 350NM, City of Albuquerque, and the Earth Day Festival organizers are delighted to announce the 2024 Earth Day Festival on April 21, from 10-4 at Balloon Fiesta Park. Tickets are free for all throughout March.
The New Mexico Construction Industries Commission voted Wednesday to adopt the most recent international building energy codes, requiring builders to design and construct new buildings with improved performance. Specifically, the state adopted the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code, with additional requirements that new buildings include infrastructure to support charging for electric vehicles in some parking spaces.
If you’re a PNM customer, check the line item on your bill titled “San Juan ETA Settlement Credit” for a credit of around $9. The credits come as compensation for PNM’s delay in issuing Energy Transition bonds to refinance debt customers had been paying for San Juan Generating Station. Instead of issuing the low-interest bonds when the coal plant closed, PNM continued to collect its 10% rate of return on the debt from customers. The Public Regulation Commission in 2022 ordered PNM to credit customers to reflect the savings the bonds would have brought, but PNM appealed and won a stay at the state Supreme Court.