Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The port city of Glasgow in southern Scotland is a happening place right now. So much so that even the governor of a small state feels she must be there.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham went to Glasgow for the first week of the United Nations’ conference on climate change to represent New Mexico’s interests on the world stage. She hails from a state that’s part of the problem and part of the solution.
We’re part of the problem in that we’re a big producer of oil and gas, major emitters of carbon into the atmosphere, and we can’t quite wean ourselves off the money it generates for our state.
We’re part of the solution because we passed the Energy Transition Act in 2019, putting this state on track to be carbon-free by mid-century — if we have the political will to stick with the plan.
If Lujan Grisham has her way, we’ll stay the course for at least another five years. That includes a second term for the governor, which, given the strength of her Democratic Party in state politics these days, she’s on track to win in 2022.
New Mexico is taking off, especially, as a wind energy powerhouse, with wind farms sprouting up around the state and transmission lines being built to move and market their electrical generation to other parts of the country. Assuming Lujan Grisham wins a second term, even if a Republican wins back the Governor’s Office in 2026, I’ll bet we’ll be too far along to reverse course.
Curbing our oil-and-gas production and weaning state coffers off the taxes it generates — about a third of our state budget is from oil-and-gas revenues — will be a tremendously difficult task. But with the right investments, it can be done.
Some think Lujan Grisham’s trip to Glasgow is more for show than substance, but I contend otherwise. New Mexico may be a minor-league player on the world stage, but we’re also a major-league attraction for some deep-pocketed investors.
In the days ahead, I’ll be interested to see what Lujan Grisham says about her visit to Glasgow. I suspect it’ll be long on generalities and short on details, at least for a while, until outside investors are ready to go all in. Personally, I’d love to see the burgeoning carbon-capture industry stake a claim in New Mexico, but that’s another column for another day.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: