NMIPL IN THE NEWS

Open New Doors 2023 Legislative Session Video Series Part 2

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Kayley Shoup and Pastor Dave Rogers from NMEP-IPL affiliate Citizens Caring for the Future are among the voices featured in this video, which shares stories from community members about how climate, public health, and jobs intersect one another and their solutions and visions for a just and equitable transition. Their experiences show us that now is the time to open new doors to a thriving and resilient climate and economy for all New Mexicans.   The video was produced by Climate Advocates Voces Unidas

Sister Joan Brown: For modern era, update oil and gas laws

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In an opinion piece published in The New Mexican (Santa Fe), Sister Joan Brown, executive director of Interfaith Power & Light- New Mexico and El Paso, called on the state of New Mexico to modernize laws covering the oil and gas industry.  Here an excerpt from the  piece.

For modern era, update oil and gas laws

Many things in the world have changed since 1935 when New Mexico’s laws for oil and gas were written. Since then, New Mexico has grown to be the second-largest oil-producing state, behind only Texas. Oil and gas development has exploded in our state, impacting our environment, climate, public health and front-line communities. But the oil and gas laws of 1935 have not kept pace with the world we live in today.

Businesses are run by people who have families and want to be ethical and moral. Making policy changes in oil and gas rules to include public health, communities, our children and our future would help everyone. How many of us live life as it was 90 years ago?

We all must care for the common good. Updating antiquated rules for the 21st century makes sense. One area is to ensure taxpayers aren’t left to clean up the mess when wells inevitably run dry and need to be plugged. Taxpayers are left to foot the bill to clean up these polluting wells — a burden now and a debt our children must bear.

As part of the 2021 infrastructure bill, Sen. Ben Ray Luján secured a $4.7 billion investment to plug orphan wells. Wells in New Mexico are orphaned when operators go under — often in an inevitable oil bust — and walk away without cleaning up their mess. These abandoned, unplugged wells can lower property value and land productivity, pollute groundwater and release known carcinogens into our air. Too often, states, tribes, the federal government and taxpayers are left to pay to plug wells. Communities are left with polluted lands.

We have never had enough money to plug these orphaned wells, and we now have nearly 2,400 orphan wells in New Mexico, with potentially thousands more that are at risk of becoming orphaned in the near future. The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament instructs us to be caretakers, not polluters or destroyers. Plugging wells is a way to caretake and be responsible.

Read full op-ed

Webinar Video: Daily Ecology in a World Where Everything Is Connected

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The February Journeying With the Laudato Si’ Action Platform webinar is about “Daily Ecology in a World Where Everything Is Connected”, related to the Laudato Si’ Goal of “Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles”. In his encyclical letter Laudato Si’, Pope Francis invites us to an interior change of heart that can overcome our fragmented way of seeing, experiencing, and interacting with the world around us. He reminds us that we are deeply linked to nature and to one another. How do we rediscover that connectedness, and how might that impact our everyday life? Representatives of the Families and Individuals sector will speak about the social dimension of ecology, and how they discover the many ways Gospel love leads them to answer the needs of those around them and the suffering planet.

Carlsbad Current Argus. Sep. 3, 2020 New Mexico finalizes oil and gas wastewater regulations, lawmakers hear testimony (Rev. Nick King Quoted)

Las Cruces Sun-News,  Aug. 19, 2020, Report on solving climate crisis brings hope (Co-authored by Michael Sells, Clara Sims and Edith Yanez)

Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug. 15, 2020 Vote your values this November  (Commentary by Larry Rasmussen and Tabitha Arnold)