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With the end of the 2022 Legislative Session in sight, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham touted progress made in advancing several key aspects of the administration’s agenda.
Energy, education, healthcare and taxes were all primary elements of Lujan Grisham’s work in Santa Fe and across the state during her first term, all while contending with the COVID-19 health crisis.
Diversifying the state’s economy while maintaining its national-leading position as an energy-producing state was crucial for southeast New Mexico, Lujan Grisham said, along with investing in local infrastructure and roads for the region that makes up large portions of the state budget through fossil fuels.
All of that funneled into the governor’s approach on how to bridge the vastly differing philosophies in New Mexico’s urban centers with rural areas like Carlsbad.
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Lujan Grisham sat down with the Carlsbad Current-Argus to talk policy both successful and challenged, along with her efforts to quell the pandemic.
What have you done to ensure money made in the southeast comes back?
“We really focused on the large appropriations to deal with the brine sinkhole which was another huge public safety issue. While we don’t have an end date, it feels really close. Then we can make sure there’s the same level of appropriations then based on your priorities get to the roads and the areas where we still have public safety issues.
“We know that we’ve reduced (traffic) injuries and fatalities 50 percent, but it’s too localized. We have to extend. And that’s the benefit of being here. You can see where it’s made the biggest difference and where the gaps still are. Certainly, there are some gaps in Eddy County that I think are going to need more attention.
“The entire state didn’t have infrastructure and didn’t have the kind of investments that support the current economic activity, expanded it and dealt with the issues. There’s not a single community that doesn’t have these issues.”
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Is infrastructure a path toward bridging the rural-urban divide?
“It has to be one of the paths. I worry we don’t talk to each other effectively enough about how the whole state works together. When oil and gas isn’t doing as well, that would be like saying the rest of the state shouldn’t invest at all or invest here. Nobody really, I think, thinks that way. But when there is an issue that isn’t resolved, you have to wonder whether or not folks in Santa Fe hear you or see you. It’s an issue for everyone.
“I feel like we’ve done an effective job doing infrastructure back where it belongs, a considerable amount in the southeastern part of the state and more coming.
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What can you say to New Mexicans who oppose COVID-19 masking?
“New Mexico is no different than the states who if you look at where the split is about how you approach COVID, it is a political and partisan split, and then there is another split: rural versus urban. It’s both of those things and we’re doing it the same way.
“Everyone hates COVID. I hate this virus. My losses are minimal compared to the people who lost loved ones, who lost their chance at economic success, who might have lost a business. We’re grieving. The whole country, the whole state. Every single death hurts my feelings.
“I think we did an incredible job. People want us to get rid of masks. We’re close. The message to folks in Carlsbad: we are nearly there. We are coming into the endemic stage. We are right there. I can see it.”
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We kind of policy successes have you that should appeal to all regions?
“I think people should be feeling great about the investments. We have a robust tax package. I want protections for your paycheck. That’s a huge issue right now. And it was hard before inflation because housing costs are up, rental costs are up, childcare is up.
“New Mexico has very expensive childcare per-capita just given our income levels. Now we have the richest program in the country. We nearly doubled the benefits, and my goal is to make it universal, and we have the opportunity in this state to do that.
“Every bit of our economy is doing well from film, renewable energy, oil and gas, value-added agriculture, cyber security, aerospace and hospitality.”
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Is economic diversity coming quickly enough to offset the next big oil bust?
“That’s hard to say whether it’s fast enough. It’s certainly meeting our expectations and quite frankly, it’s exceeding them.
I think the mistake states like ours make is that when we have, even with this new diversification effort, when things are really good, we all have a tendency to sit back and then stop investing. I think even when you have really scarce resources, you have to find the best investment and the return on that investment.
“Energy is volatile. That’s just a fact. So as that shifts, we’re buttressed by everything else, and Eddy County should be a recipient of all of that expected savings revenue. People should expect that.”
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What kind of role does the state have in bringing together industry and environmental groups?
“A significant role. We’ve done a ton. We have the strongest methane rules in the country. We did that with oil and gas. If you don’t have these pragmatic approaches you can’t get it done. You can’t execute.
I’m going to defend the environmental community. Climate crisis is real. We are the second-larger oil and gas producer in the country, and we have a responsibility to figure it out. But that is different than not accepting that we have a 30 to 40 year transition around the globe, and you have to have energy. You have to have electricity. I have to do both at the same time.
“You have to have energy available. I have to build a brand-new renewable infrastructure. All industries are helping us do that. These are the bridges that make sense.
“Let other folks have debates about vilifying one side or the other. Let New Mexicans lead by example. Practical, pragmatic solutions that make sure we have energy, and we have transition.”
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Why has the push for hydrogen energy struggled in the session?
The reason we wanted a hydrogen hub act and we put it in the 30-day session, new ideas are hard in a budget session only, is because I wanted all the stakeholders. Oil and gas, environment community and the business sector in general to have an opportunity to weigh in and to craft the incentives, the opportunities, and if we need them, safeguards for hydrogen.
“Everybody got a little far off that sort of middle effort. The environmentalists don’t want it and fossil fuel, to their credit, is like it can’t be so narrow that we don’t have any options here. That innovation, we’re using natural gas, is in the fossil fuel industry.
“In fact, many of the methane reductions, carbon dioxide reductions and battery storage, and figuring out efficiencies and no longer using diesel and figuring out how to upgrade or totally replace pneumatic valves, that innovation didn’t happen at the State. It happened in the industry. They support hydrogen. They were at the table. It doesn’t seem like you want to be fighting or this.
“The federal government is eyeing New Mexico for all the right reasons. We’re going to be a lead contender for hydrogen. What I don’t think people understand is businesses can already come here and they are. If you want to incentivize the best company, with the best job opportunities and the lowest carbon intensity, why would you have them go to Wyoming? Why don’t you want them in Carlsbad? I want them here.”
Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-618-7631, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.
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