Climate / Environment
All scientific evidence points to climate change from burning fossil fuels as the force placing our planet on the verge of its sixth mass extinction (the last one 65 million years ago wiped out the dinosaurs). This will happen unless we take immediate and drastic action www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/. It is equally clear that power, politics, national interests, and the oil and gas industry are blocking sufficiently swift and comprehensive action.
In New Mexico these dynamics are clear. We have the second-highest oil and gas production in the nation and depend on the money it generates for 35% of the state’s 2021 revenue. We have the worst methane cloud in the nation over the Four Corners area and another in our southeast corner. We are experiencing severe drought that will only get worse, while fracking contaminates existing water with toxic metals. The Energy Transition Act lacked teeth when it passed in 2019 and hasn’t improved since. We are threatened by potential misguided investments in hydrogen fuel production, which uses more energy than it produces. And we have investor-owned utilities that often block moves toward renewables. We seek practical and effective approaches to reversing climate change and protecting and restoring our air, water, land, and ecosystems at the local, state, and national levels. Two of our current campaigns are resisting hydrogen fuel production and promoting community-controlled power.
WHY IS THE GOVERNOR STILL PUSHING HYDROGEN?
New Mexico’s Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham wants hydrogen fuel production in our state. After five failed attempts, in the 2022 legislative session, to pass laws and appropriate funds supporting a “Blue Hydrogen Hub,” she has used an executive order to promote this activity.
Why does the Governor cling to this still-unproven technology?
Learn More
- Read our detailed statement
- Learn the dangers of hydrogen produced from fossil fuel:
- Tom Solomon of 350NM.org on blue hydrogen
- Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, “The Facts about Hydrogen’s Climate Dangers”
- See the beginnings of political resistance from NM Senator Martin Heinrich
Take Action
- Express support for renewables and rejection of hydrogen from fossil fuels:
- Contact Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
- Contact your New Mexico state representative and senator
- Support organizations promoting renewable energy and resisting hydrogen
Why Publicly Owned Clean Energy?
Hundreds of millions of dollars leave New Mexico every year because investor-owned utilities make large profits and send them to their Wall Street shareholders instead of lowering rates for New Mexico households. A small but growing group of New Mexico organizations wants to re-imagine a different structure for power in our state.Learn More
- Read our detailed statement including the list of 30+ NM organizations working for 100% renewables and community controlled production and distribution.
- Two ways to learn more from the report “Public Power for New Mexico”:
- 1. a short powerpoint on the New Energy Economy
- 2. the full report from “Potential for Public Power in New Mexico”
Take Action
- Support organizations working for community-controlled power in New Mexico
- Ask your municipality or county about its interest in community-controlled power; maybe it already has some form of it. Connect with local politicians and activists to promote community-controlled power
