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New Mexico Democratic Housekeeper Michelle Lujan Grisham is concerned about President Biden’s moratorium ending the leasing of oil and gas on federal lands that she says “hurts New Mexico.”
During his first week in office, Biden signed an executive order to temporarily suspend new oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters for drilling and fracking for 60 days.
“I’m clearly concerned that right off the bat with very little advice, we have a blocking announcement … a moratorium on rental applications, and the reality is: a lot of oil and gas … in the Permian [Basin] is on private land in Texas, ”she said at an event Wednesday with the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.
The Delaware Basin is a component of the Permian Basin – the largest oil basin in the United States – located in part in the southeastern area of New Mexico.
More than 60% of New Mexico’s oil and gas production is on federal land while 55% of state wells are located on federal land, according to the Department of Energy, Minerals and New Mexico Natural Resources (EMNRD).
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More than 50 gas companies produce more than one million barrels a day in Delaware, supporting an estimated 18,000 jobs and helping to generate millions in tax revenue for the state, Forbes reported in January. The New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee confirmed to Fox News that 18,000 is a “fair estimate.”
Twenty-four wells located in Delaware, about half of which are federal land, produced more than 500,000 barrels of gas in 2020, Forbes reported.
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Grisham continued, “So wherever you are – wherever you are in the country or in the bedroom, whatever you feel about it – you can just move around, and it hurts in New Mexico, and there are no environmental standards there. “
She added that her administration had “initiated both conversations and a letter worded heavily enough that it makes no sense.”
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“The last problem is: it’s an economic problem for the state, but rather, it’s also a message to states to do nothing and wait for you to do it, and you won’t get as far as quickly. If you are looking for innovation [in] environmental policy, you’re going to block that, ”the governor said.
The Biden moratorium is an effort to tackle climate change in the United States. The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News investigation.
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