A voice for our environment in Santa Fe
2008 Legislature brings key victories for New Mexico
During the recent legislative session, Environment New Mexico and our allies in the Legislature worked to pass important bills to protect our air, water and land, and to block bills that would roll back important environmental protections.
Highlights from the 2008 Legislature:
• Passage of the Utility Customer Load Management bill, which will require utilities to achieve a 10 percent energy savings by 2020, saving consumers money on their utility bills, creating new jobs and reducing global warming emissions.
• Approval of nearly $25 million in funding for environmental projects, including $123,500 for the Rio Grande Trail, $2.8 million to restore river ecosystems, $3.5 million for clean energy grants, and $1.5 million for land and wildlife projects.
• Creation of a task force to develop guidelines for environmentally-friendly electronics recycling.
Protecting our environmental laws
Environment New Mexico also helped to block more than a dozen regulatory rollbacks, including three amendments that would have given the Legislature unprecedented power to enact laws to prohibit environmental regulations from taking effect until reviewed and approved by the Legislature.
We also helped stop the creation of an oversight committee that would weaken the Oil Conservation Division’s ability to set standards to protect soil, water, and public health from oil and gas waste. These bills were supported by industry lobbyists and their friends in the Legislature in retaliation against state agencies for adopting strong standards for vehicle emissions and oil and gas pit waste.
Up against a team of industry lobbyists, we also blocked a $629 million tax increment bond for SunCal’s sprawling development on Albuquerque’s west mesa, which could hurt existing communities and divert millions of dollars of tax revenues into the pockets of developers.
Environment New Mexico applauds legislators—like Sen. Cisco McSorley and others—who stood up to defend New Mexico’s environment in the Statehouse.
The Gila River. The Legislature approved $2.8 million to restore river ecosystems.
