The New Mexico No False Solutions Coalition and the undersigned organizations would like to direct our elected leaders to the Democratic Party’s Energy and Environment Platform, which claims

“.... to protect air, land, and water, and do everything in our power to avoid climate catastrophe. We will engage community members in decision-making through meaningful consultation and full participation in environmental justice planning.”

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Yet once again, the Democratically controlled legislature has placed the interests of oil and gas corporations over the health and future of New Mexicans.  

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During the 2025 session, the Legislature not only failed to pass any meaningful measures to protect New Mexicans from the health and environmental harms of oil and gas production but also promoted measures that increase industry profits and pollution, pushing a false narrative that oil and gas production is clean. Despite the Party’s platform which states that it will:

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“Reject hydrogen production that utilizes any form of fossil fuel, either directly or as fossil-fuel-powered energy; ensure that all New Mexicans, including landowners, communities of color, and affected tribal nations, are honored and respected in the decision-making and energy-implementation processes;” and “Stop the use of fracking waste “produced water” and criminalize the contamination of watershed,”

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The Party has done the complete opposite.

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We will not stand by silently and watch Democrats side with the oil and gas industry over our lives and future generations. We seek true Democratic leadership that works for New Mexicans and not the oil and gas industry.  

We started the session with high hopes that Democratic leadership would champion measures to protect our public health and our environment from oil and gas pollution, for example: 

• establishing health buffer zones around schools, 

• prohibiting the use of toxic forever chemicals in fracking, 

• ensuring operators clean up and remediate inactive wells, 

• mandating the end of illegal toxic air emissions,

• prohibiting the reuse of produced water off the oilfield for any purpose

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Without the support of key Democratic leadership, none of these measures made it out of even one chamber. Rather than passing environmental and public health protections, Democratic leadership pushed the oil and gas industry’s agenda to commodify its toxic liquid waste via legislation to reuse produced water off of the oilfield, and to advance public partnership proposals for advanced technologies like carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy, and hydrogen that will only ensure that climate change will accelerate, to which New Mexico will be devastated by its impact. Through diligent efforts by grassroots and Indigenous groups from across the state these two dangerous proposals were defeated, but we expect the Democratic administration and legislative leaders to stand with us in preventing dangerous contamination to our land and water. 

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Numerous bills were introduced this session to address the health and environmental injustices resulting in climate crises perpetuated by oil and gas corporations, including:

• HB 34 (Sponsored by: Sariñana, Lujan), empowering and requiring the Oil Conservation Division to protect public health and the environment when it authorizes drilling (Tabled by the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee with Democrats Small and Dixon voting with Republicans to kill the bill)

• HB 35 (Sponsored by: Sariñana, Ferrary), protecting schoolchildren from oil and gas pollution by requiring that new oil and gas wells be drilled at least one mile away from public schools. (Speaker of the House Martinez gave the bill three committee assignments and then House Judiciary Chair Christine Chandler never scheduled the bill for its 3rd and final House committee hearing)

• HB 222 (Sponsored by: Romero, Steinborn, G. Romero), prohibiting PFAS in fracking and requiring oil and gas corporations to disclose any chemicals they inject into the ground. (Speaker Javier Martinez never called the bill for a vote on the House floor)

• HB 257 (Sponsored by: McQueen, Ortez), allowing the Oil Conservation Division to scrutinize applications for oil and gas well transfers to prevent unplugged wells from being orphaned. (Died in House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources with Democrats Small and Dixon siding with Republicans against the bill)

• HB 258 (Sponsored by: McQueen, Ortez, Jaramillo), requiring oil and gas operators to capture 98% of the methane gas produced at their facilities. (Speaker Martinez never called the bill for a vote on the House floor)  

• HB 259 (Sponsored by: McQueen, Ortez, Jaramillo), increasing penalty caps for violations of the Oil and Gas Act. (Speaker Martinez never called the bill for a vote on the House floor)  

• HB 481 (Sponsored by: McQueen), ensuring the state can recover cleanup costs of orphaned wells from prior operators. (Killed in House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources with Democrats Small and Dixon siding with Republicans against the bill)

• HB 581 (Sponsored by: Caballero), requiring applicants for air pollution permits to show that all of their existing facilities are following air quality laws before any additional pollution is permitted. (Killed in House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources with Democrats Small and Dixon siding with Republicans against the bill)

• The First Draft of SB 4 (Sponsored by: Stewart, Ortez, Romero), requiring greenhouse gas methane pollution reductions over the next 25 years. (Killed in Senate Finance)

• SB 178 (Sponsored by: Pope), banning the reuse of produced water off the oil field and placing a per-barrel fee on liquid fracking waste disposal and directing those funds to oil and gas well plugging and remediation. (Democrat Chair Muñoz never called the bill for a hearing in Senate Finance)

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We applaud the sponsors of these bills for standing up to oil and gas. Unfortunately, these bills were all either killed by committee votes by oil-friendly Democrats allied with Republicans or were killed silently without a public hearing in their Democratic-controlled committees or on the Democratic-controlled House and Senate floors.

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Meanwhile, we saw proposals swiftly move through the process for the Strategic Water Supply, Advanced Technology, Hydrogen Trade Ports, and a $100 million slush fund for “economic development grants” without any criteria for protecting the environment. Yet were railroaded by Democratic Leadership when members of the party echoed the public’s critical health, environmental, and financial concerns and demanded further evidence, community consultation, and protections. 

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While greenhouse gas pollution has already resulted in an increase in global temperature of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the science is clear: oil and gas pollution is hurting New Mexicans. Toxic smog/ozone levels in the Permian Basin are so high that Eddy and Lea counties fail to meet federal health-based air quality standards. However, it is not just the Permian that is suffering: the American Lung Association gave both Eddy and San Juan Counties “F” grades for having some of the highest smog in the country and have only been getting worse in recent years. This poses other concerns regarding downstream emissions and cumulative impacts for all New Mexicans. 

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Public schools in the Permian and San Juan basins are surrounded by oil and gas wells, exposing schoolchildren to hazardous levels of carcinogenic pollution and increasing their risks of developing a number of diseases and respiratory illnesses. As well as adverse socio-economic impacts felt by frontline communities. 

The time for half-measures and excuses are over. The federal government has abandoned any pretense of climate or public health regulation, and New Mexico, as the second-largest oil-producing state in the country, has a unique opportunity to be a leader on climate and the environment.

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Instead of propping up this declining and destructive industry with false solutions like hydrogen,carbon capture sequestration, and nuclear energy we should be accelerating the transition to renewable energy, investing in sustainable infrastructure, and protecting communities that have long suffered from the pollution and exploitation perpetuated by oil and gas corporations. Additionally, we expect future leadership to center climate and environmental justice to ensure that we are equitably addressing how the oil and gas industry has disproportionately impacted Indigenous and frontline communities. 

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The 2025 Legislative Session has done none of this. Without intentionally engaging with impacted community members through meaningful consultation and ensuring full participation in future environmental justice planning and decision-making processes, we will continue to result in failure to fully represent New Mexicans. Remember,  frontline, working-class, and BIPOC communities will continue to bear the devastation of the climate crisis and oil and gas pollution. 

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We seek accountability and action from our elected officials. 

 

Respectfully,

 

New Mexico No False Solutions 

Los Jardines Instititue 

Pueblo Action Alliance 

Youth United for Climate Crisis Action 

Indigenous Lifeways 

Earth Care 

Center for Biological Diversity 

Dine' Centered Research and Evaluation

UNM Leaders For Environmental Action and Foresight (UNM LEAF)

New Mexico Climate Justice 

Indivisible Albuquerque

Renewable Taos

Southwest Solidarity Network

Climate Justice Alliance

Social Eco Education (SEE)

Earth Ethics, Inc,