Climate change and the NM race for Governor
Climate change and the NM race for Governor
A voters guide
Michelle Lujan-Grisham (MLG) has a sizable lead going into the 2022 New Mexico gubernatorial election. With a plethora of successful bills under her belt, the MLG administration is confident that her accomplishments (and Mark Ronchetti’s lack thereof) will hoist her to another term as Chief Executive.
As the Gubernatorial race heats up, there are many hot-button issues that are making headlines. The one issue I have not heard much about, though, is climate change. We have a looming climate crisis threatening our comfy way of life here on Earth and in New Mexico. Fires, droughts, and biodiversity loss are projected to worsen and voters should select a Governor with a plan to shift away from carbon emitting gases in a economically viable way.
MLG’s first term was spent addressing these issues head on while Mark Ronchetti fails to even mention climate change on his website. Ronchetti’s silence on the issue is confusing. He spent years reporting on New Mexican weather, and has openly acknowledged global warming when he spoke on climate change to UNM students:
In this 2019 presentation at UNM, Ronchetti begins by telling the students “I’m a Christian-conservative who used to be a republican until the orange one…” - referring to a particular climate change denying ex-President.
It’s no surprise that Mark Ronchetti has back-pedaled away from his 2019, ex-republican stance - his campaign raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil-rich families in New Mexico and Texas.
There’s little time left to take action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions before many of it’s effects are irreversible. In other words, we don’t have time for a Governor that is going to pander to oil money. While Ronchetti’s campaign touts their plan to “Unleash New Mexico Oil and Gas Production,” MLG has been enacting plans that comfortably transition New Mexico away from oil:
In 2019, as one of Lujan-Grisham’s first actions, the Governor announced her executive order aligning New Mexico with the U.S. Climate Alliance and Paris Agreement. The order also created the New Mexico Climate Change Task Force, an agreement among all State agencies that they will work together to combat the humanitarian crisis that is climate change. Representatives from the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resource Department (EMNRD) and the Environment Department now co-chair the Climate Change Task Force.
In 2020, MLG and the New Mexico legislature passed Senate Bill 29, Solar Market Development Income Tax Credit, reinstating a tax credit to incentivize solar growth.
In 2021, New Mexico EMNRD set a natural gas waste rule, requiring oil and natural gas operators to capture 98% of their gas waste. The Governor also signed her executive order on the “30 x 30” - Land Conservation Framework, declaring New Mexico’s interest in preserving natural lands. MLG also represented New Mexico at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Scotland, as she was recognized for her commitment to uphold the Paris agreement in New Mexico.
This year, the New Mexico Environment Department announced the Ozone Precursor Rule, addressing oil and gas emissions; and MLG secured funding to start the States first Climate Change Bureau, a bureau within the Environment Department that will identify, implement, and monitor New Mexico’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels).
The choice is clear: if you think oil companies need more power, vote Ronchetti. If you want to diversify our economy, address climate change, and save our State from worsening droughts, fires, floods, and warming, vote Grisham.
To learn more about the direct actions the Governor is taking to address climate change, and the ways she supports State agencies to do the same, peruse through climateaction.nm.gov to learn about the climate action that is at stake in this years Gubernatorial election.