New Mexico’s ‘Little Texas’ Booms, Igniting Battles Over Oil Windfall

[corbe]

New Mexico’s ‘Little Texas’ Booms, Igniting Battles Over Oil Windfall

Simon Romero
 
20 mins ago
 
LOCO HILLS, N.M. — At the diner she manages in the heart of New Mexico’s oil country, Joni Moorhead talks to roughnecks all day long about potholed roads, cramped lodging camps, soaring rents — and state politics.

New Mexico, which is home to part of the Permian Basin, recently surpassed Alaska, Oklahoma and California in oil production.

“I’d load up my guns for the fighting if we could just secede and join Texas,” said Ms. Moorhead from Loco Hills, population about 125. “They love the money from our oil up in Santa Fe. But they treat us like dirt.”

Ms. Moorhead, 42, may sound more extreme than most. But go just about anywhere in southeastern New Mexico, the deeply conservative oil-rich region known as “Little Texas,” and people are seething over a political shift to the left in the state capital.

A frenetic oil boom is laying bare this divide, while suddenly lifting one of the poorest states in the country into the top ranks of global oil producers. Normally that might be cause for celebration, but Democrats now in power in New Mexico are coming under fire on two fronts: from oil patch conservatives, for pushing to hike oil royalties and spend the windfall on progressive causes, and from environmentalists on the left, for allowing the oil boom to materialize in the first place.

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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/new-mexicos-little-texas-booms-igniting-battles-over-oil-windfall/ar-AAJrj0b?ocid=ientp

[IsailedawayfromFR]

A democrat government that gets a windfall of money will either enrich themselves or use it to buy votes to stay in power.

[Smokin Joe]

A democrat government that gets a windfall of money will either enrich themselves or use it to buy votes to stay in power.

LOL!

ANY government that gets a windfall of money will either enrich themselves or use it to buy votes to stay in power.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

LOL!

ANY government that gets a windfall of money will either enrich themselves or use it to buy votes to stay in power.

That is the human tendency.

There are people who rise up above that such as George Washington.  They are called patriots and have a greater chance of being among the GOP than the Democrats.  They are also what I am hopeful for in the preservation of our country.

[Smokin Joe]

That is the human tendency.

There are people who rise up above that such as George Washington.  They are called patriots and have a greater chance of being among the GOP than the Democrats.  They are also what I am hopeful for in the preservation of our country.

Yes, there are people with integrity out there. There are Patriots with integrity out there. Few lust for the halls of power, and those others who do are willing to perform any act of perfidy to get there. That, I believe, is why, in this day and age, so few really desirable individuals (in terms of patriotism and integrity) are to be found in government.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Yes, there are people with integrity out there. There are Patriots with integrity out there. Few lust for the halls of power, and those others who do are willing to perform any act of perfidy to get there. That, I believe, is why, in this day and age, so few really desirable individuals (in terms of patriotism and integrity) are to be found in government.

A truly frightening thought experiment.

I do hope it is untrue, and there remain plenty who wish to serve, and serve honorably.

[Smokin Joe]

A truly frightening thought experiment.

I do hope it is untrue, and there remain plenty who wish to serve, and serve honorably.

Wishing to serve, and wishing to do so honorably are great, but it seems to be the snakes in the grass who are willing to perform the dirty tricks to win. Honorable conduct is valued by the honorable, and it seems fewer have that sense than value triumph, fair or foul.