Biden 'twisted' Democratic governors in knots with freeze on fracking leases
by Josh Siegel, Energy and Environment Reporter |
| March 05, 2021 06:20 AM Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is taking a risk by choosing to accommodate rather than fight President Biden’s pause on new oil and gas leases.
"When you have to represent the entire state and 45% of the budget comes from oil and gas, and the majority pays for education, there is a lot going on to consider," said Rep. Angelica Rubio, a Democrat in the state’s House of Representatives. "New Mexicans have always been heavily reliant on this industry, regardless of what party you are," Rubio told the Washington Examiner.
Lujan Grisham, who shares Biden's priority of addressing climate change, hasn't fulfilled a promise during the 2020 presidential campaign to seek a waiver exempting New Mexico from a leasing pause.
Her administration has pushed back in quieter ways, writing a letter last month warning that Biden’s orders have “resulted in on-the-ground uncertainties" that have contributed to drilling rigs in the state moving to private lands in Texas.
Another Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, is responding to a similar fix more forcefully as he looks to stave off Biden’s orders, which also pause oil and gas leasing in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Edwards, a second-term governor reelected in 2019, has had conversations with the Biden administration to make the case for continued leasing in the Gulf, warning a moratorium “could adversely impact our state, or the energy security of our country.â€
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/energy/democratic-governors-dependent-fossil-fuels-twisted-knots-biden-leasing-pause
