Sierra Club's War on Jobs: Holding Workshops to "Write and Rehearse Testimony"

Category: Editorials Editorials
Published: 11 February 2016 11 February 2016

New Mexico Business Coalition (NMBC) is calling on the New Mexico Chapter of the Sierra Club to stop the relentless, uncompromising War on Jobs they are waging by pushing for an end to all fossil fuel extraction.

Recent press releases by the Sierra Club say they have partnered with other environmental groups calling on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to halt oil and gas operations on federal lands in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. The Rio Grande Sierra Club is working in New Mexico to pre-script and rehearse testimony that will encourage a BLM rule that will harm natural gas producers.

NMBC spokesperson, Larry Sonntag, said, "At a time when New Mexico has the worst unemployment rate in the nation and the Farmington community is in severe economic distress, it is shocking to see the Sierra Club holding workshops helping write and rehearse testimony to support a fossil fuel jobs killing agenda. The poverty, the unemployment, and the well-being of our children is some of the worst in the nation and they are holding a rehearsal for the Farmington BLM hearing like it's a casting call for Better Call Saul." Sonntag added, "The BLM rule they are pushing, dealing with venting and flaring of natural gas, is redundant to other EPA and state environmental rules. It will cost oil and gas companies millions of dollars to comply and will result in more lost jobs for New Mexicans."

A public hearing to discuss the proposed BLM rule will be held in Farmington on February 16 at 1pm. Extracting natural resources while protecting our land, water, and air is possible without shutting down the oil and gas industry. NMBC encourages New Mexicans who care about our economy and working families to speak up, to show up, unrehearsed and unscripted to tell the BLM, "No more job killing federal rules for New Mexico."

Contact: Larry Sonntag (505) 836-4223
nmbiz@nmbizcoalition.org

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