1. GOV. LUJAN GRISHAM MAKES UNREALISTIC EMISSIONS PROPOSAL; HURTS WORKING PEOPLE
Last Tuesday, Gov. Lujan Grisham announced plans for New Mexico to adopt stricter vehicle emission standards. Yet again, she is trying to make state rules to appeal to a national audience, not N.M. residents. Gov. Lujan Grisham wants to increase average fuel economy to 52 mpg on 2022 models, which even exceeds the Obama-era standards.
From KOB4:
Officials with the Republican Party of New Mexico are criticizing Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s plan to cut greenhouse emissions caused by cars...
New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce said her plan will end up hurting New Mexicans.
“Everybody in the county wants clean air and clean water so we understand the push but this policy announcement by the governor is just one more bumper sticker policy,” said Pearce.
Pearce told KOB 4 that people want more fuel-efficient vehicles, but this is not the right approach.
“The manufacturer is not going to make vehicles just for New Mexico – that’s ludicrous,” Pearce said.
The governor’s announcement came after President Donald Trump recently announced plans to revoke California’s authority to set mileage standards.
House Republican Caucus Chair Candy Spence Ezzell’s Statement on Governor’s Proposed Vehicle Emission Standards:
“When are the governor and her allies in the Legislature going to realize that they live in New Mexico and not California? More people in New Mexico drive pick-ups than Priuses. These new standards are going to hurt our farmers, ranchers, builders, and tradespeople. Anyone who depends on non-hybrid vehicles for their livelihoods is going to feel the effect of this new mandate. These emission standards may make sense for a more urban state like California, but it's a bad move for New Mexico.”
2. U.S. FOREST SUSPENSIONS HURT NEW MEXICANS
Last week the U.S. Wildlife Service suspended woodcutting activities and permits, tree thinning, logging and timber sales and other timber management practices. Attacks like these from left-wing environmental groups kill jobs and hurt communities like Silver City and others around New Mexico.
Although an announcement was made yesterday lifting the suspension of fuelwood permit sales, the initial ruling continues to kill jobs New Mexico desperately needs, puts our wonderful forests more at risk of being destroyed by fire, disease or pests and makes the habitat worse when forests are not maintained.
From the Santa Fe New Mexican:
Ernest Lopez, 61, has sold firewood nearly all his life, making a little extra money for bills. He also uses wood to heat his home in Las Vegas, N.M., where he lives with his wife and children.
Now he’s scared about a wood shortage.
“If wood’s going to be scarce — if people can’t afford higher prices — I don’t know if they’ll starve or freeze,” he said.
Those fears were stoked by U.S. Forest Service officials’ announcement this week they were suspending permit sales for firewood collection across New Mexico, meaning there would be no cutting of trees or collection of deadwood. The decision followed a recent ruling from a U.S. district judge in a civil case centered on the endangered Mexican spotted owl. The judge called for a halt to all timber management activities in national forests in New Mexico and parts of Arizona, due to federal agencies’ negligence in monitoring the species’ population.
The injunction applies to all five national forests in New Mexico — Carson, Cibola, Gila, Lincoln and Santa Fe — and the Tonto National Forest in Arizona...
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s more recent data on home heating, figures from 2013, an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. population uses wood as the primary heating fuel. People surveyed said wood was cheaper than natural gas or propane.
Trent Botkin, a state employee living in Glorieta, said a firewood shortage would go far beyond his community.
“You can’t just tell New Mexicans in the fall that they can’t have their primary source of heat because the U.S. Forest Service didn’t finish its consultation with the spotted owl,” he said. “That’s lacking enormously in looking at the total consequences of the ration.”
RPNM Chairman Steve Pearce, has been working diligently to get the issue resolved.
“I will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to ensure the suspensions are resolved. I have asked USDA to file an appeal as soon as possible and to review the defense submitted to the court by N.M. Director of the United States Forest Service. I have also asked Secretary Perdue and other agency officials to visit N.M. to review the situation.”
3. OTHER NEW MEXICO NEWS BRIEFS
NM Job Growth Speeds Up. New Mexico job growth in 2019 is expected to reach 2.6%, up from the 1.2% in 2018.
Heavy caseloads, judges’ vacancies put NM federal court underwater. The federal court system in New Mexico needs to fill the three vacant judicial positions to help take on the 900+ criminal cases.
Governor’s free college plan faces backlash. Looks like the free college plan, which still needs approval from the state Legislature, has more than a few critics.