Biden energy policy really screws New Mexico

 Washington Examiner:

One of President-elect Joe Biden’s most aggressive campaign promises was to ban new oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters to combat climate change.

The person Biden selected to implement that policy, his nominee for interior secretary, Rep. Deb Haaland, hails from New Mexico, the state with the nation’s most oil production on federal lands.

New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin, the world’s largest oil field and one that also straddles West Texas, lies on public land. Last year, the state was the top recipient of federal energy revenues, accounting for $800 million of New Mexico’s budget.

Oil and gas lobby groups, New Mexico stakeholders, and environmentalists are watching how Haaland handles that predicament. During the campaign, New Mexico’s Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she would request that Biden provide her state a waiver exempting it from a drilling ban.

“It's not surprising they would be looking to have someone from New Mexico in that position since our state will either rise or fall based on the policies being implemented by the Biden administration,” said Ryan Flynn, executive director of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association.

Colleagues of Haaland, who would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary, expect her to be an outspoken liberal champion for Biden’s agenda. Haaland is an original sponsor of the Green New Deal who has said she is “wholeheartedly against drilling and fracking on public lands” and drew national attention by joining tribal leaders in rallying against the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

“She is tough,” Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman of California told the Washington Examiner.

“She is a very gracious kind of fierce, but her values and her priorities are solid. She shouldn't be underestimated,” said Huffman, a colleague of Haaland’s on the House Natural Resources Committee who supports ending new fossil fuel drilling on public lands.

Haaland would be able to use executive authority to curtail, if not stop new federal drilling, but Republicans in Congress from fossil fuel states are promising to challenge her.

“Rep. Haaland’s past statements are a serious problem. I won’t stand idly by while the Biden administration tries to kill my state’s economy,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a top producer of oil and gas on federal lands, told the Washington Examiner.

If Republicans keep the Senate, Barrasso is poised to lead the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, which will hold Haaland’s confirmation hearing.

Democrats and environmentalists say that addressing greenhouse gas emissions on public lands represents a significant piece of the puzzle to mitigating climate change.

...

Why New Mexico voted for Biden is a real puzzle.  It was obvious the state's oil and gas industry was in Biden's crosshairs as he tried to pander to Pennsylvania and Texas.  If New Mexico voters are smart they will vote to replace Haaland with a Republican who will fight for their energy jobs.

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