More Corporate Welfare For Polluters?

As the Waxman-Markey climate bill continues to slowly crawl to an upcoming vote,  more and more debate emerges.  This time it’s Blue Dog Democrat Collin Peterson of Minnesota taking the reins for energy producers who already emit too many noxious emissions into our environment.  Congressman Peterson represents rural electric producers (mainly ones who burn [...]

PNM and Carbon Pollution: Will consumers get the shaft?

Right now in Washington, members of Congress are debating a twist to climate control legislation that could lead to a massive corporate giveaway for oil and gas companies.
The Energy & Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is considering the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, (ACES) a comprehensive climate and energy [...]

VIDEO: Youth play vital role at the Roundhouse

It’s the last day of the 2009 Legislative Session I want to recognize the important role young people played in helping to shape public policy and educate our representatives on youth issues. During the week of March 2nd young people from across the state visited the Capitol for New Mexico Children’s Cabinet Days. I was [...]

“Clean” Coal Sludge

With all the recent talk, commercials, and news about clean coal, it’s timely to see an event emerge involving the horrible happenings in the small Tennessee town of Harriman (TV spot) (TN coal disaster) The story here is that Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Coal Plant, a coal-fired power plant that has been in the community [...]

New Energy for Energy

I was fascinated by Obama’s choice of Steven Chu to head the Department of Energy. The choice of a scientist is unusual for a cabinet secretary, since cabinet positions often go to those from the political realm. Barb at Democracy for New Mexico has a lot more background on Chu, so I won’t go into [...]

Questions for the WAPO

Last week, the Washington Post ran an editorial questioning key arguments of opponents of outer continental shelf drilling. The questions raised some important points. (WaPo Editorial)
Problem is, instead of closing the case on outer continental shelf drilling, the editorial page of the Washington Post just raised additional questions about the wisdom of drilling.
Again, I invite [...]

Take a Peek at the Peak

Over the past two months, rising gas prices have fueled a heated debate. And, if you think the debate is raging now, just wait for the winter months to hit consumers.
Between home heating costs and gas prices, it’s not going to be pretty.
As the debate rages on, the most frequently asked questions by public officials [...]

Singing the Same Tune

The “not a drop” chorus is getting louder with each passing day.
Atrisco Oil and Gas CEO Peter Sanchez, along with New Mexico Oil and Gas Association President Bob Gallagher sing the tune here.
Former United States Senators Trent Lott and John Breaux sing it here.
Finally, United States Senator Kit Bond sings it here.
Boy, I wonder who [...]

Domestic Drilling Challenge

Two numbers have been seared into the minds of millions of Americans: $4/per gallon of gas and $145/per barrel of crude oil. Explanations abound for how we arrived at this seemingly inconceivable position. Increased demand from China and India, as well as price speculation appear to be the front-runners.
However, what is less clear [...]

No Help At All

Over the last week, we here at Clearly New Mexico have registered our disgust with the direction of the debate and the level of rhetoric over American energy policy (link)(link). Billions of dollars in public subsidies for oil and gas companies continue, while productive incentives for renewable energy languish. And, the inane idea of drilling [...]