New Mexico’s budget is more dependent than ever on oil and gas

A new story in the Albuquerque Journal discusses the boom going on in New Mexico’s oil and gas industry.

According to the story, “In raw numbers, the industry generated almost $5.3 billion in revenue for state and local governments in the 2021 fiscal year – a 12% increase over 2020 and more than twice as much as in 2016.” Furthermore, “oil- and gas-derived income made up 35% of all general-fund revenue for the state budget last year.”

Ironically, while most of the Democrats quoted in the story want to keep cashing those checks, that is NOT a unanimous opinion among Democrats with 24 of them applauding Biden’s lease moratorium, fracking bans legislation being introduced, and articles like the following from Sen. Ortiz y Pino calling for an “end” to oil and gas in New Mexico.

In a sane world with a sane political party, the Democrats would be busily adopting economic policy reforms to make New Mexico’s economy more diversified regardless of oil and gas production. Instead we get a gusher of revenues, expanded government, and perpetual poverty.